Consider a legal verdict (often found in a scan of court documents). It contains:
: Most texts are composed of several different types of sequences. For example, a narrative text often includes descriptive sequences. The Five Prototypical Sequences Jean Michel Adam Les Textes Types Et Prototypes.pdf
Check the verb tenses. Present tense = usually argumentative/expository. Passé simple = narrative. Imperative = injunctive. Check connectives: "Therefore" (argumentative), "Then" (narrative), "Here is" (descriptive). Consider a legal verdict (often found in a
Read the text and divide it into minimal units (clauses or sentences). Number them. The Five Prototypical Sequences Check the verb tenses
One of the most practical takeaways from the PDF is Adam’s breakdown of the five fundamental text types (les types de textes). He identifies five "sequences" that underpin almost all human communication:
Les textes: types et prototypes (1992) by Jean-Michel Adam is a foundational text linguistics work that proposes a shift from rigid, all-encompassing text typologies to a flexible model based on five prototypical sequences: narrative, descriptive, argumentative, explanatory, and dialogic. Adam argues that texts are inherently heterogeneous, consisting of combinations of these sequences, rather than a single, pure type. For an overview of the text types and prototypes, see this summary on Cairn.info