Telling fiction from non-fiction, working out a text's purpose (to inform, persuade or entertain) and its intended audience, and using book features such as contents, index, glossary and bibliography.
Where your child meets this in real life: Choosing the right book for a school project, spotting when an advert is trying to persuade you, and finding information quickly in an information book
Questions 16 to 28 of the English section are all about one reading passage: 7 multiple-choice questions, then 6 short written answers. That is nearly half the English marks.
SEAGReady breaks text types, purpose and audience into 3 steps, taught in order so each skill builds on the last.
Decide whether a text is written as fiction or non-fiction by checking its purpose and organisation: an invented narrative experience versus information, explanation or another factual form.
Work out why a text was written (to inform, persuade or entertain) and who it was written for, using clues in its language, layout and content.
Choose the right book feature for the job: contents (chapters in page order), index (alphabetical topics at the back), glossary (word meanings) and bibliography (sources the author used).
This question comes from “The Wrong Shadow”, our free sample reading passage. It shows the lines of the story it needs. To practise like the real test, read the whole story and answer all its questions on the full sample page.
- Line 1: Nia arrived for final rehearsal and sat at the lighting desk beside the stage.
- Line 2: Her job was to turn a floor-level lamp towards a cardboard moon on cue.
- Line 3: She had marked the cue in blue pencil.
- Line 4: She knew the scene and could hear the next line in her head.
- Line 5: Still, her thumb pressed a fold into the corner of the cue sheet.
This question is about the whole story, so read all of it before you answer. Read the whole of “The Wrong Shadow”
Refer to: the whole passage
This is the exact interactive worked example your child sees in SEAGReady. Step through it and watch the method build up.
Read these two constructed extracts about a paper bridge. Text 1: 'Paper bridge instructions: Fold a strip of card lengthways. Stand it between two books. Add one counter at a time to test the bridge.' Text 2: 'Nia placed the last counter on her paper bridge. It sagged, but held. She grinned at Arun and whispered, "One more?"'
Which text is written as fiction and which as non-fiction? Use each text's purpose and organisation.
Text 1 gives commands in a useful order: fold the card, stand it between the books, then add counters. Its job is to tell the reader how to carry out a task.
Step 1 of 4
Read these two constructed extracts about a paper bridge. Text 1: 'Paper bridge instructions: Fold a strip of card lengthways. Stand it between two books. Add one counter at a time to test the bridge.' Text 2: 'Nia placed the last counter on her paper bridge. It sagged, but held. She grinned at Arun and whispered, "One more?"'
Which text is written as fiction and which as non-fiction? Use each text's purpose and organisation.
Text 1 is written as non-fiction because it gives ordered instructions; Text 2 is fiction because it develops an invented narrative scene around Nia.
The key insight: A subject can appear in either fiction or non-fiction. Decide from what the text is trying to do and how it is organised, not from whether its events seem possible.
Common mix-up: Calling Text 2 non-fiction because building a paper bridge could happen in real life. Plausible events can be used in fiction. This answer tests whether the event could happen instead of noticing that Text 2 is organised as an invented narrative scene.
These are the misconceptions we see most often in text types, purpose and audience, including the ones our practice questions are specifically designed to catch.
Struggling with text types, purpose and audience? The real gap is often in one of these earlier topics.
Sitting the SEAG test this November? Read our last-month revision plan, Paper 1 vs Paper 2 and test day guide.
SEAGReady finds the exact step where your child gets stuck, teaches it with worked examples like the one above, and brings it back for review so it sticks.
Free to start · no card needed