There are many ways in which these texts could be grouped but here are three suggested groups with brief reasons, which you can develop in more detail. As you can see, I’ve highlighted differences as well as similarities and suggested possible sub-groupings - remember that it’s important to do this on task 1 of ENGB1.
Firstly, texts 1, 2 and 4 clearly all have the purposes to instruct and inform. As written texts, 2 and 4 do this through the use of conventional discourse structures (the ‘recipe’ structure of 2 with its front ended imperative constructions and the question-answer structure of 4). Text 1 however, unlike the other two is a spoken text. In this instance, the TV chef is not only speaking but demonstrating as well to a viewer who would be watching her on TV. Consequently she uses a deictic term ‘here’, to refer to something she’s pointing to and which the viewer can see. The informal nature of the programme can be seen in conventional features of informal spoken discourse such as pauses, elision - ‘gonna’ and elliptical constructions - ‘need a bit of oil’. There are other examples of a more informal register such as the way in which she uses personal interjections – ‘if friends come round’ and phrases such as ‘looks a bit scary’. As with most shows of this kind, the intention is to establish and maintain a relationship between the presenter and her audience who may have viewed the programme before and/or will (hopefully) watch it again. There isn’t the need to present a perceived closeness between producer and receiver (or to maintain viewing figures !) in texts 2 and 4 and so the register they use is much more formal.
Another possible grouping would be texts 3, 5 and 6, which all make significant use of images. Text 3 uses an image of a modified action man (an iconic and famous toy) to shock its readership in line with the text’s purpose which is to persuade people to donate. The image of an amputee is used to provoke a strong response and is supported by the accompanying text, which uses hard hitting modification ‘terrible physical and psychological toil’, ‘exceptionally high’ and ‘brave young men and women’. Text 5 also uses an image, this time the fair-trade logo that like the action man doll, the text producer assumes that the reader will recognise. Again this image is used to present an important message. Although the text is advertising the showing of the FAIRTRADE documentary, it is also aiming to promote awareness of FAIRTRADE itself, in a similar way to how text 3 aims to promote awareness of the need to support war veterans. Text 6 however uses images to support a narrative and has the sole purpose to entertain, following the typical discourse conventions of a comic book for younger readers. The images in this text are much more detailed, since they are required to support a narrative.
A third possible grouping is that of texts 3, 4 and 6 which all present and/or challenge widely held assumptions and stereotypes. Text 3 aims to present the harsh reality of war by deliberately challenging the assumption that war is like a game and that soldiers are like action heroes. Similarly, text 4 aims to dispel ideas that people might commonly have about ferrets as well as providing more information on looking after animals through its series of straightforward declarative sentences. Text 6 also challenges ideas about war but in this case does so through its characterisation: the young and naive Charley is placed in contrast to the wiser and realistic Ginger. However, since its readers would be relatively young and its purpose is to entertain, it doesn’t rely on the shock tactics of text 3. Within this group, texts 3 and 4 could be placed into a sub-group of advertisements since they both promote charities and attempt to persuade their readers to donate money to their causes.
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