Genre Analysis
AdvancedIdentify the genre.
- Four core genres: narrative, expository, argumentative, descriptive.
- Format reveals genre: letters carry salutations, reports carry headings, diaries use first person.
- Genre reveals purpose and audience: notices instruct, blogs share.
文體小知識：Identify text type.
§Text Passage
1The COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020 and spread to every continent within months. Governments imposed lockdowns; schools moved online; businesses closed; millions of people lost their jobs. Video meetings replaced classrooms and offices, and working from home turned from an exception into a routine. It was a historic event that affected everyone, and it produced an ocean of writing: news reports, diary entries, government announcements, editorials and personal blogs.
2Each of those texts belongs to a different genre, and each genre follows its own rules. A narrative retells events in time order and often focuses on one person's experience. An expository text, like the summary above, explains facts objectively. An argumentative piece tries to persuade readers — perhaps that lockdowns were necessary, or that they caused more harm than good. A descriptive text paints scenes with sensory language, such as the silence of empty MTR platforms at rush hour. Identifying the genre is the first step to reading well.
3Genre also reveals purpose and audience. A government notice aims to instruct citizens and uses a formal, impersonal tone, while a teenage blogger aims to share feelings and uses informal, emotional language. When the DSE gives you a text, ask three questions: why was this written, who was it written for, and how does the tone match the purpose? The answers unlock inference questions that vague reading cannot touch.
4The pandemic proved that genre awareness matters beyond examinations. During a crisis, people who cannot distinguish a fact-based report from an emotional opinion piece make poorer decisions. Read the genre first, then the words — and both the passage and the world become easier to understand.
§Sentence-by-sentence translation Sentence-by-sentence translation
The COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020 and spread to every continent within months.
新冠疫情於2020年初爆發，數月內蔓延至各大洲。
Governments imposed lockdowns; schools moved online; businesses closed; millions of people lost their jobs.
各地政府實施封鎖，學校轉為網上授課，商戶結業，數以百萬計的人失業。
Video meetings replaced classrooms and offices, and working from home turned from an exception into a routine.
視像會議取代了課室和辦公室，在家工作由例外變成常態。
It was a historic event that affected everyone, and it produced an ocean of writing: news reports, diary entries, government announcements, editorials and personal blogs.
這是影響所有人的歷史事件，亦產生了浩如煙海的文字：新聞報道、日記、政府公告、社論和個人網誌。
Each of those texts belongs to a different genre, and each genre follows its own rules.
上述每種文本都屬於不同文體，而每種文體都有其自身規則。
A narrative retells events in time order and often focuses on one person's experience.
敘事文按時間順序重述事件，多聚焦於一個人的經歷。
An expository text, like the summary above, explains facts objectively.
說明文（如上述摘要）客觀地解釋事實。
An argumentative piece tries to persuade readers — perhaps that lockdowns were necessary, or that they caused more harm than good.
議論文則企圖說服讀者——或許是封鎖措施有其必要，或許是其弊多於利。
A descriptive text paints scenes with sensory language, such as the silence of empty MTR platforms at rush hour.
描寫文以感官語言描繪場景，例如繁忙時間空無一人的港鐵月台那種寂靜。
Identifying the genre is the first step to reading well.
辨識文體是良好閱讀的第一步。
Genre also reveals purpose and audience.
文體亦揭示寫作目的和對象。
A government notice aims to instruct citizens and uses a formal, impersonal tone, while a teenage blogger aims to share feelings and uses informal, emotional language.
政府公告旨在指示市民，用詞正式而客觀；青少年網誌旨在分享感受，語言隨意而感性。
When the DSE gives you a text, ask three questions: why was this written, who was it written for, and how does the tone match the purpose?
文憑試給你一篇文章時，問三條問題：為何而寫？為誰而寫？語氣如何配合目的？
The answers unlock inference questions that vague reading cannot touch.
這些答案能解開馬虎閱讀無法應付的推論題。
The pandemic proved that genre awareness matters beyond examinations.
疫情證明文體意識在考試以外同樣重要。
During a crisis, people who cannot distinguish a fact-based report from an emotional opinion piece make poorer decisions.
危機當前，無法分辨事實報道與感性評論的人，決定往往較差。
Read the genre first, then the words — and both the passage and the world become easier to understand.
先讀文體，再讀文字——文章和世界都會變得容易理解。
1Summary 重點摘要
Identify the genre.
2Vocabulary cards Vocabulary
Type.
