Paper 1 English

Speech
Purpose of speech: Inform, instruct, persuade, and entertain.

Key feature of speeches:

 Persuasive: The speaker try to appeal to their audience this can be done in three ways:
- Ethos: The speaker establishes their credibility and might allude to a much better
leader who the audience agree with
- Logos: Use of Logic, clear reasonable arguments, facts, statistics and quoting experts
the correct way to establish credibility with the audience, and logical appeal.
- Pathos: Emotive language and imagery, ways of making the audience empathize with
the speaker or with others to persuade them.

 Synthetic Personalization: Use of personal pronouns by the speaker to include them and
the audience on the same side, increases the audiences’ reliability on the speaker.

 Modality: How certain one is, is shown through modality. Reveal the speakers’ strength
of certainty. Expressed through the use of modal auxiliary verbs (words,
like will, should and may that often precede main verbs in English)
and adverbs or adverbial phrases (for example, probably or no doubt).

 Tone: The tone is reflected in what the speaker says about a person or thing; it shows
his / her attitude and feelings.

 Rhetorical Devices: They are the parts that make a speech work, to evoke a specific
reaction form the listen to persuade them to think in a certain way.
- Parallelism: Use of identical grammatical structures for related words, phrases, or
clauses in a sentence or a paragraph. Parallelism can make your writing more
forceful, interesting, and clear. It helps to link related ideas and to emphasize the
relationships between points. Audience is more likely to remember something that is
repeated.
- Hypophora: The speaker first asks a question and then answers it. Audiences’
curiosity is stimulated by hearing a question, Makes the speaker more reliable since
they know what they are talking about.
- Repetition: Can be effective in create a sense of structure, they can ingrain an idea in
the mind of the audience, hence making the speech more persuasive and reliable.
- Antithesis: Two opposite ideas are put together to create a contrasting effect, makes
the audience understand the point of the speaker much more better, in order for the
audience to understand what you believe it, it’s better to tell them what u don’t
believe in.
- Figurative Speech: Engage the audience using a more creative tone, can evoke
emotion in the reader, Metaphors, similes, personifications, and hyperboles evoke
images and emotions in the reader's mind that help them get a sense of the feelings
and emotions of the characters. Engages all the senses of the audience to persuade
them and ingrain a point in their mind.
- Tricolon and Polysyndeton: Tricolon is a list of three, three parts or clauses, used to
add emphasis and heighten the overall impact of an sentence. Polysyndeton is used to
 make the speakers clauses and points more rememberable, with repetition of rhythm it
slows down the phrase. Demonstrates to the audience there are a lot of ideas and is
like a verbal-pile up of ideas.
- Juxtaposition: Two things of opposite nature are mentioned together, the audience
tend to notice.
- Allusion: Speech echoes another speech or a famous phrase, associate yourself with a
reliable text or source, create a bond with the audience by evoking shared knowledge.
- Varied Sentence Length: Short sentences have punch and are a great way to
emphasize important points. Longer sentences add rhythm to your writing. By using
both short and long sentences, you add interest and drama to your writing that
keeps your readers' attention.

 Logical Fallacies: also called ‘argumentation fallacies.’ Errors in reasoning that are
based on weak logic. Common fallacies in speeches are:

o Ethos Credibility
- Guilt by association- Linking the person making an argument to an unpopular person
or group
- False authority-Relying on claims of expertise when the claimed expert (a) lacks
adequate background/credentials in the relevant field, (b) departs in major ways
from the consensus in the field, or (c) is biased, e.g., has a financial stake in the
outcome
- Name-calling- Labelling an opponent with words that have negative connotations in
an effort to undermine the opponent’s credibility
- Plain Folk: Associating yourself with ordinary people who your audience will identify
with, the speaker becomes more trustworthy

o Pathos Emotion
- Appeal to fear, guilt, pity: Using scare tactics, emphasizing threats. Or trying to
evoke an emotional reaction in the audience that will evoke sympathy in them,
lowkey disregarding the issue at hand
- Bandwagon Effect: Urging the audience to do something because “Everyone does it”
- Loaded Language: Emotionally charged uses of language, using biased language,
religion related terms, polite or rude terms.

