The school curriculum must have a topic: "Types of speech: description, narration, reasoning." But after a while, knowledge tends to be erased from memory, so it would be useful to fix this important question.
What are types of speech? What functions do they perform?
Types of speech: description, narration, reasoning - this is how we talk about a subject. For example, imagine an ordinary table in the office or at home in the kitchen. If you need to describe this item, then you should tell in detail how it looks, what is on it. Such text will be descriptive, therefore, it is a description. If the narrator begins to talk about what this table is for, is it too old, is it not time to change it to a new one, then the chosen type of speech will be called reasoning. A text can be called a narrative if a person tells a story about how this table was ordered or made, brought home and other details of the appearance of the tableon the territory of the apartment.
Now some theory. Types of speech are used by the narrator (author, journalist, teacher, announcer) to convey information. Depending on how it will be served, the typology is determined.
Description is a type of speech, the purpose of which is a detailed story about a static object, image, phenomenon or person.
Narrative tells about the developing action, conveying certain information in a time sequence.
With the help of reasoning, the flow of thought regarding the subject that caused it is transmitted.
Functional-semantic types of speech: description, narration, reasoning
Types of speech are often called functional-semantic. What does it mean? One of the meanings of the word "function" (there are many others, including mathematical terms) is a role. That is, speech types play a role.
The function of description as a type of speech is to recreate a verbal picture, to help the reader see it with his inner vision. This is achieved through the use of adjectives in various degrees of comparison, adverbial phrases, and other speech means. This type of speech is most often found in artistic style. A description in a scientific style will differ significantly from an artistic one in the unemotional, clear course of the story, the obligatory presence of terms and professional vocabulary.
Narrative is characterized by an image of an action, a situation or a specific case. With the help of verbs and short, capacious sentences, the effect of presence is created. This type of speech is often used in newsreports. Its function is to alert.
Reasoning as a type of speech is characterized by a variety of styles: artistic, scientific, business and even colloquial. The pursued goal is to clarify, reveal certain features, to prove or disprove something.
Features of the structure of speech types
Each type of speech has a distinct structure. The narration is characterized by the following classical form:
- string;
- development of events;
- climax;
- denouement.
The description does not have a clear structure, but it differs in such forms as:
- descriptive story about a person or animal, as well as an object;
- detailed description of the place;
- state description.
Such examples are often found in literary texts.
Reasoning is fundamentally different from previous types of speech. Since its purpose is to convey the sequence of the human thought process, the reasoning is constructed as follows:
- thesis (statement);
- arguments, along with examples (proof of this statement);
- final conclusion or conclusion.
Speech types are often confused with styles. This is a gross mistake. Below we explain how styles differ from types.
Types and styles of speech: what are the differences?
The concept of speech styles appears in Russian language textbooks. What is it and are there any differences between styles and types?
Sostyle is a complex of certain speech means used in a particular area of communication. There are five main styles:
- Spoken.
- Publicistic.
- Formal business (or business).
- Scientific.
- Artistic.
To see the characteristic features of the styles, you can take any text. The type of speech (description, examples of which will be presented) is present both in scientific and journalistic style. The conversational style we choose for daily communication. It is characterized by the presence of vernacular expressions, abbreviations and even slang words. It is appropriate at home or with friends, but upon arrival at an official institution, for example, at a school, university or ministry, the style of speech changes to a business one with elements of a scientific one.
Newspapers and magazines are written in journalistic style. Using it, broadcast news channels. The scientific style can be found in educational literature, it is characterized by many terms and concepts.
Finally, art style. He wrote books that we read for our own pleasure. Comparisons (“the morning is beautiful, like the smile of a loved one”), metaphors (“the night sky pours gold on us”) and other artistic expressions are inherent in it. By the way, description is a type of speech that is quite common in fiction and, accordingly, in the style of the same name.
How to distinguish speech styles from types? Speech types are how and what we talk about. Describing a flower or a house means that the type of speech is a description. We affirm that the house appeared here in a certain year,citing strong arguments for this - our speech type is reasoning. Well, if the narrator wants to share the experience of planting and caring for a plant or tell how he built a house, then we are dealing with a narrative.
