UNIT 6

WRITTEN COMUNICATION.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF WRITTEN TEXTS.
STRUCTURE AND FORMAL ELEMENTS,
NORMS OF WRITTEN TEXTS.
ROUTINES AND FORMULAS
0. INTRODUCTION
1. LANGUAGE AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
1.1. THE NATURE OF COMMUNICATION: LANGUAGE AND SEMIOTICS.
1.2. THE ORIGINS OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
2. SPOKEN V.S WRITTEN LANGUAGE
2.1. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
2.1.1. Supremacy of speech
2.1.2. Writing and speech on the same level
2.1.3. Supremacy of writing
2.2. ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENCES
3. RULES THAT GOVERN WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
3.1. FORMAL ELEMENTS
3.2 TEXTUALITY AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
4. CRITERIA FOR TEXT CLASSIFICATION: TYPES OF TEXTS
4.1. ROUTINES AND FORMULAS
5. CONCLUSION
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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0. INTRODUCTION
LOMCE has highlighted the importance for our students to master the four skills: listening, speaking,
reading and writing. To know what is written communication will help them to improve their writing
skills. This unit aims at providing and in depth analysis of the main elements and rules that govern
written communication as well as of the types and structures of different kinds of written texts.

1. LANGUAGE AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

Writing has been defined as a system of more or less permanent marks used to represent an utterance
in such a way that it can be recovered more or less exactly without the intervention of the utterer.
1.1. THE NATURE OF COMMUNICATION: LANGUAGE AND SEMIOTICS.
Research in cultural anthropology (Crystal 1985) has shown that the origins of communication are to
be found in the very early stages of life when there was a need for animals and humans to
communicate adequately for their purposes, in order to express their feelings, attitudes and core
activities of everyday life. However, even the most primitive cultures had a constant need to express
their ideas by other means than guttural sounds and body movements. Their constant preoccupation
was how to turn thoughts into words. Hence, before language was developed, verbal codes were used
to convey information by means of symbols which were presented, first, by means of pictorial art,
and further in time, by writing.
Language, then, is a highly elaborated signalling system with particular design features. Besides, the
possibility of a traditional transmission plays an important role when language is handed down from
one generation to another by a process of teaching and learning.
Therefore, we may establish a distinction in terms of types of communication, where we distinguish
mainly two, thus verbal and non-verbal codes. Firstly, verbal communication is related to those acts
in which the code is the language, both oral and written. Secondly, when dealing with non verbal
devices, we refer to communicative uses involving visual and tactile modes, such as kinesics, body
movements, and also paralinguistic devices drawn from sounds (whistling), hearing (Morse) or touch
(Braille).
1.2. THE ORIGINS OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
As we have previously mentioned, prior to language development, non-verbal codes were used to
convey information by means of icons and symbols. Later developments in the study of meaning
were labelled during the last century under the term semantics, which had a linked sense with the
science related to the study of signs, semiotics.
This development in the direction of explicit messages and knowledge was soon followed by
anthropologist researchers interested in the findings of written accounts in earlier societies, by means
of icons and symbols found in burial sites and prehistoric caves.
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According to Crystal (1985), most primitive cultures developed a deep-rooted connection between
divinity and language, and therefore, approached language with a clearly religious purpose. Thus,
there are regular tales in the anthropological literature of natives where alphabets began to be
interpreted mystically.
The history of language is bound up with the history of religious thought in its widest sense. However,
more fundamental and far-reaching than this is the major concern of early Greek and Roman
scholarship on thought about language. Thus, Greeks developed an alphabet different in principle
from the writing systems previously mentioned, and considered to be the forerunner of most
subsequent alphabets. Their permanent contribution in this area is nicely indicated by the history of
the term 'grammar' (grammatike), which in this early period implied understanding the use of letters,
that is, having the skill of reading and writing (Crystal 1985).