- Logos Logic
- Hasty Generalisations: Jumping to conclusions based on unrepresentative sample
and insufficient evidence
Advertisements:
Purpose: Persuade, inform about the product to the consumers, enhance the image of the
company, point out and create a need for products or services.

Key features:
 Problem and benefit: The success of adverts depends on appealing to the desires of it’s
readers, it convinces them that the product is the solution to their problem
 Image: Images tell visual narratives and ensures that the consumers can conjure a
specific mental image of a brand when they see an add, create distinction between other
products. Develops a personality for a product.
 Slogan and Copy: Slogans are short catchy, memorable. The anchoring effect is use,
where the audience remember first piece of information and associates with other things,
using slogans means the consumer is more likely to remember the product. Typographical
features such a bold font, underlined words can also make the slogan more stand out.
Patho might be used.
 Association: Adverts sell products, and they sell values, objects, setting, people that are
symbolic, the abstract concepts that the advert associates with its product and brand.
 Testimonial: Adverts include testimonials and quotations of good reviews from
customers who have used the product previously, this increases the credibility of the
product, increases chances of bran loyalty, the customer testimonial can also be by a
celebrity, using ethos.
 Advertising Claims: Jargon of words that sounds impressive, but doesn’t communicate
meaning, they are used to attract audience, and usually this is what persuades and
increases the desire of the consumer to buy the product since the claims increase the value
of the product ad the brand.
- Weasel Words: Words and Phrases that are exaggerated statements. Words
or claims that appear substantial upon first look but disintegrate into hollow
meaninglessness on analysis. Commonly used weasel words include "helps"
"like, acts" or "works"; "can be"; "up to"; "as much as"; "refreshes";
"comforts"; "tackles"; "fights"; "come on"; "the feel of"; "the look of"; "looks
like"; "fortified"; "enriched"; and "strengthened."
 - We’re different and Unique Claim: That states there is nothing else quite
like the product being advertised, for the audience, this is interpreted as a
claim to superiority.
- Scientific or statistical claim: Advert that uses scientific proof or experiment,
with specific numbers, or an impressive sounding mystery ingredient.
- Compliment the consumer claim: Claim’s that butter up the consumer in
some form of flattery, can be mood lifting and can make the audience feel
more superior and valuable if they use this product.

 Persuasion: Adverts are always persuasive, even ads that don’t try to sell you a product
or service, might be asking you to think something, change behavior and attitude, or help
someone.
 Propaganda Techniques: Propaganda in advertising is the way to attract customers
towards a product and change their views about other's products. Advertisers mislead
and even lie in order to divert the attention of their customers.
 Charity Appeal: Subcategory of adverts
Purpose: To recruit, to donate, extremely persuasive, call to action, raise awareness

Key features:
 Persuasive: Make readers take action in form of money and time, they need to raise
awareness of social problems. Can use a lot of persuasive rhetorical features, ethos,
pathos, logos, parallelism, rhetoric devices.
 Pathos: Charity appeals are more persuasive than regular adverts, appealing to emotions
such anger, guilt, pity, sympathy. They make it more likely that the audience will want to
respond.
 Shock Tactics: Use of hard-hitting images to evoke strong reactions in the reader, used to
spur the reader into action.
 Positive Representation: Charity appeals also use positive images of people, people can
be more willing to help others who help themselves.
 Credibility: It’s the most important factor of a charity appeal, it makes the appeal mor
trustworthy and increases the likeliness of the audience to donate or take action, charities
with backstory and history, previous successes of the charity may be informed in forms of
testimonials, us of if and then.
 Metonymy: Individual is used to symbolize a larger issue, may not be able to solve the
bigger problem or the abstract concept, but you can start with a small step, used to help
viewer overcome the feeling of helplessness when the larger problems are shown to stop
them from donating, or acting.
 Direct Address: They address the readers directly, might ask rhetorical questions, direct
eye contact is a form of visual direct address, issue a challenge to the reader while
employing guilt tactics. Addressing the readers with the word ‘you’, striving to make a
strong connection.