Story.
Informative.
Persuasive.
Descriptive.
Purpose.
Audience.
語氣。
3Step by step Steps
- NarrativeA narrative retells events in time order, built on characters, plot and a turning point - a pandemic diary such as 'what I did the day lockdown began' uses the first person, follows the sequence of a day, and mixes in feelings. Watch for time connectors like after, then and finally, and for the moment the situation turns. The writer's feeling sentences often hold the answer to main-idea questions.
- ExpositoryAn expository text states facts objectively: news reports and summaries - data, dates, a neutral voice, no stance and no emotion. Words like statistics, survey and according to usually signal it. When reading, log the scope of every figure - what percentage, which year, which group of respondents - and never mix your own opinion into factual answers.
- ArgumentativeAn argumentative piece persuades: an editorial claiming lockdowns were necessary, or did more harm than good - stance, evidence and rebuttal. Recognise stance words such as should, must, I believe and clearly. Find the central claim in the first or last paragraph, label each paragraph's evidence, and follow the rebuttal introduced by however and opponents argue.
- DescriptiveA descriptive text paints with the senses: an empty platform at rush hour, the blue glow of online lessons - sensory details build the picture, and it often partners narration. Track sense verbs and similes (smelt, glowed, like a...) and ask what atmosphere they create. For atmosphere or mood questions, combine a sensory detail with an emotional adjective: cold, silent, lonely.
- Format cluesFormat reveals the genre: letters carry Dear... and Yours sincerely, reports carry headings and sections, diaries carry dates and moods - you can predict the genre before reading a word of content. In exams the layout is a free clue: scan the salutation, signature and subheadings first, then choose a reading strategy. Some questions test format knowledge directly, such as the closing courtesy of a letter, so study how model texts are laid out.
- Purpose and audienceGenre exposes purpose and audience: a government notice (formal, impersonal) instructs citizens; a teenage blog (informal, emotional) shares feelings. Answer the three questions: why was it written, for whom, and does the tone fit the purpose? Use the formula: the writer aims to inform/persuade/entertain for + audience, supporting it with tone adjectives such as formal, informal, emotional or neutral.
- Match the methodEach genre needs its own reading: facts and definitions for expository, claims and evidence for argumentative, plot and turns for narrative, senses and atmosphere for descriptive. Matching the method to the genre raises both speed and accuracy, while a mismatched method wastes time. Before the exam, pick one model text per genre and list its reading steps, then apply the checklist in the exam hall.
5Worked example Example
The pandemic produced news reports, diaries, government notices, editorials and blogs. Identify each genre, its purpose and its language features.
- Step 1: News reports are expository: objective facts — lockdowns, job losses — in a formal, neutral tone.
- Step 2: Diaries are narrative plus descriptive: events in time order with sensory detail, like 'the silence of empty MTR platforms at rush hour'.
- Step 3: Editorials are argumentative: built to persuade, whether that lockdowns were necessary or did more harm than good.
- Step 4: Government notices instruct citizens in a formal, impersonal tone; teenage blogs share feelings in informal, emotional language.
- Step 5: Apply the three questions: why was it written, for whom, and does the tone match the purpose?
- Answer: Genre analysis sorts the pandemic's flood of writing into clear categories. News reports belong to the expository mode — objective facts about lockdowns and unemployment delivered in neutral language. Diaries combine narrative with description, retelling days in order and painting scenes such as empty rush-hour platforms. Editorials are argumentative by design: whichever side they take, a claim and its persuasion stand at the centre. Government notices instruct citizens with formal, impersonal phrasing, while a teenage blogger shares feelings informally. Once the genre is named, the three questions follow — why written, for whom, does tone match purpose — and inference questions open up. As the passage warns, readers who cannot tell fact-based reports from emotional opinion make poorer decisions in a crisis.
6Common mistakes Mistakes
7Quick check Quick check
Q1Types?
Q2Narrative?
Q3Expository?
Q4Argumentative?
Q5Descriptive?
Q6Purpose?
Q7What genre?
Q8When did it begin?
Q9What happened to schools?
8Recap Recap
- Four core genres: narrative, expository, argumentative, descriptive.
- Format reveals genre: letters carry salutations, reports carry headings, diaries use first person.
- Genre reveals purpose and audience: notices instruct, blogs share.
- Read each genre differently: facts for exposition, claims for argument, plot for narrative.
- Before inference questions, answer: why written, for whom, does the tone fit?