Effective Writing: Instructional Texts and Grammar Fundamentals

Instructional Texts: Structure and Features

Instructional texts provide a series of tips, orders, recommendations, or steps to carry out a specific activity or term. These texts are designed to lead the reader through a process effectively.

Key Characteristics of Instructional Writing

In these texts, you can commonly find:

• Imperative verbs: Direct commands such as undo.
• Infinitive periphrasis: Phrases indicating necessity, such as you must add.
• Sequential lists: Steps to follow, often numbered (1, 2, ...).
• Advice and recommendations: Suggestions for better results, such as for an adequate regime...

Types of Instructional Structures

Instructional texts generally follow two types of organization:

1. Drafting Structure: Advice or directions are presented in written paragraphs. Each paragraph is headed by an informative subtitle.
2. Enumerative Structure: Firstly, the names of the objects and their locations are identified using illustrative drawings. Then, instructions are organized by subtitles that express the intended goals. Under each goal, the steps to follow are listed and accompanied by images to illustrate the instructions.

Understanding Prepositions and Phrases

A preposition is an invariable word that functions to relate words or sets of words, carrying out or shading their meaning.

• Common Prepositions: A, from, in, by, for, against, among, as, besides, until, over, under, behind, on.
• Prepositional Phrases: Due to, except, please, to witness, close to, near, above, the above, to.

The Role of Conjunctions in Sentences

A conjunction is a word that serves to link two parallel groups of words or two sentences. There are two main types:

• Coordinating Conjunctions: These link elements within a single sentence that have a relation of equivalence.
• Subordinate Conjunctions: These link sentences where there is no relation of equivalence but rather dependency; that is, one sentence depends on another, which acts as the main clause.

Specific Types of Conjunctions

• Copulatives: Link or unite terms in pairs.
• Distributive: Indicate an alternative between two sentences or terms.
• Disjunctive: Link terms among which an option must be made.
• Adversative: Indicate opposition between the sentences or elements they link.
• Illatives: Indicate a consequence or result.
• Continuatives: Indicate continuity or succession between linked terms.

Antonyms and Their Classifications

Antonyms are words that have opposite meanings. They are categorized into three types:

• Grading: Terms that correspond to intermediate degrees.
• Complementary: The use of one word implies the negation of the other.
• Relational: The existence of one term implies the existence of another.

Spelling Rules for Vowels O and U

To determine the correct use of vowels O and U in names, adjectives, and adverbs, we look for a word from the same family in which the O or U is in an unstressed position. In verbs, we look at the first or third person present indicative.

Exceptions: Words such as sewing, harvest, spit, out, and cough. Use O in all forms except the present subjunctive, the imperative, and the first person present tense.