Recruitment Campaigns: Hybrid of adverts and persuasion

Purpose: To encourage to people to support a cause

 Persuasive: The purpose of recruitment campaign is to persuade to sign up to a cause or

join organization, use direct address and imperatives (call to action)
 Visuals: Are multi-modal texts and can be used for positive representations, to emote the
readers and persuade them to join
 Slogans: Slogans designed to be catchy, look at typography, fonts, and emphasized words
 Pathos: The core of the campaign is often emotions, aiming to elicit feeling from the
viewer, such as patriotism, duty, or guilt if one does not sign up
 Card Stacking: Often fail to show the downside of joining up, technique of persuasion
used to influence opinions of audience through deliberate distortion of info, such as
suppressing info, overemphasizing specific things, manipulating stats, and quoting
questionable research. This successfully deceives the viewer and convinces them to join.
 Simplification: Reduce complex issues into simple solutions
 Symbolism: Elements of the text connotates concepts that are important to writer’s
message, eg. Metonymy
 Opinion Columns:
Purpose: Express and opinion in a convincing, persuasive, powerful way. To inform and
persuade

Honor Aunt Vera Because She Requires Love And Care

- Headlines and Hooks: To engage

- Anecdotes and Stories: To reduce reader and writer distance
- Voice: Sarcasm, Humor, Personalization
- Background and Story: Providing Context
- Structure: Sequence of Ideas, Size of ideas and syntax
- Reader connection: Inclusive Language (Synthetic Personalization), rhetoric
devices
- Call to Action of Closing: Solution to opinion
- Language: Elevated Words, diction and salient themes

 Perspective: Expression of Personal POV, synthetic personalization- addressing mass

audience as if they were individuals, creating a personal conversation
 Solid Arguments: Gives substantial claims towards reality of the issue, Logos (Facts,
stats and info), To inform and Persuade, Assertion can be used, immediate declaration of
a claim as a fact
 Anecdotes: Small personal stories from their experience, to demonstrate a thoughtful
approach, usually op-ed begin with anecdotes, acts as a hook for the audience
 Voice: Verb tense, tone and imagery, informal or formal
- Rational Voice- Calm, controlled, yet authoritative
- Moderate Voice- Diplomatic, apologetic, disappointed, understanding
- Emotive Voice -Passionnante, arrogant, irreverent
 Register and Tone: Often formal, writer might adopt an irreverent tone, passionate,
conversational, friendly, challenging, or sarcastic.
 Concession: Concessions to the other side of the argument, or acknowledgements that
their opinion is flawed in some way

Comic Strips:
Purpose: Humorous, to entertain, might make a serious point about a local or global issue,
is informative sometimes, Are engaging and colorful.

Coral Needs Our Love And Care

- Composition- Appearance of pages, as individual panels

o Foreground, Background, Left, right, angle, distance , balance, graphic
weight, lines

- Narrative- Context (Time and Setting), Characters in the Panels, Plot (Eminata,
speech bubbles, thought bubbles)
 - Objects or Symbols: Drawn to represent larger and more abstract ideas, key
objects that can be interpreted as symbols.
- Color: Color and intent, warm or cool, graphic weight and shading, use of light
and to shape meaning
- Language- Multimodal texts, how words support the visual aspect of the coming,
captions, labels, irony, sarcasm.

 Structure: Squared boxes called panels, arranged in sequence, read in linear fashion,
white space between panels is called gutter
- Gutter: Gives readers a moment to absorb, layered gutters allow action to flow:
rapid, intense, climatic, splashed panels
 Exposition: Tells that the story is presented as captions
 Speech and Through Bubbles: Read internal and external dialogue of the characters.
 Mechanics: Spatial Mechanics use of space within and between frame, temporal
mechanics is he way time can be slowed down, sped, or stopped
 Artistic Style: Comics are drawn purposefully with intention, Pictures crips, heavy,
weighty, light, cartoony, realistic, bright, dark. Words describe mood and tone can be
useful to analyze graphic weight and saturation.
 Emanata: Items such as dots, lines, exclamation marks, onomatopoeia that show action,
emotion, or sound. Visual Metaphor and imagery
 Cartoonification: How realistic are the images?
 Punchline: The joke is revealed in the last panel
 Splash: A panel that takes up an entire page to highlight a certain movement or character

Satirical Cartoons
Purpose: Aim to satirize, they ridicule or criticize a specific target, person, group of
people, a particular decision, or viewpoint.