2. SPOKEN VS. WRITTEN LANGUAGE

2.1. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
According to Goytisolo (2001), the first evidence of writing is from 3500 B.C., the date of the
Sumerian inscriptions in Mesopotamia and early Egyptian inscriptions whereas the appearance of
language can be traced back some forty or fifty thousand years.
2.1.1. Supremacy of speech
Speech was traditionally the original object of Linguistics, while writing was only considered a means
of representing the primary form, based on sounds which were the first manifestation of human
communication. This consideration derives mainly from the studies of Ferdinand de Saussure, who
did not consider writing worthy of synchronic study, because it had not independent life, its only
function was to represent the system of sounds which form a language.
Saussure distinguishes three different kinds of linguistic objects: the language system (La langue),
speech (la parole) and writing. The real object of study for him was the abstract system of signs
which find their expression in the actual examples of speech used by people (la parole). But neither
speech nor writing can be the object of linguistic study because speech is transient, unpredictable and
completely context dependant, while writing is not really part of the language, but a means of making
manifest the sound system.
On the same line as Saussure is Leonard Bloomfield, who regarded writing simply as a means of
recording language like a 'phonograph' or a 'radio'. His arguments for the primacy of speech are that
it precedes writing chronologically in both the history of people and a person.
Noam Chomsky, considers writing more in the context of memory processing limitations, to be used
when the sentence is too complicated and can only be understood with the aid of additional memory
(writing).
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2.1.2. Writing and speech on the same level
Some others Linguists have given writing independence from speech; while accepting the existence
of an underlying language system.
Josef Vachek supported the idea that the written form should be at the centre of linguistic study. He
thinks that speech and writing have complementary language functions. The spoken form carries out
dynamic functions, and the written form static ones and the difference in function makes it impossible
to say the same thing in a different medium.
M. A. K. Halliday follows this same line. He sees them both as emanating from the same source, the
underlying language system, and he focuses on their differences in form and function. He considers
the development of writing systems as the product of changes in society, so the functions of writing
were not intended to replace those of speech; speech and writing serve different purposes and this
leads to structural differences.
2.1.3. Supremacy of writing
Brian Stock suggests that the advent of writing in oral cultures can break their patterns of behaviour,
while Linnea C. Ehri suggests that the influence of print on our language perception is similar to
that of calendars and clocks on our perception of time.
In general, what lies at the back of all these ideas is that writing is the necessary prerequisite for
analytic thought.
2.2. Analysis of Differences
With respect to both codes of communication (Widdowson 1978), oral and written, it is worth noting
that one of their differences relies on the notion of participants and different skills, thus productive
and receptive, to be carried out in a one-way process or two-way process.
Hence, regarding written communication, we refer to writer and reader, when they are involved in
the productive skill of writing and the receptive skill of reading. Similarly, we refer to speaker and
listener, when they are involved in the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of listening.
Furthermore, within a traditional division of language into the two major categories of speech and
writing, Cook (1989) establishes two main differences.
The first difference is described in terms of time factor, that is, a here-and-now production; and the
second difference is depicted in terms of degree of reciprocity, that is, one-way speech or two-way
speech.
Concerning the time factor, we may find features such as time limitations, and the associated
problems of planning, memory, and of production.
First, regarding time limitations, spoken language happens in time, and must therefore be produced
and processed 'on line'. In writing, however, we have time to pause and think, and while we are
reading or writing, we can stand back and view the discourse in spatial or diagrammatic terms.
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Secondly, in relation to planning, the speaker has no time to plan and organize the message as there
is no going back and changing or restructuring our words, whereas the writer may plan his writing
under no time pressure, and the message is economically organized.
Thirdly, regarding memory, on spoken interaction we may forget things we intended to say whereas
on writing we may note our ideas and organize the development of our writing.
Finally, concerning production, on speaking we often take short cuts to avoid unnecessary effort in
producing individual utterances, and therefore we make syntactic mistakes because we lose the
wording. On the contrary, on writing, the words are planned and organized while producing a text,
allowing the writer to control the language being used. Hence, sentences may be long or complex as
the writer has more time to plan. Moreover, mistakes are less likely to happen as we are aware of the
grammar of our utterances.
