Language & Literature · Unit 10

Kinds of Writing

Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama and folktales

Genre sets expectations, and a great deal of the effect of a piece of writing comes from meeting or deliberately breaking them.

The unit covers fiction and non-fiction, poetry as a genre, drama and plays, myths, fables and folktales, and biography and memoir.

This unit breaks down into 21 short steps and 127 questions, starting at difficulty 2 and building to 4. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps: 21
Questions: 127
Difficulty: 2-4

What this unit covers

Drama and Plays
Fiction and Non-Fiction
Poetry as a Genre
Myths, Fables and Folktales
Biography and Memoir

Where this fits

Follows Story Elements.

Where people slip

Non-fiction is not the same as objective. Memoir, biography and journalism all involve selection and framing, and being true is not the same as being complete.

How the unit is structured

Kinds of Writing runs as 21 short steps that unlock in order. 15 are practice rounds and 6 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 2 and climb to 4 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 21 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 127 in the unit altogether.

Biography and Memoir

Build the sentenceLevel 2
1. Build a correct sentence about memoirs.
Answer: A memoir focuses on the writer's own memories
This sentence describes how a memoir focuses on a writer's own personal memories.
Fact or fibLevel 2
2. A memoir usually covers a person's entire life history in complete detail, from birth to old age.
Answer: False
A memoir usually focuses on a particular period or theme in a person's life, not the whole life story.
Fill the blankLevel 2
3. A book where an author writes about their own life is called an ____.
- autobiographycorrect
- encyclopedia
- fable
- atlas
An autobiography is a life story written by the person who lived it.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
4. What is the true story of a person's life, written by someone else, called?
- Biographycorrect
- Fable
- Myth
- Poem
A biography is a factual account of someone's life written by another person.
Match the pairsLevel 3
5. Match each life-writing term to its meaning.
Answer: Biography = Life story written by another person; Autobiography = Full life story written by oneself; Memoir = Personal account of specific memories; Diary = Personal daily written record
Biography, autobiography, and memoir differ in who writes them and how much of the life they cover.
Odd one outLevel 3
6. Which of these is NOT typically found in a factual biography?
- Invented dialogue spoken by a dragoncorrect
- Real dates and places
- Facts about a real person's life
- Historical details
Invented dialogue for a dragon belongs to fiction, not a factual biography of a real person.

Drama and Plays

Fill the blankLevel 2
7. In a play script, instructions telling actors how to move or speak are called stage ____.
- directionscorrect
- footnotes
- captions
- headlines
Stage directions guide the actors' movement, tone, and actions.
Match the pairsLevel 2
8. Match each drama term to what it means.
Answer: Dialogue = Words spoken by characters; Stage direction = Instruction for actors; Scene = A section of a play; Cast = The group of actors performing
These words describe parts of a play script and performance.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
9. What is a piece of writing meant to be performed by actors on a stage called?
- A playcorrect
- A poem
- A memoir
- A fable
Drama is writing intended for performance, such as a play.
Build the sentenceLevel 3
10. Build a correct sentence about drama.
Answer: A play script is written to be performed by actors
This sentence describes how a play script is written to be performed by actors.
Choose all that applyLevel 4
11. Which of these are elements found in a printed play script? Pick all that apply.
- Stage directionscorrect
- Character names before their linescorrect
- Chapter titles
- Footnotes citing sources
Play scripts include stage directions and character names before lines, unlike prose narration or footnotes.
Fact or fibLevel 4
12. Stage directions in a play script are meant to be spoken aloud by the actors as dialogue.
Answer: False
Stage directions guide movement, tone, and staging but are not spoken lines.

