New
New
Year 5

Identifying the features of a biography

I can identify the purpose and features of biographical writing.

New
New
Year 5

Identifying the features of a biography

I can identify the purpose and features of biographical writing.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. A biography is a non-fiction text written about someone's life.
  2. Linguistic features of a biography include fronted adverbials, facts, relative complex sentences and parenthesis.
  3. Structural features include a title, subheadings and relevant information grouped by theme.
  4. The purpose of a biography is to inform the reader about a particular individual.
  5. In biographies, extra, factual information can be added to clauses using brackets or commas.

Keywords

  • Biography - a non-fiction text written about someone’s life

  • Purpose - the aim of a text

  • Linguistic feature - a structure of language that uses words

  • Civil rights activist - a person who is dedicated to securing equal opportunity for members of minority groups

Common misconception

Pupils may find identifying linguistic features of the text type challenging.

Explicit explanations are given for key linguistic features and modelled in the example biography.

Some pupils may benefit from reading an adapted, shorter model that is easier to read and access.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Biographies are types of __________ text.
fiction
Correct answer: non-fiction
poetry
Q2.
Which of these definitions describes the purpose of a text?
Correct answer: the aim of the text
the person or people who read a text
how the text is structured
Q3.
Which of these definitions describes the audience of a text?
the aim of the text
Correct answer: the person or people who read a text
how the text is structured
Q4.
Which of these definitions describes the layout of a text?
the aim of the text
the person or people who read a text
Correct answer: how the text is structured
Q5.
A fronted adverbial is ...
Correct answer: a sentence starter followed by a comma
a group of words that always contains a verb
a describing word
Q6.
A paragraph is ...
a group of words containing a verb
a word describing a noun
a full text
Correct answer: a collection of sentences, grouped together by theme

6 Questions

Q1.
Match the key words with their definitions:
Correct Answer:biography,a non-fiction text written about someone’s life

a non-fiction text written about someone’s life

Correct Answer:purpose,the aim of a text

the aim of a text

Correct Answer:linguistic feature,a structure of language that uses words

a structure of language that uses words

Correct Answer:civil rights activist,a person dedicated to securing equal opportunity for minority groups

a person dedicated to securing equal opportunity for minority groups

Q2.
In 'biography', the letter string 'bio' means '...'
writing
study
Correct answer: life
Q3.
In 'biography', the letter string 'graphy' means '...'.
Correct answer: writing
study
life
Q4.
A biography is a non-fiction text written about what?
Correct answer: a person
an event
an idea
a person's day
Q5.
Order the parts of a biography.
1 - introduction
2 - sections
3 - conclusion
Q6.
Tick the layout features of biographies.
Correct answer: title
address
Correct answer: subheading
headline
Correct answer: paragraphs

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