Language And Text Structure Across Disciplines

Let’s take a look at the characteristic language features of representative texts in math, in the social
sciences and humanities, in the natural or “hard” sciences, and in business. If you know some of these
features, you will be able to adjust your reading strategies in order to help yourself understand the
material.

MATHEMATICS TEXTS
To make sense of a math sentence, you have to understand the special meanings that the discipline of
math has assigned to these symbols and expressions. True, math also uses ordinary language but watch
out—these ordinary words could have different meanings. For example, in statistics, universe is not the
outer space but the total count of the subjects under study. Another example is the linking verb ‘is.’ In
the following sentences, ‘is’ has different meanings:
3 is the square root of 9 –> 3 or is the same as the square root of 9.
10 is less than 15 –> regular meaning of ‘is’.
5 is a prime number –> 4 5 a prime number.
What the above examples suggest is that in math, even short, simple sentences have to be read closely:
What exactly does it say? Keep in mind that math is an exact, precise language. In math, ask yourself: Is
this sentence saying something about sets? functions? relations? binary operations?
The dominant structure of math texts is problem-solution, except that you, the reader, are expected to
come up with the solution based on the carefully worded problem, which is often a short description of
a given situation. The problem is posed as a question, the answer to which you arrive at by doing any or
several math operations. Another common text structure is comparison and contrast of two units or
situations: for instance, which has more and by how much? Which is bigger/faster/cheaper?

BUSINESS TEXTS
Some standard parts of business communication are date, inside address, the salutation, the body or
main purpose of the communication, the complimentary close, etc.
It is important to remember that business requires cordiality to sustain it, to keep the customer. Hence,
even if the content of a communication is negative—like a complaint or a collection—the communication
must be polite. There is careful use of modal expressions and adverbs. Polite expressions such as the
following are part of the ritual of politeness in business: (Cortes de los Rios, 2010).
Could you please…
We are extremely sorry…
May I suggest…
Thank you for your inquiry on…
Please let us know…
Common text structures in business communication are problem-solution in which the cause(s) of a
problem situation is/are explained, followed by the company’s proposed solution, and description in
which the specifications of a product or offer are given.
SOCIAL SCIENCE TEXTS

NATURAL SCIENCE TEXTS

The typical sentences in science texts are dense; that is, they are information-heavy. An example is this:
Each nucleus is packed with information coded in the form of a chemical called Deoxyribonucleic
Acici(DNA) and organized into groups called genes which are arranged on thread-like structures, the
chromosomes. The lengthy and dense sentences found in science texts suggest slow reading for
comprehension and retention of facts.

LITERATURE AND THE ARTS

Particularly in literature, texts may not have a one-to-one correspondence between the situation rt
depicts and reality as you know it. To represent a particular situation or world, a literary text might even
violate language rules. To make sense of a literary text, the trick is to ‘suspend disbelief, ride along with
the writer, and discover the patterns in the unique use of language.