The difference is this: you can describe, reflect or narrate using different styles. For example, when talking about a flower in an artistic style, the author uses a lot of expressive epithets to convey to the listener or reader the beauty of the plant. A biologist, on the other hand, will describe a flower, from the point of view of science, using generally accepted terminology. In the same way, one can argue and narrate. For example, a publicist will write a feuilleton about a carelessly picked flower, using reasoning as a type of speech. At the same time, the girl, using a conversational style, will tell her friend how a classmate gave her a bouquet.
Using Styles
The specificity of speech styles makes their successful neighborhood possible. For example, if the type of speech is a description, then it can be supplemented with reasoning. All the same flower can be described in the school wall newspaper, using both scientific or journalistic, and artistic style. It can be an article about the valuable properties of a plant and a poem praising its beauty. In a biology lesson, the teacher, using a scientific style, will offer students information about a flower, and after that he can tell a fascinating legend about it.
Type of speech description. Examples in literature
This type can be conditionally called an image. That is, when describing, the author depicts the subject(for example, a table), natural phenomena (thunderstorm, rainbow), a person (a girl from a neighboring class or a favorite actor), an animal, and so on ad infinitum.
The following forms are distinguished within the description:
• portrait;
• status description;
• landscape or interior.
The author talks about an object, subject or place in such a way that the listeners can imagine, see it, but with the help of a verbal description. The following examples are worth checking out.
Examples of the landscape, you can find in the works of the classics. For example, in the story "The Fate of a Man" the author gives a brief description of the early post-war spring. The paintings he recreates are so vivid and believable that it seems as if the reader is seeing them.
In Turgenev's story "Bezhin Meadow" landscapes also play an important role. With the help of the verbal image of the summer sky and sunset, the writer conveys the powerful beauty and power of nature.
To remember what a description is as a type of speech, it is worth considering another example.
We went out for a picnic outside the city. But today the sky was gloomy and became more and more unfriendly towards evening. At first the clouds were of a heavy gray hue. The sky was covered with them, like a theater stage after a performance. The sun had not yet set, but it was already invisible. And now lightning appeared between the gloomy curtains of the clouds…”.
The description is characterized by the use of adjectives. It is thanks to them that this text gives the impression of a picture, conveys color and weather gradations to us. To the storydescriptive type, the following questions are asked: “What does the described object (person, place) look like? What characteristics does he have?”
Narrative example
Discussing the previous type of speech (description), it can be noted that it is used by the author to recreate the visual effect. But the narrative conveys the plot in dynamics. This speech type describes events. The following example tells about what happened to the heroes of a short story about a thunderstorm and a picnic next.
“… The first lightning did not frighten us, but we knew that this was only the beginning. We had to collect our things and run away. As soon as a simple dinner was packed into backpacks, the first drops of rain fell on the bedspread. We rushed to the bus stop.”
In the text, pay attention to the number of verbs: they create the effect of action. It is the image of the situation in the time period that is the hallmark of the narrative type of speech. In addition, questions of this kind can be asked to a text of this kind: “What was first? What happened next?”
Reasoning. Example
What is reasoning as a type of speech? Description and narration are already familiar to us and are easier to understand than text-reasoning. Let's go back to friends caught in the rain. One can easily imagine how they are discussing their adventure: “… Yes, we were lucky that the summer resident motorist noticed us at the bus stop. Good thing he didn't pass by. In a warm bed it is good to talk about a thunderstorm. Not so scary if we were at the same stop again. A thunderstorm is not only unpleasant, but also dangerous. You can't predict where lightning will strike. No, we will never go out of town again without knowing the exact weather forecast. A picnic is good for a sunny day, but in a thunderstorm it’s better to drink tea at home.” The text contains all the structural parts of reasoning as a type of speech. In addition, you can ask him questions that are characteristic of reasoning: “What is the reason? What follows from this?”
In closing
Our article was devoted to the types of speech - description, narration and reasoning. The choice of a particular speech type depends on what we are talking about in this case and what goal we are pursuing. We also mentioned characteristic speech styles, their features and close relationship with speech types.
