PERSUASIVE WRITING
It is a writing that its style and language is driven by the form, the audience and the
stance of the writer. Some use highly emotive, charged language to create
maximum impact; others employ a more balanced tone, using a measured
argument to make their point. Other writers might take an amused or slightly ironic
approach.
Texts categorized under persuasive writing
a. Scripted speeches and Debate Speeches
b. Reviews – (all types)
c. All types of advertising
d. Letters in the Newspaper( letter to the editor
e. Journals
f. Articles in magazines and newspapers
g. Brochures and Pamphlets/ leaflets
Style and Language of Persuasive writing
1. They are loaded with emotive language which directs reader’s response.
2. Rhetorical effects and devices
3. Humour
4. or ironic comment
5. Hyperbole/ exaggeration to enhance comic, sarcastic or dramatic impact.
6. Question tags as a direct appeal to the reader through a “conversational
tone”.
7. Direct address so as to have /invite readers or listeners concerns at heart.
8. Extensive use of adjectives and adverbs
9. Repetition
10.Use comparatives and superlatives
11. Often , but not exclusively, expressed mainly in the present tense to describe
the immediate experience
12.Technical or specialist/subject-specific vocabulary that casts the writer as an
aspect
13.Use vivid imagery or examples to engage the reader.
PERSONAL WRITING
It is writing that is to some extent “personal” in that someone had to author it.
However sometimes some personal text are explicitly personal in that we know
who the writer is, what their situation is and often why they are writing.
Features of Personal writing
1. It can allow readers to witness characters and events from the point of view
of the narrator, especially when it is written in the first person narrative
(using I).
2. Provide a glimpse of the writers more private thoughts and attitudes
3. Explore reasons and motives for behaving in particular ways or feeling
particular emotions.
Texts categorized under personal writing
a. Letters
b. Diaries
c. Memoirs
d. Autobiographies
e. Blogs
f. Biography
g. Novels and short stories
Features evident in Personal writing
One of the important concepts found in personal writing is tone and mood. They
are not evident in personal writing but also in other varieties of writing. It therefore
important to know how tone is established in writing of all genres.
Tone: It is the attitude which the writer adopts about the subject of his writing.
Mood: It is the effect this creates for the reader.
The following can help the reader to establish tone in texts given
a. Diction and choice of words and phrases
Lexical fields- the content words; connotation of words and phrases
b. Narrative point of view
The first person may establish a more engaged tone with the reader; more
personal; third person may establish a more removed/balanced/impersonal
tone.
c. Use of imagery symbolism and figurative language
d. Structure and organization of the content
Illustration of how the list above can establish tone
Text
I had never felt so alone. The wide sweep of the Andes stretched in front of me, a
seemingly infinite expanse of the ice and rock. The air cut into my cheeks, and
blinded me, as I stood unsteadily looking down on the valley below. Then, for a
moment, the skies cleared above me, and I saw a single, solitary condor rise on the
breeze effortless and free. I would be that condor. I would rise above my despair.
(i) Diction and choice of words and phrases:
Standard English and formal register with precise, descriptive
modifications of the narrator and the environment (e.g. seemingly infinite
expanse, ‘stood unsteadily ‘, ‘solitary condor’, ‘effortless and free’).
(ii) Narrative viewpoint:
First person, record of a memorable experience in a dramatic natural
environment.
(iii) Use of imagery:
Metaphors and rhetorical devices reinforce the symbolism of hope rising
above despair (e.g. ‘cut into my cheeks’, ‘single, solitary’ uses alliteration,
parallel repletion of ‘rise’.
(iv) Structure and Organisation:
A topic sentence explaining the mood of the writer leads into a clearly
sequenced description of the landscape which appears to follow the
steady gaze of the narrator. The stillness of the landscape is broken by the
flight movement of the condor. This literal movement becomes linked
with the emotional uplift of the writer.
Activity
Discuss the part played by the following different kinds of tone in the following
extracts.
(i) Diction and choice words and phrases
(ii) Narrative viewpoint
(iii) Use of imagery, symbolism and figurative language
(iv) Structure and organization of the content
Extracts
A Do not be put off by the noise and smell of the city as you arrive. This is one of
its charms, and just part of the heady brew that makes it such a wonderful and
magical place to visit. The narrow streets, the old city with its minarets, the street-
vendors who shout their wares- these simply add to the intoxicating recipe. You
will soon be hooked!
B All I can say is that the décor was more tasteful than the food … and more
colourful. My starter was brown pate` on brown toast … the effect was, how shall I
put it … er, brown and, if it possible for a colour to be a taste, it tasted brown, or
perhaps beige, which is even less powerful. The starter’s lack of taste was only
beaten by the gloopy slop that come with the steak. The menu said ‘Celeriac pur`ee’
my plate said, ‘Wallpaper paste’.