The second feature to be mentioned is a reciprocal activity, in terms of one-way speech or two-way
speech. This crucially affects the sorts of reactions at a communicative level that are likely to take
place in an interaction. Thus, in speaking, the person we are speaking to is in front of us and able to
correct us if we make a mistake; on the contrary, the writer has to anticipate the reader's understanding
and predict potential problems. Moreover, regarding reactions, both speakers may show agreement
and understanding, or incomprehension and disagreement to each other whereas readers have no way
of signalling this to the writer. Therefore, readers have to put in some compensatory work in order to
make their reading successful.
Most obviously, they contrast in physical form. Speech uses phonic substance typically in the form
of air-pressure movements. Writing uses graphic substance typically in the form of marks on a
surface. We can establish the following points of contrast:
1) The permanence of writing allows repeated reading and close analysis. The spontaneity and
rapidity of speech minimises the chance of complex pre-planning.
2) The participants in written interaction cannot usually see each other, so they cannot make clear
what they mean. However, in speech interactions feedback is possible.
3) The majority of graphic features presents a system of contrasts that has no speech equivalent. Many
genres of written language, such as tables, graphs and complex formulae, cannot be conveyed by
reading aloud.
4) Some constructions may only be found in writing, others only occur in speech, such as in slang
and swear words.
5) Finally we can say that writing tends to be more formal and so it is more likely to provide the
standard that society values. Its performance provides it with a special status.
Today, a compromise exists whereby vocal and visual language are generally considered as two equal
but very different means of communication.
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3. RULES THAT GOVERN WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
Written language evolved independently at different times in several parts of the world. Neither its
emergence nor its further development was homogeneous. As a result of this we find today two
different types of writing systems. Writing has been defined as Non- Phonological systems which
do not show a clear relationship between the symbols and the sounds of the language (pictographic,
ideographic, uniform and Egyptian hieroglyphics and logographics) and Phonological systems
which show a clear relationship between the symbols and the sounds of language.
3.1. FORMAL ELEMENTS
3.1.1. Features characteristic of written language.
There are some features characteristic of written language, but this should not be taken to imply that
there's a well-delimited dividing line between writing and speech, since speech is the language of
immediate communication, and writing is a type of communication with a distance in between. This
is the reason why written texts present the following formal elements:
A. Linguistic features of written language.
A good writing system must be fixed, flexible, and adaptable at a time, so that:
² It must provide a codified expression for the elements expressed by oral language: each idea = a
written form.
² It must provide means for creating expressions for elements not codified yet: neologisms,
borrowings...
B. Syntactic features of written language.
The syntactic elements which make writing different from speech are:
² Markers and rhetorical organisers for clauses relationships and clarity (written texts are more
permanent)
² Use of heavily pre-modified NPs, SVO ordering and use of passive constructions and subordinate
phrases
C. Lexical features o f written language.
In order to compensate the absence of paralinguistic devices and feedback:
² More accuracy in the use of vocabulary, avoiding redundancy and ambiguity (due to its permanent
nature)
² Use of anaphoras and cataphoras, repetitions, synonyms... to signal relationships between
sentences
² There is more lexical density in writing than in speech (more lexical items than grammatical ones)
D. Graphological implications.
Texts can be presented in different ways, as our culture value many times more the form than the
content. To compensate for the absence of feedback and paralinguistic devices, written texts need to
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be accurate in spelling, punctuation, capital letters to mark sentence boundaries, indentation of
paragraphs, different fonts to call attention (italics, bold...) and in poetry or texts to draw attention,
exploitation of resources such as order and choice of words, variations in spelling.
With respect to graphological resources, we are mainly dealing with visual devices as we make
reference to orthography, punctuation, headings, foot notes, tables of contents and indexes.
