Text Genre

Definition:

A text genre is a type of written or spoken discourse.

Discussion:

Texts are classified into genres on the basis of the intent of the communicator.

Examples:

Here is a table showing some text genres and the communicator's intent for each genre.

Text genre	Communicator's intent is to . . .
Narrative	Tell about a sequence of events.
Procedural	Give instructions on how to do something.
Expository	Explain something.
Hortatory	Encourage someone to do something.
Descriptive	List the characteristics of something.

Glossary of Linguistic Terms