Reading Review Texts

Social Function :

To critisize an art work or event for a public audience. Such work of art include movies, TV shows, books, plays, operas, recondings, exhibitions, concerts, and ballets.

Generic Structure :

• Orientation                 :
places the works in its general and particular context, often by comparing it to others of its kind or through analogue with a non-art object or event.
• Interporetive recount  :
summeries the plot and/or provides an account of how the reviewed rendition of the work came into being; is optional, but if present, often recursive.
• Evaluation                  :
provides an evaluation of the work and/or its performance or production; is usually recursive.
• Evaluative summation :
provides a kind of punch line which sums up the reviewer's opinion of the art event as a whole; is optional.

The orientation is typically provided by the reviewer while the interpretive recount and evaluation can be provided by the reviewer, and optionally a source (that is, someone who participated in the creation and/or performance of the work). The evaluative summation is provided by the reviewer.

Significant Language Features :

• Focus on particular participants.
• Direct expression of opinions through the use of attitudinal ephitets in nominal groups; qualitative attributes, and affective mental processes.
• Use elaborating and extending clause and group complexes to package the information.
• Use of metaphorical language (e.g, The wit was there, dexteroustly pingponged to and fro...).

Source from Progress Grade XII