Firstly, orthography is related to a correct spelling, and in relation to this term, Byrne (1979) states
that the mastery of the writing system includes the ability to spell. This device covers different word
categories, but mainly, rules of suffixation, prefixation, and addition of verbal markers as gerunds,
past tenses or third person singular in present tenses.
Secondly, according to Quirk et al (1972) punctuation serves two main functions. Firstly, the
separation of successive units (such as sentences by periods, or items in a list by commas), and
secondly, the specification of language function (as when an apostrophe indicates that an inflection
is genitive). Moreover, punctuation is concerned with purely visual devices. It is worth noting that
punctuation has never been standardised to the same extent as spelling, and as a result, learners tend
to overlook the relevance of punctuation when producing a text.
In any case, what is most characteristic of written communication is that we see it (the organisation,
length...). It is the visual mode mainly which is involved.
E. Textual Organization.
For different purposes written texts may be divided into many different units, of different types or
sizes. A prose text such as this one might be divided into sections, chapters, paragraphs, and
sentences. A verse text might be divided into cantos, stanzas, and lines. Once printed, sequences of
prose and verse might be divided into volumes, gatherings, and pages (Swales 1990).
These textual structures overlap with each other in complex and unpredictable ways. Particularly
when dealing with texts, the reader needs to be aware of both the physical organization of the book
and the logical structure of the work it contains.
3.1.2. Text and Context
Text must have a context, it needs an orientation in respect of place, time, factuality, participants,
relations, etc. The next step will be to study some of these grammatical relations.
1. Asyndetic connection.
Just as a text realized by a single sentence as a complex of underground connections with its context,
so any two neighbouring sentences will be perceived as being connected. Mere juxtaposition is a sign
of connectedness: ‘Go and visit your father; it’s New Year’s Day’ or ‘It’s New Year’s Day. Go and
visit your father’. The perceived connection is the same, whichever sentence come first. They are
connected and if the text is successful, the connection will be clear to the reader.
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2. Structural parallelism.
Neighbouring sentences that share grammatical features of tense, aspect, clause structure, or word
order give a strong impression of being connected thereby, although they might be formally regarded
as asyndetic. ‘The baseball game was cancelled in New Haven and/while the hockey match was
postponed in Hartfor’. The parallelism between sentences is more transparent, and hence the
connection between the sentences is more strongly indicated.
3. Connection by sequence.
Sentences with grammatical features in common, such as the same subject or the same tense, often
imply temporal and causal connection. As the two real-world events, a policeman holding up his hand
and a car coming to a standstill, follow each other in time, so asyndetic narration of these event will
preserve this sequence: ‘The policeman held up his hand. The car stopped’; but in the sentence ‘The
car stopped. The policeman held up his hand.’ the message would be meaningless.
4. Syndetic connection.
Another way of indicating both the relevance of sequence and the closeness of textual connection is
to introduce an explicit element connecting item, most frequently the coordinator ‘and’: ‘Roger’s
finished his thesis and Caroline arrived from London last week’. But although ‘and’ is the most
neutral and semantically uncommitted of connection items, it will be noticed that some of the options
for interpreting the text are now irrelevant. Even the listener who knows nothing of Roger and
Caroline may now interpret the two parts as having a temporal sequence matching textual sequence:
perhaps Caroline waited for the thesis to be completed before leaving London.
5. Thematic connection.
Although all texts necessarily have extra-textual connections, it is normal for them to generate
internal connections as well. The basic way of doing this is proceeding sequentially from the known
to the unknown, thus forming a chain in which what was unknown becomes the known as a point of
departure towards a further unknown item. An example would be: ‘Here is an urgent message. It is
for visiting salesman Herbert Black. Will Mr Black please contact the third floor supervisor? She
will be waiting for him at the inquiry desk’.
