Text Structures Study Guide Name:______________
If you can correctly answer all of the questions on this guide, you’re ready for the test on
Tuesday, October 15th!
1 – Name the five structures used most often with informational texts.
1. _______________________________
4. _______________________________
2. _______________________________
5. ________________________________
3. ________________________________
2 – The ______________________________________________________ text structure is
used to tell how two or sometimes three things are alike or how they are different.
3 – One of the five structures is used to appeal to the reader’s senses. This is the
________________________________ structure. It is filled with adjectives.
4 – Two structures are very similar; however, one gives the reader solutions to try while the
other just offers a list of reasons and event may have happened.
The structure that offers solutions is the ___________________________ structure.
The structure that offers a list of reasons an event may have happened is the
__________________________________ structure.
5 – The final structure can actually be used two different ways. One way it is used helps in the
social studies classes because it arranges the ideas by time. The other way it is used is helpful
in giving directions.
The structure that is used with dates and times is _______________________________.
The structure that helps deliver instruction is the ______________________ structure.
6 – Look back at your five answers for number one. List each of those structures again, but
beside each one, give three signal words or phrases that will help you identify that structure in
a written paragraph.
Structure Name
Signal Words
1. _____________________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________________________________
5. _____________________________________________________________________
Read each of the following paragraphs. Identify the type of structure. Then UNDERLINE the signal words,
clues, or evidence that helped you to identify this structure. Read carefully.
7-
Carl Terrell Mitchell, better known by his stage name Twista, was born in 1972. Nineteen years later
Mitchell’s first album, “Running’Off at da Mouth”, debuted. In 1997, after appearing on Do or Die’s hit “Po
Pimp”, Twista was signed to Atlantic Records. Under that label he released “Adrenaline Rush” and formed the
group Speedknot Mobstaz in 1998. His 2004 album Kamikaze went to number-one on the US Billboard 2004
album chart.
Structure Type: ___________________________________________________________________
8-
Hurricanes and the destruction have caused many to lose their lives each year. Sadly, people do not
have to die from these disasters. One thing that can be done to prevent more lives from being lost is to have
an evacuation procedure. Cities and towns in the paths of hurricanes need to be evacuated. Some people who
live in these cities and towns don’t have transportation, so buses must be provided and safe drop off zones
need to be arranged. Having better evacuation procedures would save lives.
Structure Type: ___________________________________________________________________
9-
Hurricanes and tornados are both amazing yet deadly natural phenomena. Both generate deadly
conditions, but in different ways. Torandos are likely to damage people and property with their high winds,
which go up to 300 miles per hour, but hurricanes are generally more feared for their flooding. Also hurricanes
can produce tornados, which make them quite dangerous indeed.
Structure Type: ___________________________________________________________________
10 -
No one knows exactly what causes tornados, but some scientist believe that when warm air meets cold
air, a tornado may form. The reason for this is that the warm air is lighter than the cold air, so it rises up fast
and meets different winds moving different directions. Under the right conditions, this can cause a tornado.
Though there is still much mystery surrounding tornados, many people believe that when warm moist air
meets cool dry air, tornados can result.
Structure Type: ___________________________________________________________________
11 -
Making sandbags can be easy and fun. The first thing that you need to do is to get near a location with
a lot of sand, so if your by a beach, that’ll be perfect. The next thing you need to do is fill your bags with sand.
You will want to fill them completely and pack the sand down so that it is firm, like a brick, but leave enough
space at the end so that you can tie the bag closed. After tying it closed, you may then stack them into a wall.
Repeat steps until you have a large wall.
Structure Type: ___________________________________________________________________
12 -
There’s a large windmill on my Grandma’s farm, right next to a big red barn. The windmill extends into
the sky like the middle finger of industry. Next to that windmill is a crystal blue lake with waters so clear, the
fish get scared when they see you waking up. All around the far side of that lake is a white fence. Not a picket
fence, but like the kind with two wide white rails running horizontal with a post about every ten or fifteen feet.
Well, anyway that fence separates our land from the Marsh’s property.
Structure Type: ___________________________________________________________________
The last thing to be ready to do on your test is to be ready to write. Part 2 of your test
will be the use of the structures. You will be given several 2-3 structures that each have 2-3
topics. You will be asked to choose two separate topics and compose paragraphs on those
topics that use the structure specified. These will be like the paragraphs that we have done in
class over the last week and a half. In that you are being tested on the use of the structures,
you will only be graded for content and the organizational structure’s use. You will NOT be
graded on grammar for these. That will come later as part of our end-of-the quarter test.