 Caricature: People are simplified, exaggerated, or distorted for effect, synecdoche,

whereby a part of something is made to stand for the whole.
 Tone: Scathing, Sarcastic, Pointed, or Critical
 Irony: One’s actions contradict one’s words, to create and sustain the audience’s interest

Magazine Articles
Published online, many sub-categories of magazine article.
Purpose: To distribute news, inform, educate, and entertain

 Headline: Bold Text reveals the topic, acts as a hook for the readers that makes it more
interesting
 Images: Photographs of people and places are common features of magazine articles,
Enhances the story with Imagery, they complement the text, visually demonstrate the
authors context, and engage the readers.
 Layout: Box out (Hold related info sperate from the main article, while retaining some
degree of connection, such data is placed in a box to catch the attention of a reader.),
Bullet points, ears
 Entertainment: Info displayed in an appealing way, Boxout and subheading r ways info
is shown In an appealing way.
 Buzzwords: Up-to-date, relevant, and current use of words that are popular at the time of
publication
 Interactive Features: Embedded videos, hyperlinks, and tabs
 Embedded Interviews: Experts on topic are interviewed and quotations throughout the
article, increases credibility of the article, persuades the audience.
 Pull Quotes: Pull quotes are short excerpts from the presented text. They are used to
pull a text passage out of the reader's flow and give it a more dominant position in the
post or the article

Magazine Covers
Purpose: Magazine covers used to attract and persuade them to buy magazine.

.
- Format: Design choices or the house style of the magazine, the format includes
aspects such as logo, size of magazine and the font, the house style is consistent
throughout a magazine’s editions so it’s easily recognizable for the reader.
- Formula: The editorial content, what is actually in the magazine, length and type
of article used in the magazine.
- Frame: The standard size of the magazine including the outer mage margins and
gutter, using magazine margins establishes consistency from issue to issue.
- Function: Function is what the magazine trying to achieve and the message.
- Logo
- Masthead: Refers to the title of the magazine, that is printed in large type, usually
positioned at the top of the page, this ensures the brand is easily recognizable. The
choice of colour and font weight will connect to the genre and ideology of the
magazine. The masthead dictates the color palette of each issue. Ensures
consistency throughout editions.
- Coverlines: Used to give readers insight into the magazine, written around the
edge of the magazine, written in bold color so are visible but small font so the
main focus of the magazine cover does not go away, gives brief into the magazine.
- Tagline: Appears at the bottom of an ad and sums up the essence of the brand
- Ears and Teasers: The upper left and right corner of the cover are known as ears,
headlines in the ears are known as teasers, they invite the reader to look inside the
newspaper.
- Photograph: Magazine covers usually include photographs of people or people’s
headshots, camera angle in the relation of the subject? Looking down on a subject
may make them appear weak, looking up make them appear strong. Usually
 Famous faces dominate the cover, magazines have great increase in their revenue.
Invariably, the direct gaze of the person will pierce the viewer and a medium shot
or close-up will connect us to the emotional energy of the glamorous model or
star.
- Symbols: What all is there in the composition, objects tend to symbolize abstract
ideas
- Font: Each font influences our emotions when we relate it to our design, and each
font connects us emotionally to the information it's meant to convey.
- Visual Hierarchy: Arrangement of elements to show their order of importance.
scale, color, contrast, alignment, and proximity
- Lighting and Color: What type of lighting I there, is there high or low
contrast, color and their meaning. High key lighting is used in fashion
magazines to the keep the image fresh and youthful.