3.1.3. Situations
Any given text is not only a realization of a particular text type, including combined forms, but it is
also the product of the further register categories: field, medium, and personal tenor. A letter asking
for a social security number, for instance, is characterized by these features: instructive function, field
of public social administration, medium of writing; personal tenor of communication in an
asymmetric social relationship including, conventionally, the use of relatively formal language;
practical-administrative activity.
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3.2 TEXTUALITY AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
According to Rivers (1981), writing a language comprehensibly is much more difficult than speaking
it. When we write, she says, we are like communicating into space if we do not know the recipient of
our piece of writing, whereas when we communicate a message orally, we know who is receiving the
message.
Then, following Byrne (1979), we can establish similar resources for both speaking and writing at a
linguistic level, thus on its grammar and lexis, but not to the extent to which some resources apply
directly to the nature of the two channels. Hence, as speech is the language of immediate
communication, most linking devices will also occur in the spoken language although less frequently
than in writing where they are essential for the construction of a coherent text.
Therefore, in order to examine the construction of longer texts, we will examine the rules that most
successful writers unconsciously follow and native readers unconsciously expect to find. It is
relevant, then, to address the term textuality in written and oral texts as it is involved in rules
governing written discourse. In the approach to text linguistics by de Beaugrande & Dressler (1981),
text, oral or printed, is established as a communicative occurrence, which has to meet seven standards
of textuality. If any of these standards are not satisfied, the text is considered not to have fulfilled its
function and not to be communicative.
Cohesion and coherence are text-centred notions, designating operations directed at the text
materials. Cohesion concerns the ways in which the components of the surface text (the actual words
we hear or see) are mutually connected within a sequence, that is, intratext linking devices are
connected to extra-textual reference.
Coherence, on the other hand, concerns the ways in which the components of the textual world, thus
the concepts and relations which underlie the surface text are mutually accessible and relevant. A
coherent text is a semantically connected, integrated whole, expressing relations of closeness, thus,
causality, time, or location between its concepts and sentences. A condition on this continuity of sense
is that the connected concepts are also related in the real world, and that the reader identifies the
relations.
We must point out that the need for cohesive devices in order to build a coherent text will be greater
in oral than in written communication. The immediacy of oral communication together with the use
of non-verbal communication will compensate for the lack of cohesive devices.
The remaining standards of textuality are user-centred, concerning the activity of textual
communication by the producers and receivers of texts:
Firstly, intentionality concerns the text producer attitude towards the text which should fulfil the
writer intentions. Secondly, acceptability concerns the receiver attitude that the set of occurrences
should constitute a cohesive and coherent text having some use or relevance for the receiver.
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Thirdly, informativity concerns the extent to which the occurrences of the text are expected vs.
unexpected or whether it repeats what is already known or provides new information. No text
provides only old or new information, but the ratio of the two can vary considerably and depends on
the sender’s intentions and assessment of the addressee.
Fourthly, situationality concerns the factors which make a text relevant to a particular situation. This
include such aspects as using informal vocabulary and short sentences in informal situations.
Fifth, intertextuality concerns the factors which make the utilization of one text dependent upon
knowledge of one or more previously encountered texts. The presence or absence of these aspects of
intertextuality depends on the individual reader.
The above seven standards of textuality are called constitutive principles (Searle 1965), in that they
define and create textual communication as well as set the rules for communicating. There are also at
least three regulative principles that control textual communication: the efficiency of a text is
contingent upon its being useful to the participants with a minimum of effort; its effectiveness
depends upon whether it makes a strong impression and has a good potential for fulfilling an aim;
and its appropriateness depends upon whether its own setting is in agreement with the seven
standards of textuality (de Beaugrande & Dressler 1981:11).

4. CRITERIA FOR TEXT CLASSIFICATION: TYPES OF TEXTS

Any text is a message that is part of a communicative process. The elements that inform the
communicative exchange (sender, receiver, code, etc.) will somehow condition the form and structure
of the text. Each text will therefore have its unique characteristics that will differentiate it from others.
