Autobiographies and biographies
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Biographies and autobiographies
Watch: What are autobiographies and biographies?
Biographies and autobiographies are both types of non-fiction stories about someone’s life.
They are both based in fact but there are some key differences between them.
Watch this video in which teacher Mr McPartlin explains the differences. Listen carefully and join in with the activities.
Similarities and differences
Time for a recap on those similarities and differences!
Both biographies and autobiographies:
tell the story of someone’s life
are written in the past tense
follow chronological order (the order in which things actually happened)
are non-fiction
| Biography | Autobiography |
|---|---|
| Written by a person about someone else’s life. | Written by a person about their own life. |
| Written in third person (//) | Written in first person () |
To see some examples, watch the first minute of each of these clips.
The first clip i
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Autobiography vs. Biography vs. Memoir
The three primary formats of a memory book, used to tell a life story, are a biography, an autobiography, and a memoir. Distinguishing between the three can feel a bit confusing since they all share several similarities. But there are some distinct differences.
Simply put, a biography is the life history of an individual, written by someone else. An autobiography is the story of a person’s life, written by that person. And a memoir is a collection of memories written by the person themselves.
What is a Biography?
A biography, also called a bio, is a non-fiction piece of work giving an objective account of a person’s life. The main difference between a biography vs. an autobiography is that the author of a biography is not the subject. A biography could be someone still living today, or it could be the subject of a person who lived years ago.
Biographies include details of key events that shaped the subje