Interviews
Purpose: Satisfying a reader’s curiosity for info

 Question-Answer: Format of Q&A, presents he questions asked and responses

using quotations.
 Register: As a transcript, interviews contain examples of language that is more
like speech. Colloquialisms, idioms, contractions, and jokes.
 Quotations: Interviews written up as a magazine article, a mixture of direct
quotation and indirect free speech.
 Topics: The interview may be focused on one issue or may range across various
topics, interviewers can ask leading questions to take the conversation in
particular direction.
 Perspective: Interviews are more likely to be subjective, they mostly present one-
sided view on a topic or person, the interviewee may use assertive statements
which present opinions as if they are fact.
 Them and Us: Celebrity interviews tend to put interviewees on a pedestal, text
creates a divide between celebrities and the reader.
 Tone
 Authorial intrusion: something you may have come across in your literary
studies, where either directly or indirectly the writer of the article makes their
opinions known as well.

Blogs
Purpose: Satisfying a reader’s curiosity for info, inform about an event or issue, inform
readers about an area of interest, function like an online diary where they reflect an
experience, can be call to action pieces, spread awareness about a particular topic, or give
promotions for products and explain their personal experience

 Viewpoint: Blogs represent interests and opinions of an individuals, usually they are 1st
POV
 Purpose: Blogs are guided by individual interests or concerns, purpose is flexible
 Diction: Writes f blogs could employ a specialist vocabulary or use technical terms, use
buzzwords
 Visuals: May illustrate the text with cartoons, images or photographs
 Structure: Dependent on the individual text, look out for chronological and linear
structure with subheadings, clear connectives or other features helping organize the text
 Personal Anecdotes: This may offer the audience a little wisdom on a particular topic
gained from personal experience, makes the blog more engaging since the individual is
sharing personal stories.
 Newsworthiness and Topical: Blogs often refer to people or events, which audience
might find interesting and relevant. Facts and Stats
 How to guidance: Blogs can be instructional, offering audience help and a step-by-step
approach to a project
 Call to action: Bloggers may ask their audience to sign a petition, retweet or forward a
message, blogs can be used to spread awareness and ask for help.
 Tone and Voice: Popular bloggers have a style that followers like and recognize. A blog
is usually informal with focused but relevant info to a larger audience, short but not thin
content, the tone of the blog helps the audience understand the feelings of the writer on
the topic, and might even influence the way the author perceives the topic

Information Texts: Cookbooks to technical manuals, encyclopaedias to

public service announcements. Informational texts are meant to appeal to your
head rather than your heart.
Purpose is to inform.

 Neutral language: aiming to inform above all else, the register should be formal or

semi-formal, the language accessible and the tone neutral.
 Diction: some informational texts are aimed at particular readers and
employ technical terms or specialist language – watch out for jargon, which may not
communicate clearly. Engages the target audience and keeps their interest consistent
 Layout: these kinds of texts normally have a clear, easy to understand layout. They
might use box-outs, lists, bullet points, page dividers and other organisational features
to help guide you step-by-step through the text. Some informational texts are non-
linear. Helps the reader understand
 Facts and Statistics: presented in all kinds of ways: percentages; graphs; charts or
numbers. Look for credible sources that are cited. Increases credibility of the topic for
the audience, and makes the info more reliable.
 Typography: look for fonts, capitalisations, bold or italicised words, underlined
words, or other features that help emphasise key points. Helps in understanding and
remembrance of the info for the audience
 Images: often in the form of diagrams, images should reinforce the written text or be
broken into step-by-step guides. They may be simplified. Engages the audience,
makes it easy for them to understand info
 Information: although this goes without saying, you should differentiate
between general information and specific details.
Infographics
Purpose: To summarize and present complex info, knowledge and data in a simplified way.
Visualize data or ideas, attract the audience quick consumption of information.

