Fiction or non-fiction?

Non-fictionnon-fiction: A text that presents facts, opinions, judgements, advice or description ie its contents are not made up, or fantasy. Also a category of literature that may present itself in a variety of formats - newspaper, magazine, web page, instruction manual, leaflet, advertisement. text is usually written for a precise practical purpose, unlike fictionfiction: A text that is the product of someone's imagination and is not necessarily based on fact. Also a category of literature usually in the form of short stories and books. text, which is primarily written to entertain.

Non-fiction text could be used to:

• Inform the reader.
• Persuade the reader.
• Give advice to the reader.
• Describe a person, place, feeling or object.

Of course, fiction texts - novels, poems, plays - might include information, persuasion, advice and description, but remember that they were not specifically written with these in mind.

Text usually contain clues that enable you to tell at a glance whether it is fiction or non-fiction. Non-fiction text often has bold headlines and sub-headings, poignant illustrations and lots of facts and figures - but more of that later. The main thing to remember is that non-fiction text has a particular job to do: how successful it is at doing this job depends on the skill of the writer.