Presented by Syed Muhammad Abbas Rizvi Raja Muhammad Sarmad Institute. Lahore Garrison University LGU Enlish Dep. Session 2017-21

1. By.
Syed Muhammad Abbas Rizvi
Raja Muhammad Sarmad
Biography
&
Autobiography

2. What is BIOGRAPHY?
CHARACTERISTICS
GENERIC STRUCTURE
GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE FEATURES
TYPES AND FUNCTION OF BIOGRAPHY
EXAMPLES
Content

3. It is a detailed description or account of a
person's life. Biography is life story of a person
written by someone else. It is non fictional text.
Usually biographies are about historical figures,
but sometimes they are also about people still
living. The writer is called the Biographer the
word “BIOGRAPHY” comes from medieval Greek
BIOS: LIFE GRAPHIA: WRITING
What is BIOGRAPHY?

4.  It is not written by the subject.
 It is always written in third person.
 It is based on research not on imagination.
 Describes the person's surroundings (where, when and
how the person lived).
 Shows, how the person affected other people's life
through their behavior, discoveries, social reform etc.
 Supply details that illustrate the person's individuality.
 Use vivid language to narrate events.
CHARACTERISTICS OF BIOGRAPHY

5.  INTRODUCTION/ORIENTATION
It gives the readers the background information of the person. It is the
opening paragraph. It usually contains newsworthy information about the
person. It tells about the person in general or the basic fact and information
with made him/her known.
 A SERIES OF EVENTS
The events should be in chronological order.
SUPPORTING PARAGRAPH: It consists of some paragraphs. It contains
many events in chronological order.
 CLOSING
It consists of conclusion or a comment, of the writer. Sometimes, it tells
about the achievement or the contribution of the person.
GENERIC STRUCTURE

6. The following are the language features of biography:
Use of simple past tense.
Sometime, use other past tenses.
Focus on temporal sequence.
Focus on specific participants.
Use of action verbs.
GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE FEATURES
OF BIOGRAPHY

7. SHORT BIOGRAPHY: Focuses only on
highlights of a person’s life.
A LONG BIOGRAPHY: Talks about life and
times of someone in a lot more detail.
TYPES OF BIOGRAPHY

8. To know a person‘s story about his/her
life outside of any accomplishments this
person may be known for.
To give many information easily and
educate the readers.
FUNCTION OF BIOGRAPHY

9. Examples
Shakespeare: A Life (By Park Honan)
Arthur Miller: Attention Must Be Paid (By James
Campbell)
The Life of Samuel Johnson (By James Boswell)
The Bronte Myth (By Lucasta Miller)