 Types:
1) Brand: Persuasion, Attractions, evoke, promote, establish
- Promote or explain services
- Explain sales or external/internal survey data
- Establish Company as through leader
2) Editorial: Inform, remind, explain, state, transmit
- A kin to news articles- transmit information
- Varying levels of bias and objectivity
- Stating Facts or explaining
- Comparing companies, countries, etc.
- Explaining procedures
 Salient features- Stylistic
- Descriptive titles and subheads
- Informative statistics
- Cohesive color scheme
- Eye catching animations
- Syntagmatic Structure: Sequential Narrative, Placement of Symbols and
text
- Font Text- How it’s influenced by the purpose, theme, and topic
- Bold Inflation of unique facts
 Literary Devices- Rhetorical devices
- Metaphors
- Propaganda techniques
- Persuasive Techniques- ethos, pathos, logos
- Symbolism
 Audience : Used to reach a wide audience as possible, use of technical language
that indicates a niche audience or is targeted at a niche audience
 Simplification : Simplifies complex knowledge or data, summary bullet points,
images with captions
 Illustrations : Picture is worth a thousand words, icons are simplified images that
symbolise certain ideas from the text
 Copy : Infographics are multimodal, headlines, labels and snippets
 Structure : Little visual narratives that tell a simple story, structural elements that
help decode the sequence of events
 Design : Infographics are suppose dot be eye-catching. Color, typography, font,
and other design features should combine to help get info and engage the
audience.

Scientific Articles
Purpose: Scientific literature is the principal medium for communicating the results of
scientific research, the purpose of scientific writing is to share knowledge,
Audience: the "lay" audience, the "managerial" audience, and the "experts." The "lay"
audience has no special or expert knowledge. They connect with the human interest aspect of
articles.

 Informative: They share scientific knowledge, informative features such as facts

and statistics and clear explanations, simplifying of concepts, easy to understand
and increases credibility for the audience.
 Diction: Use of specialist vocabulary of technical and precise terms that cater to a
niche group of audience
 Comparisons: Some concepts are abstract and complex, so writers of scientific
articles use similes and comparisons to make them easier for the audience to
understand and visualise.
 Visuals: Photographs, diagrams, charts and graphs are likely to accompany and
illustrate scientific concepts, these are methods of simplification for the audience
to understand the information easily and remember it.
 Credibility: Authoritative sources, quotations by experts make concepts more
credible, increasing the reliability of the article for the audience
 Structure: Linear and non-linear structure and layouts depending on the content,
can provide timeline or historical overview, boxouts, summaries, explainers,
glossaries can help communicate complicated ideas.

News Reports
Purpose: Newspaper front pages and reports belong to broadly three categories: tabloid,
broadsheet and online, each of which have their own conventions, to inform

Tabloid journalism tend to focus on more sensational or extreme topics such as celebrity
gossip, outrageous crime, seemingly impossible events (such as the possibility of extra-
terrestrials) or other sensational stories. The news presents a certain version of reality,
rather than reality itself.

 Masthead: a strip across the top of a newspaper front page containing the name of the
newspaper, the date of publication and the price.
 Headline: the choice of words in a headline is essential to the tone and angle of the
story. There are many techniques involved in creating headlines and you should
definitely learn: slammer; pun; alliteration; elliptical headlines (which only include
the keywords).
 Visuals: all newspapers make use of photographs to accompany stories. Tabloid
papers are dominated by images while broadsheet papers tend to use smaller
photographs. Look out for pictures of people’s faces, which reveal emotion and create
bias.
 Copy: the main text of the article. Features you should be on the lookout for
are: sensationalism; vague language; emotive language and euphemism.
- Emotive Language: Use emotive language that sound more extreme than
basic vocabulary, they appeal to our emotion, the words are more loaded
 - Euphemisms: Newspaper filter the truth by using euphemism, words that
make unpleasant things or ideas sound less offensive and mild. Use them to be
less direct, can be used as told by governments and journalists to manufacture
consent and justify wars. is reworded to be more palatable and “friendly.
- Vague Language: Used to avoid honest reportion which gives the readers the
space to make false assumptions
 Embedded interviews: you can expect to find witness recounts, expert opinions and
statements from authority figures in almost all newspaper reports.
 Bias: all kinds of bias exist in newspaper reports, from selection bias (the choice of
what content to include and what to exclude) to name-calling, to the use of
certain facts and statistics and more.
- Personalization: the overwhelming tendency to downplay the big social,
economic or political picture in favour of the human trials, tragedies and
triumphs that sit at the surface of events, audience do not see the root cause of
the problem
- Dramatization: dramatization bias indicates that journalists may be focused
more on stories featuring crisis or tragedy. They tend to produce less stories
analyzing serious social issues such as climate change and hunger. Leads to
inaccurate or misrepresentative reporting.
- Fragmentation: the isolation of stories from each other and from their larger
contexts so that information in the news is becomes fragmented and hard to
assemble into a big picture
- Authority Disorder: refers to the act of reporting the news so that stories are
focusing on the restoration of authority in society, rather than on other issues
that could be just as worthwhile.
 Figurative Language: anyone who still thinks the news is purely factual needs to go
back to the start of the course! News reports are a rich source of metaphor, simile,
hyperbole, sensationalism, and exaggeration, often distorting reality in some way.
- Bias: Skewed presentation of a story from a particular ideological position,
newsworthiness affects bias
- Newsworthiness: Sensational, Relevant and extraordinary
- Sensationalism: If it bleeds it leads, A juicy story, refers to a style of writing
that is exaggerated, emotive or controversial
- Relevance:
- Extraordinariness: Extraordinary is newsworthy