Fiction and Non-Fiction

Fill the blankLevel 2
13. A book that explains how volcanoes really form is a work of ____.
- non-fictioncorrect
- fantasy
- fable
- folktale
Non-fiction covers factual topics such as science and history.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
14. Which kind of writing tells a story that the author made up?
- Fictioncorrect
- Non-fiction
- A dictionary
- A weather report
Fiction is invented storytelling, even if it feels realistic.
Odd one outLevel 2
15. Which of these is NOT typically classified as fiction?
- A recipe bookcorrect
- A mystery novel
- A fantasy adventure
- A short story
A recipe book explains real cooking steps, so it is non-fiction, not fiction.
Build the sentenceLevel 3
16. Build a correct sentence about genre.
Answer: Fiction is writing about imagined people and events
Fiction is defined by its imaginative content rather than its length or format.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
17. Which of these are typically classified as non-fiction? Pick all that apply.
- An encyclopedia entrycorrect
- An autobiographycorrect
- A fairy tale
- A science fantasy novel
Encyclopedias and autobiographies present real, verifiable information, unlike invented stories.
Fact or fibLevel 3
18. A historical novel that invents dialogue for a real king still counts as fiction.
Answer: True
Even when based on real people, a story with invented dialogue and events is fiction.

Myths, Fables and Folktales

Build the sentenceLevel 2
19. Build a correct sentence about fables.
Answer: A fable usually ends with a moral lesson
This sentence describes the classic structure of a fable ending in a moral lesson.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
20. Which of these are traditional story types passed down through a culture? Pick all that apply.
- Mythcorrect
- Folktalecorrect
- Instruction manual
- Weather forecast
Myths, fables, and folktales are all traditional forms of storytelling.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
21. What is a short story with animal characters that teaches a lesson, often ending with a stated moral, called?
- A fablecorrect
- A biography
- An essay
- A newspaper article
A fable is a brief tale that teaches a moral lesson, often using animal characters.
Fact or fibLevel 3
22. Aesop is a name traditionally credited with many famous fables, including one about a tortoise and a hare.
Answer: True
Aesop is the storyteller traditionally credited with fables like The Tortoise and the Hare.
Fill the blankLevel 3
23. In Aesop's fable, the ____ and the tortoise race, and the slow but steady tortoise wins.
- harecorrect
- fox
- wolf
- owl
In this famous fable, the overconfident hare loses to the persistent tortoise.
Match the pairsLevel 3
24. Match each story type to its best description.
Answer: Myth = Explains the world through gods or supernatural beings; Fable = Short animal tale with a moral; Folktale = Traditional story passed down orally; Legend = Traditional story often based on a real person or event
Myths, fables, and folktales are all traditional stories but differ in purpose and characters.

Poetry as a Genre

Fact or fibLevel 2
25. Poems can use rhyme, but they do not have to rhyme to count as poetry.
Answer: True
Many poems rhyme, but plenty of poems use free verse with no rhyme at all.
Fill the blankLevel 2
26. A group of lines in a poem, similar to a paragraph, is called a ____.
- stanzacorrect
- chapter
- scene
- caption
A stanza groups lines together in a poem, just as a paragraph groups sentences.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
27. What is the main feature that often sets poetry apart from prose?
- It is arranged in lines, often with rhythm
- It must always rhyme perfectly
- It cannot use imagery
- It is always about nature
Poetry is typically arranged in lines and often uses rhythm or rhyme, unlike flowing prose paragraphs.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
28. Which of these are subgenres or forms within the broad genre of poetry? Pick all that apply.
- Sonnetcorrect
- Elegycorrect
- Novel
- Stage play
Sonnets and elegies are poetic forms, while a novel and a play are separate genres.
Guess the numberLevel 3
29. A traditional Japanese haiku is written in how many lines?
Answer: 3 lines
A haiku follows a three-line structure, traditionally with a 5-7-5 syllable pattern.
Match the pairsLevel 3
30. Match each poem to its poet.
Answer: The Road Not Taken = Robert Frost; Daffodils = William Wordsworth; The Raven = Edgar Allan Poe; If = Rudyard Kipling
Each of these classic poems is closely associated with a specific poet.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 14 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

Build the sentence
Choose all that apply
Fact or fib
Fill the blank
Guess the number
Match the pairs
Multiple choice
Odd one out
Picture question
Put in order
Sort into groups
Spell it
True or false
Type the answer

Practise Kinds of Writing

127 questions across 21 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

Play this unit

Read about Kinds of Writing

Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.

What Is a Tragedy? From Aristotle's Rules to the Death of a SalesmanA tragedy is a drama about a serious fall that ends in catastrophe and leaves the audience shaken. What Aristotle said, and how the form kept changing.September 14, 2026 · 5 min read

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