Language Matters - Genre Analysis: Rules for Children's Games


Example Texts

Instructions for childrens games are a type of procedural text and will share many features with other types of "how to" genre - eg  recipes, DIY instructions etc.

Look at some of the following websites and find as many genre features of these game instructions as you can. You should consider features of layout, content, organisation and language. At least four features should be related to language. 

1. Snap : https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/snap-childrens-card-game-rules-411143

2. What’s the time Mr Wolf?  https://childhood101.com/games-for-kids-how-to-play-whats-the-time-mr-wolf/

3. Simon Says : http://www.helpmykidlearn.ie/activities/3-4/detail/simon-says

4. Snakes and Ladders : https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/crafts/snakes-and-ladders

Now scroll down and compare your points with the suggested answer.



Suggested Answer

 

Layout, Content and Organisation

1. The text is illustrated to make it look more attractive, usually by a picture of the game, sometimes being played either by children or children and adults who look as if they are enjoying themselves. Examples: all texts

2. The instructions start with a brief description of the game and information on the number of participants, equipment etc needed.  Examples: all texts

3. The procedural steps of the game are divided into paragraphed points, possibly numbered  (3) or with bullet points (4) containing only one to three sentences. This allows the reader to focus on and understand the instructions for each step one at a time, without “getting lost” in a mass of text.

 

Linguistic features

1. Lexis: a) Participants in the game are usually referred to by their roles, usually generically as players unless a more specific role is allotted Examples:  1 - The dealer shuffles the cards and deals them as evenly as possible to all of the players. / 2 - The other players stand side by side in a line, facing Mr Wolf’s back. 

b) Generic reference is also used to add variety. Examples: 1- When someone turns over a card that…/ 3 - Play until one person is left.

2. Verb forms: Steps of the procedure described using either…

a) the imperative. Examples: 2 - Take it in turns to roll the dice. Move your counter forward…  3 - Get your child or children to stand facing you.

b) the simple present active or passive, 3rd person singular or plural. Examples: 1 - If two players call "Snap!" at the same time, the two piles are placed in the center of the table / 2 - The other players stand side by side... / 3 - If someone puts up their right hand, then they are out of the game.

 

3. Sentence construction: There is frequent use of dependent clauses starting with the subordinate conjunction if or the correlative conjunction If…then… used to explain the possible variations and eventualities in the games. Examples: 1 - If two players call "Snap!" at the same time, the two piles are placed in the center of the table  / 3 - If someone puts up their right hand, then they are out of the game. / 4 - If your counter lands on the head of a snake, you must...

 

4. Use of genderless pronouns: With the exception of (2) genderless pronouns and determiners are used to refer to the participants, including the singular use of they/their. Examples: 1This ensures that the player does not see the card before their opponents / 3 - If someone puts up their right hand, then they are out of the game. / 4 - Each player puts their counter on...

 

5. Use of you/your to address the reader directly, usually in the comments on the game but sometimes (eg 4 and 5) also in the procedural steps : 1 - If you find that your games of Snap tend to have a lot of ties… /  3 - You can find ways to catch them out. / 4 - If your counter lands at the bottom of a ladder, you can move up to the top of the ladder.

 

6. Lexis : As games are generally kinaesthetic to some degree, and all of these are, there are a high proportion of dynamic verbs describing movement. Examples:  2 - with Mr Wolf chasing them… / 3 - Take it in turns to roll the dice. 

These are often in the form of phrasal verbs, where the verb describes the movement and the adverb the direction of the movement. Examples: 1 - When someone turns over a card… / 2 - ...all of the players must turn around… / 3 - If someone puts up their right hand...

 

7. Lexical items/chunks in the field of game playing. Examples : 1- The winner is the player who wins all the cards.. / 4- Take it in turns to roll the dice /  4 - The first player to get to the space that says "home" is the winner.