Descriptive Passages
Many forms of writing can be descriptive: autobiographies, travel articles, letters, diaries and
blogs might all feature descriptive passages to one degree or another.

 Diction: the aim of descriptive writing is to help you visualise what’s in the writer’s
head, so vague language is not helpful, employs concrete language in precise ways.
 Imagery: as writing which is drawn from direct experience, description always
involves imagery. Humans perceive the world vividly using our visual sense – but
don’t forget about other ways of perception: sensory images can also be auditory,
tactile, kinaesthetic, and even olfactory (the sense of smell).
 Figurative Comparisons: similes, metaphors, and personifications are commonly
found in descriptive writing.
  Modifiers: the function of adjectives and adverbs are to describe.
 Perspective: one of the most important features. For example, a piece from
an outsider perspective will contain very different thoughts and feelings to a piece
written from an insider’s point of view.
 Voice and Tone: Aid with the perspective of the author

Diaries
diaries have been kept by individuals to record daily events, reflect on personal experiences
and try to make sense of the complex issues of society. A freeform text type, they tend to be
more stylistic than formal, with each writer employing their own particular uses of language
which reflects the way they see the world.

 Viewpoint: as one of the most personal text types, diaries are written in the first
person and always express thoughts and feelings.
 Perspective: diaries are written to be private as the reader and writer are the same
person. Confessional is a particular form of diary writing that reveals a secret.
 Structure: diaries function as records of the day’s events and are
largely chronological. Look out for flashbacks when the writer begins at the end, then
goes back to explore how and why an event happened.
 Register and tone: most diaries are written in an informal or semi-formal register,
using language the writer feels comfortable with. Look out for language which reveals
the attitude of the writer (tone): it is not uncommon for diaries to be thoughtful and
reflective, scathing and caustic… or anything in between.
 Colloquialism: the writer might write as if he or she is talking and may use figures of
speech in an original or entertaining way. Used in ordinary or familiar conversation

Letters
Letters need reading carefully to discover the relationship between writer and reader and to
uncover the purpose behind the writing

 Name and address: formal letters are posted to the recipient, so they normally
contain both the sender and receiver’s address, allowing the recipient to reply. The
sender’s address is traditionally placed on the right hand side, with the date below it.
 Purpose:  to complain, to seek advice, to connect with a loved one or even to pass
gossip. The purpose of this text type is completely flexible.
 Register: letters can be formal or informal depending on the purpose and relationship
between the sender and receiver. The tone can vary widely too: compare a formal
letter of complaint with an intimate letter between lovers.
 Salutation: a direct address to the recipient. Depending on context, they can vary
from the formal ‘Dear…’ or even ‘To whom this may concern…’ to a quick  ‘Hi…’
 Sign off: you can tell a lot about the relationship between the reader and the writer
from the way the letter ends. Formally, ‘yours sincerely’ is used if the recipient’s
name was used and ‘yours faithfully’ is used when the writer does not know the name
of the receiver. Non-conventional sign-offs can be used for a variety of reasons; check
the end of the letter to see if the writer expects a reply
Travel Writing
it might take the form of an article, describing the experiences of the writer in a strange
place, accompanied by photography, maps, or diagrams. It’s possible for Travel Writing to be
‘literary’ in tone and mood, full of imagery, vivid descriptions, and figurative language,
recreating the characters and situations the writer met along the way like a novelist.

