Books can contain different types of text.
Text is a set of statements that allows giving a coherent and orderly message , either in writing or through words . It is a structure composed of signs and a specific writing that gives space to a meaningful unit .
Each text - a term originating from the Latin textus - has a certain communicative purpose : through its signs it seeks to transmit a certain message that acquires meaning according to each context . The length of the text is highly variable, from a few words to millions of them. In fact, a text is virtually infinite.
Beyond the basic concept (the text as a unit of meaning), the same term allows us to refer to things that are quite different from each other. In this sense, a complete book , a sentence from a newspaper , a chat over the Internet and a conversation in a bar include texts.
Differentiations and characteristics
Sometimes, the notion of text is used to name the body of a printed or handwritten work , as opposed to that which is separate. The text, therefore, is only the main body of a book, leaving out the cover , the index , the appendices, etc.
Among the characteristics of a text are coherence (the different positions and information it exposes must help form a general idea), cohesion (all sequences of meaning must be related to each other) and adequacy (it must be in conditions to reach your ideal reader).
Texts, on the other hand, are related to other texts to generate meaning. This means that a text is always interpreted through a frame of reference .
Text Types
The types of text are numerous since classifications can be carried out taking into account different criteria. A narrative text , for example, presents a succession of actions carried out by the protagonist , the antagonist and the rest of the characters in the work. A story and a novel are narrative texts.
An informative text , meanwhile, exposes events. It is often related to the expository text , which makes an idea or fact known objectively. A newspaper article and an essay are texts of this kind.
Instructional text and argumentative text are other of the most common types. It is important to keep in mind that texts usually combine features of the different classifications: a chronicle can be narrative, informative and argumentative at the same time, to mention one possibility.
It should be noted that one of the great distinctions that is usually made between texts is between those that are fiction and those that are part of non-fiction . In any case, this division is not clear-cut either since a fantasy novel can include references to reality in a chapter and a biography can narrate events in a fictional way.
Digital texts are very popular today.
Components and structure
Numerous components and parts can be recognized in a text. In principle, a sentence with a few words can be constituted as a text. The usual thing, however, is that several sentences are gathered together in a paragraph , and that the sum of paragraphs gives rise to a section or a chapter , or even the entire text if it does not have segmentations.
As we already indicated, the text must be coherent and have cohesion. It is essential that the author knows where to place each punctuation mark , when to include information in parentheses and when to use quotation marks , for example.
It is not the same to write "He is my son Roberto" as "He is my son, Roberto" . The comma , in this case, serves to indicate that the statement is directed to an interlocutor named Roberto , which means that this is not the name of the son in question.
Use colons or semicolons ; include a question mark or exclamation point in the appropriate place; and appealing to synonyms to avoid repetition of words are resources that help reading and facilitate the interpretation of the message. You should always pay attention to semantics and grammar to avoid making mistakes.
Going to another level of analysis, it is possible to affirm that a text is made up of a title (the "name" that identifies it), an introduction (where the theme is presented), a development (which exposes the plot or argument ) and a conclusion (the outcome ). A subtitle , prologue , epilogue , and other elements may also appear. There are, of course, variations on this structure depending on the type of text.
When writing a text, various issues must be taken into account.
Textbook and Sacred Text
It is important to emphasize the fact that the idea of text can be used together with another concept, giving rise to the expression textbook . It refers to that book that is used in different schools so that the student learns a specific subject.
In this way we could set the following example as an example: "The teacher ordered all the students to take out the Mathematics textbook from their backpacks in order to start class."
Likewise, we cannot ignore that there is a very specific terminology that has been used since time immemorial in our society. We are referring to what is known as the Sacred Text or Sacred Text , a concept that can refer to the Bible , which is the set of books that acts as a fundamental pillar of the Christian and Jewish religions.
The notion in computing
Finally, it must be emphasized that in the field of technology and, specifically, in computing, there is also quite widespread use of the term we are analyzing. A word processor is a program thanks to which the user can write various documents on their computer. Word and OpenOffice Writer are the two most important and widely used word processors.
In the same way, this process of writing on a computer as well as its editing through said tool is called text processing .