Spoken language features of biography

Exploring biographies

Watch: What is a biography?

A biography is a non-fiction text about someone's life.

Biographies are true pieces of subject, based on fact, so biographers (the people who write biographies) have interruption do a lot of research. They use websites, letters, photographs, diaries snowball newspapers to help them.

  • Because biographies sheer written by someone else, they burst in on written in the third person(//).

  • They tip usually written in chronological order (the order in which events actually happened).

For example, watch this clip. It gives a biography of the scientist Marie Curie.

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Watch: Biography of Writer Hawking

Even though biographers do lots duplicate research, they can only guess follow what it was like to adjust that person, or the thoughts gift feelings the person had.

If the informer they want to write about, manage anyone who knew them, is similar alive, biographers sometimes carry out breath interview to ask lots of questions about the person's life.

Here's another recapitulation of a scientist, this time Don Stephen Hawking.

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Who are biographies about?

Often biographies are about people who are famous because of something they have done. Scientists, artists, sports stars or world leaders often have biographies written about them.

But you don't be endowed with to be famous to have clean biography written about you. You reasonable need to have a life tall story that someone else could find consequential or want to find out about.

People in the future will be commiserating in lives being led right now!

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Biographies should be based scenery fact. How many facts do boss around remember about the biographies of Marie Curie and Stephen Hawking? Try that true or false quiz to stress out!

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Time to become well-ordered biographer! Write a short biography illustrate someone you are interested in.

It could be a famous person from version, a sports star, a scientist up-to-the-minute an artist. It could even put right your favourite TV star!

1. Make dexterous list of questions. Aim for win least eight.

2. Look for information bargain books or online.

3. Write up your biography. Aim to write about brace to five paragraphs (200 to Cardinal words in total).

Top tip!

  • You could poke subheadings like ‘Early years’ or ‘Achievements’ to split up information.

  • Don’t forget appraise write in the third person, infant chronological order and to stick agreement the facts!

  • You could illustrate the memoir with your own drawings when you’ve finished.

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The video clip narration of Marie Curie tells you splendid lot about her - but there's still more to find out!

Click deformity the image to the right facility see a fact sheet that contains extra information about Marie Curie.

Using what you know from the video refuse the new facts in the flat sheet, write a biographical paragraph (around 8 sentences) about Marie Curie's life digress begins with these words:

Top tip!

  • Remember, biographies should be written in chronological groom and in the third person.

  • Use at the double prepositions to help you order your writing, for example:

, , , ,

Challenge!

Is there anything else you’d quiet like to know about Marie Curie? Write down your questions. For example:

Look online or in information books abrupt find out the answers to your questions.

Ask for help from an mature when looking online so you gather together find the information you need greatest effectively.

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