Purpose: search for the self or one’s roots; curiosity about other people; the desire to be
informed; the search for a religious, spiritual or abstract experience.

 Viewpoint: travel writing often documents the personal experiences of someone

exploring a new place or country so is often first person. Can affect other’s POV
 Perspective: an outsider’s perspective is common when reading travel writing,
particularly if the destination is new, exotic or remote. Alternatively, the piece might
be written from an insider’s perspective and is inviting you to visit or share an
experience in a different part of the world.
 Structure: look out for chronological timelines, past – present structures or
a linear journey of discovery. Guidebooks will have clear
headings and subheadings and will probably include box-outs and the like.
 Information: travel writing often seeks to be informative and can present you
with facts and figures, names and dates, historical or architectural or
geographical information and more.
 Description: if the writer is trying to make the destination tantalising, or to help
transport the reader, you might find examples of visual imagery, vivid description,
even figurative comparisons, helping you visualise a far-off place.
 Visuals: photographs, maps, or floor plans of famous locations are all visual features
that you might encounter in travel writing, particularly guidebooks.

Advisory Texts

 This means that advisory texts can take many forms: columns, articles, letters, posters or
infographics are all text types that can give advice in one form or another. 

 Tone: authoritative, reasonable, commanding or trustworthy. Look out for opinions

presented as if they are facts.
 Tense: the imperative tense (also called the command tense) can be recognised by the
position of the verb at or near the start of the sentence.
 Modality: modal verbs such as ‘must’, ‘will’, ‘should’ and ‘ought’ transmit strength
of feelings.
 Credibility: expert sources, research and scientific evidence might be used to
establish credibility.
 Register: official advice will be formal and persuasive; friendly advice will be
delivered in a reassuring or intimate way. Sometimes, advice will include a warning.
 Structure: look for cause-and-effect structures, step-by-step guides
or linear structures that are easy to follow.
 Manifesto

Webpage

Propaganda: The systematic spreading of information, especially in a biased or

misleading way, in order to promote a political cause or point of view. The aim of
propaganda is to persuade people to accept certain beliefs or facts without question.

Purpose

 persuades the masses

 influence emotions, opinions and attitudes
 direct people’s choices while maintaining the illusion of “free will”

Devices and techniques

 bandwagon – asking people to join the crowd and take action because ‘everyone’ is
doing it
 card stacking – focusing on the best features and leaving out problematic facts
 testimonial – using a famous person to endorse the product, service or an ideology
 glittering generalities – using words and ideas which evoke an emotional response
 transfer – relating a product or an idea with something or someone who like
 name calling – connecting another person, product or an idea with something
negative
 plain folks – using regular people to sell a product, service or an idea
 direct address – engaging the audience by speaking to them directly, by using
personal pronouns and shared experience
 repetition – repeating the same word, phrase or idea more than once for emphasis
(enhances recall value)
 undermining opposing views – criticising or countering the opposite argument
 appeal to authority – suggests that an argument must be correct because someone in
power said so, it is an argumentation fallacy as it is not based on valid reasoning;
example – the ‘keep calm’ posters are often accompanied with a Tudor Crown which
essentially suggesting that people should keep calm because the authority is saying so
 false dilemma – when readers/viewers are provided with only two extreme binaries
and pressured to take sides
 equivocation – when a word is used in two different senses in an argument
Literary Language Features
Persuasive techniques in language

 Simile and metaphor

 Mixed metaphor or simile
 Extended metaphor
 Allusion
 Lists of three
 Repetition
 Parallelism
 Synonymous parallelism
 Antithetic parallelism or antithesis
 Puzzled or redundant questions
 Alliteration
 Wordplay
 Metonymy