 

Language Matters - Genre Analysis: Biographies

 

Some Examples to Analyse


Look at some of the following biographies

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/austen_jane.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-bio.html

https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/john-f-kennedy/


How many typical features of the genre can you identify? Look for :

 Layout

 Content

Organisation

 Linguistic features

For each feature that you identify, could you give one or more examples?




Now scroll down for the suggested answer.





Suggested Answer


A. Layout and Content

Heading : Differentiated from the main block of text by font size, font type use of bold or contrastive colour etc. Always includes the person’s name, and may state explicitly that it is a biography (Examples – All texts) Purpose : to ensure the topic of the text is clear and the reader knows what they are going to read about

Paragraphing : Text divided into paragraphs each dealing with one topic – usually a specific period or event in the person’s life (Examples : all texts). Purpose: Makes the text easier to read.

A photograph or portrait of the person being described will be included at the beginning of the text. (Examples : All texts) Purpose : Seeing what the person looks like makes the text more interesting for the readers and enables them to visualise scenes more clearly.


B. Content and Organisation

 The beginning aims to stimulate the reader’s interest (purpose). To achieve this, it may start with a summary of the person’s achievements (Examples : Austen – initial paragraph in italics; Napoleon (Para 1+2); or a dramatic episode in their life (Example : Kennedy, Para 1).

 Apart from this, content is organised chronologically starting with the person’s birth and detailing all the important events of their life in year by year. (Examples : Austen - All paragraphs except the initial italicised summary; Kennedy – All paragraphs. except the first and the final italicised information. Purpose: to give logical coherence to the text and make it easier to read.

 The first paragraph in the chronological narrative will often describe the person’s family and upbringing, in order to establish a socio-cultural background for their life. Examples : 

Her family was of Albanian descent. (Mother Teresa)

Of Irish descent, he was born in ... (JFK)

Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 in the village of Steventon in Hampshire. She was one of eight children of a clergyman and grew up in a close-knit family. (Jane Austen)


C. Linguistic features

 The chronological organisation leads to the use of a predominance of simple past verbs (active and passive) to narrate the sequence of events, mixed with very occasional past perfect use for flashbacks. Examples :

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas (JFK)

In November 1810, Napoleon consented to the ascent to the Swedish throne of Bernadotte, one of his marshalls, with whom Napoleon had always had strained relations (Bonaparte)

 The chronological organisation also leads to a large number of time adverbials being used, often fronted in the clause to ensure the reader is clear about when the event expressed by the following verb phrase occurred (purpose). Examples :

In 1956 Kennedy almost gained the Democratic nomination for Vice President, (JFK)

In 1816, Jane began to suffer from ill-health, (Jane Austen)

At the age of twelve, she felt strongly the call of God. (Mother Teresa)

 The focus of attention is kept on the person who is the topic of the biography (purpose) by using their name, or a pronoun referring to them, as the subject of the main clause in the first sentence of almost every paragraph, and of many sentences within the paragraph too. Examples :

In 1816, Jane began to suffer from ill-health, (Jane Austen)

On October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from the Holy See to start her own order, (Mother Teresa)

In 1799, he staged a coup d’état (Bonaparte)

Where necessary, passive verbs are used to allow this to happen:

He was released within two weeks. .. (Bonaparte)

On November 22, 1963, ... John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets (JFK)

And even in paragraphs where the person is not the grammatical subject of the first sentence, their name or a reference to them will generally occur :

The Peninsular War and the invasion of Russia in 1812 marked turning points in Napoleon's fortunes. (Bonaparte)

Jane's brother Henry helped her negotiate with a publisher (Jane Austen)

 Direct speech is often used to say what the person said or what others said about them. Examples :

His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." (JFK)

Napoleon would go on to say, "The battle of Austerlitz is the finest of all I have fought."  (Bonaparte)

Her next novel Pride and Prejudice, which she described as her "own darling child" received highly favourable reviews. (Jane Austen)

Purpose : increases the reader’s perception of the protagonist as “a real person” who lived “real moments”.