However, it is also possible to observe regularities among different types of text that will allow us to
classify texts according to different criteria. Whatever the classification might be it must be taken
into account that it will not be a closed nor absolute one.
Traditionally, written texts were divided following the classification of genres (lyric, epic and drama)
then linguistics linked their rhetorical mode to the syntactic structures, routines and formulas that
characterized them, and classified the written texts into: argumentative, expository, narrative,
descriptive. Nevertheless, many other classifications are possible.
² According to the type of code used, texts can be classified in verbal and non-verbal texts
depending on whether they are based on natural spoken language or not.
² According to the intention of the sender, texts can be divided into informative, explicative,
persuasive, prescriptive or literary.
² According to the variety of the discourse texts can be expository, argumentative, descriptive,
narrative or dialogic.
² According to the topic or theme texts can be scientific, humanistic, legal, journalistic, etc.
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The classification offered here, will analyse texts and its different elements following the criteria
based on the variety of discourse used in the communicative exchange. The variety of discourse refers
to the different strategies used in the construction of the text. These strategies are determined by the
intention of the sender on the one hand (to inform, explain, persuade etc.) and by the perspective he
adopts in the transmission of such information. As a consequence, the sender or writer, might perceive
the information as:
a) A set of facts, real or fictitious
b) A set of observations taken from the reality
c) An ordered explanation of one or more ideas
d) A reasoning in order to persuade the receiver or reader
The combination of intention together with the different perspective adopted in transmitting such
information results in what we call varieties of discourse: narrative, descriptive, instructive,
expository, and argumentative. In other words, it is the function the text plays in communication what
will determine the classification and thus its structure.
Narrative texts
The most universal of all the types of written texts, refer back to the story-telling traditions of most
cultures. They can be further divided into FICTIONAL - fairy tale, novel- AND NON FICTIONAL-
newspaper reports-. In fact there seem to be some basic universal structure that governs this type of
texts: Orientation (time, place and character identification to inform reader of the story world), Goal,
Problem, Resolution and sometimes a morale at the end. For this characteristic structure, some of the
routines and formulae used are presentative (there is...), relatives, adjuncts of place and time, flash-
backs, different narrative point of view, narrative dialogues, use of dynamic verbs and sequencing
adverbials.
Descriptive texts
They are concerned with the location and characterisation of people and things in the space, as well
as providing background information which sets the stage for narration. All types have the same pre-
established organisation. Within descriptive texts we might find:
o External descriptions, presenting a holistic view of the object by an account of all its parts.
o Functional descriptions, which deal with instruments and the tasks they may perform.
o Psychological descriptions, which express the feelings that something produces in someone.
o Technical descriptions that are characterized by their objectivity.
o Impressionistic descriptions characterized by their subjectivity.
Some of the most characteristic structures are presentative (there...), adjuncts of location, stative verbs
(look, seem, be...), use of metaphors, comparisons, qualifying adjectives and relative sentences as
well as the use of the perfect and progressive forms for background information.
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Instructive texts
They are concerned with concrete future activity. Central to such texts are imperatives or forms which
substitute them, or suggestive marks. On the one hand, stage directions use the simple present, while
on the other hand, assembly and operation instructions use sequences of imperative.
Expository texts
They identify and characterize phenomena, including text forms such as definitions, explanations,
instructions, guidelines, summaries, etc. They may be subjective (an essay) and objective (definitions,
instructions), or even advice giving. They may be analytical, starting from a concept and then
characterizing its parts, and ending with a conclusion. Typical structures are stative verbs, "in order
to", "so as to", imperatives, modals and verbs of quality.
Argumentative texts
They are those whose purpose is to support or weaken another statement whose validity is
questionable. A frequent pattern would therefore be to start with the negation of a statement which
attributes a quality of characteristic activity to something or someone. The structures we find are very
flexible, being this the reason for the existence of several types: Classical/Pros & Cons zigzag, One-
sided argumentation, eclectic approximation, Opposition's argumentation first, Other side questioned,
etc.
