Starter quiz
- Which words best match the meaning of 'formal'?
- chatty
- serious ✓
- descriptive
- factual ✓
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- Which sentence below is the most formal in tone?
- She's done amazing things.
- Her achievements are very impressive. ✓
- The things she's done would amaze you!
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- What are the key features of a fronted adverbial?
- comes at the start of a sentence ✓
- comes in the middle of a sentence
- is followed by a comma ✓
- is followed by a semi-colon
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- Which of these sentences have a fronted adverbial?
- During the 1990s, she studied at university. ✓
- She studied at university during the 1990s.
- She worked in Manchester after she left university.
- After she left university, she worked in Manchester. ✓
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- Match the 'person' to the example.
- first person⇔I love nature. ✓
- second person⇔You love nature. ✓
- third person⇔She loves nature. ✓
- Which sentence below is not written in the third person?
- She chose to train as a gymnast after watching the Olympics.
- She offered me the job even though I was untrained. ✓
- She saw the potential in him immediately.
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Exit quiz
- What is the purpose of a biography?
- to inform the reader about a particular event
- to inform the reader about a particular person ✓
- to inform the reader about a particular place
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- Which of the following could be the subject of a biography?
- the Prime Minister ✓
- an election
- the Houses of Parliament
- the River Thames
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- In what order is a biography usually written?
- random order
- chronological order ✓
- starting from their death
- starting from their first job
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- Which of these are key linguistic features of a biography?
- third person ✓
- past tense ✓
- first person
- formal tone ✓
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- Which sentence is appropriate for use in a biography?
- She just loved those chimps!
- She was committed to learning more about chimps. ✓
- She taught me everything I know about chimps.
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- Match the types of fronted adverbial to the examples.
- formal fronted adverbial⇔However, ✓
- fronted adverbial of cause⇔Due to this, ✓
- fronted adverbial of time⇔During the war, ✓
Worksheet
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Presentation
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- A biography is a non-fiction text written about someone's life.
- Linguistic features of a biography include third person, formal fronted adverbials, formal tone and relative clauses.
- Structural features of a biography include a title, paragraphs and information grouped by theme.
- A biography is usually written in chronological order and will contain lots of past tense verbs.
- Additional factual information can be added to a clause as parenthesis.
Common misconception
Pupils may find the formal tone of a biography challenging.
You may wish to provide additional time for children to read a range of biographical writing to 'tune in' to the text type.
Keywords
Biography - a non-fiction text written about someone’s life
Formal tone - the effect created by choosing serious, factual language
Third person - the 'he/she/it/they' perspective, where we talk about another person
Fronted adverbial - a sentence starter followed by a comma
Relative clause - a type of subordinate clause starting with a relative pronoun (such as who, which or whose)
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