Biography+and+Autobiography

When reading biographies it is important for students to look at the verb tense with which biographies are written.

Students need to understand that typically, biographies are written in past tense because these events have already happened. Transition words can be easily studied in biographies and autobiographies because one of the author’s main purposes is to firmly establish time and order of events to keep the reader from being confused.

Authors use different temporal structures when writing. Some biographies and autobiographies are linear (first event to last event).While others start with the most notable event in the subject’s life and then work backward.