A List of Forms
Below is a list of forms commonly used in English Language Arts and other classes. Linked forms include a brief discription of the characteristics of the form and examples or links to examples.
Aesthetic
- Children’s lit
- Children’s TV
- Comics and cartoons
- Drama
- Fables, myths, and parables
- Feature films
- Folksongs and folktales
- Lyrics and ballads
- Monologues
- Music and variety shows
- Music videos
- Novels and novellas
- Poetry
- Scripts (theatrical, radio, and television)
- Short stories
- Situation comedies
- Soap operas
- Songs
- Television drama
Pragmatic
- Advertisements and commercials
- Almanacs
- Autobiographies and memoirs
- Billboards
- Biographies and personality profiles
- Brochures and pamphlets
- Cartoons (satiric)
- Charts, tables and graphs
- Children’s television programs
- Commentaries and columns
- Dialogue
- Diaries, logs and journal
- Documentaries (radio and tv)
- Essays (expository, argumentative and persuasive)
- Feature article
- infomercials and press releases
- Instructions and handbooks
- Interviews
- Letters (business)
- Literary criticism
- Maps
- Panel discussion
- Menus
- News articles, newscasts, and sportscasts
- Obituaries
- Oral and video presentations
- Recipes
- Reports
- Resumes
- Speeches
- Summaries and synopses
- Talk shows
- Textbooks
Emerging and Trans-Genre Forms
- Articles (narrative)
- Autobiographies and memoirs
- Book jackets, compact disc covers
- CD-ROMS
- Collages and posters
- Creative non-fiction
- Docudrama
- Essays (personal)
- Films and filmstrips
- Internet text and web sites
- Letters (personal)
- Sketches (satiric)
- Travel writing