4.1. RULES FOR WRITTEN TEXTS
A written text and its components parts (letters, words, sentences, paragraphs, etc.) have the character
of objects; they are persistent and static. The written text is made up of discrete symbols, i.e. letter
(at least in print) and (graphic) words, and these are organized in certain regular spatial patterns.
Unlike spoken utterances, a written text lacks and immediate context. Though it is true that a reader
must, in order to properly understand a written text ‘place it in a wider context’, a written text is – as
a rule and in comparison with spoken utterances – relatively explicit and relatively autonomous or
context-free. The acquisition of the ability to read and write is quite different from learning to speak
and understand speech. Normally, a considerable amount of explicit instruction is needed, and the
more skilled and erudite writers have usually gone through many years of rather intense training.
Thus, the acquisition of written language belongs to the so-called secondary socialization, in which
school and other cultural institutions play a very important instrument part. We can summarize the
main rules in the following ones:
² Conveyed by written symbols.
² Planned, drafting takes place to edit out mistakes or redundancy of extra words.
² Can use graphology, such as layout, punctuation, fonts and pictures to convey meaning.
² Complex vocabulary used, more formal vocabulary, sometimes technical jargon.
² More carefully and logically structured.
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² Usually fully formed sentences. Complex and varied sentence structure used.
² Standard English used; accent and dialect are only represented in dialogue between characters.
² No interaction, no shared context with audience means the text has to explain everything
explicitly and clearly to make sure there are no misunderstandings.
² Much variation in linking words, e.g. because, in order to, although, etc.
² Permanent – has to be deliberately destroyed; can therefore be referred to many times.
4.2. ROUTINES AND FORMULAS
There are sometimes when we choose how, when and why not to be creative with language to repeat
what is normally used in a given situation: we use linguistic routines and formulas. These are
defined as fixed utterances or sequences of utterances which must be considered as single units,
because their meaning cannot be derived of them unless considered as a whole.
In written texts we find different types of routines and formulaic expressions, which vary depending
on the type of text, as we have been previously seeing. Understanding them usually requires sharing
cultural knowledge, because they are generally metaphorical in nature and must be interpreted at a
non-linguistic level (for instance, Dear in a letter does not always carry affective meaning).
All those phrases and sentences that, to some extend, have a prescriptive character, can be considered
as routines and formulaic expressions: to consider all the different existing routines would take too
long, but some examples are, in letters & postcards (Yours sincerely) in C. V’s, the organization of
info in different blocks, in narration (Once upon a time) in descriptions (on the left, high above), etc...
Following a general division of any kind of text we may sometimes begin with a brief heading or
descriptive title, with or without a by-line, an epigraph or brief quotation, or a salutation, such as we
may find at the start of a letter. They may also conclude with a brief trailer, by-line, or signature.
Elements which may appear in this way, either at the start or at the end of a text division proper, are
regarded as forming a class, known as divtop or divbot respectively.
The following special purpose elements are provided to mark features which may appear only at the
start of a division. Firstly, the head, which may contain any heading, such as the title of a section, a
list or a glossary. Secondly, an epigraph which contains a quotation, anonymous or attributed,
appearing at the start of a section or chapter, or on a title page. Thirdly, an argument in terms of a
formal list or prose description of the topics addressed by a subdivision of a text. Finally, an opener
which groups together dateline, by-line, salutation, and similar phrases appearing as a preliminary
group at the start of a division, especially of a letter. The conclusion will be characterized by a brief
trailer of the subject matter as a summary of facts. A by-line or a signature may also conclude any
piece of writing.
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5. CONCLUSION
This topic will be very useful to encourage pupils to see that skill in communicating is not only to
master vocabulary and grammatical rules, but to use these and other essential elements to get a
message across. It will be very important to work with the four main areas of communicative
competence: written consolidation, variations of style, creativity in the use of cohesive elements and
less controlled activities.