Grouping Texts Task

Grouping 1:  

 

Texts A, C and D all have a secondary purpose to inform which helps them achieve their primary purpose to persuade. Text A is a job specification for a waitress in café, in order to persuade people to apply the first piece of information the audience – anyone interested in waitressing of any gender aged 16 and over- receives is the job title : ‘’ Front of House Team (Part-time, weekend)  - Clifton.’’  This might have been done to carefully select the people who are suited for the job from those who aren’t, the use of jargon in '’Part of House Team’’ shows us that the writer wants someone who already has experience in waitressing, we can tell this because anyone who has worked in waitressing before would know what this term means but those who haven’t won't. By saying where the café is located and the number of hours required it further eliminates those who aren’t interested in part time work, or those who live too far away for the job to be suitable to them.  For those who meet the requirements this could be a form of persuasion as it might entice them to apply for the job.  The job advert also contains a small description of the company: ‘’ our mission is to serve simple & well prepared food and drinks made with great ingredients, skill & love.’’ The use of the first person pronoun of ‘’our’’ makes the company seem like a family which is then supported by the abstract noun ‘’love,’’ this gives a welcoming vibe and might persuade the audience to apply.  By stating what the company is about, it also informs the audience what kind of environment they would be working in, as well as provide an idea of what kind of employee the company is looking for. Text C also uses information in order to persuade however unlike the other text, C relies heavily on it. Text C is the back of an Innocent Smoothies bottle; Innocent Smoothies are well known for their healthy drinks that are 100% natural. All packaging contains a list of the ingredients, however to stand out Innocent Smoothies puts the exact amount of ingredients in each bottle: ‘’2 ½ pressed apples, ½ mashed banana, 12 crushed raspberries, ½ freshly squeezed orange etc.’’ By adding adjectives in front of the ingredient it conveys just how much work and effort goes into each bottle, as well as inform the consumer how fresh the produce is. The preciseness of the measurements ensures the consumer that what they are drinking is 100% natural and therefore convinces them to maybe buy the product. Similarly to A, the back of the Innocent bottle also contains information about the company, this makes the consumer trust them more as they are informed on the company and therefore might convince them to stay loyal to the company.Text D is the blurb of a book and has a main target audience of female teenagers. One way we can tell who the book is aimed for is the language it uses:  ‘’but when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Support Group…’’ the use of the adjective ‘’gorgeous’’ suggests to us that the book could be written from Hazel’s point view, showing us that the book might be mainly aimed at girls as they would be able to relate more with the character therefore convincing them to buy it. Through orthography the audience can also be persuaded to buy the book, written in bold and in yellow colouring at the top of the book is ‘’ #1 New York Times Bestseller.’’ This convinces people to buy the book as the New York Times is a well respected magazine, and therefore shows the audience that the book is highly regarded.  The bright yellow colour has positive connotations of happiness and sunshine which might persuade the reader to buy the book. 

Grouping 2:

 

Texts B and E both use rhyming couplets in order to achieve their primary purpose which is to entertain.

Text B is an extract from a popular children’s book The Gruffalo. The vocabulary used in the book are of a simple nature and doesn’t contain more than 3 syllables, because of this the rhymes have a set rhythm. This makes the book easier to and read more enjoyable for the children as they are not caught up on bigger words that they cannot understand. It also makes the book more memorable. An example of the simplistic language and rhyme used is: ‘’ a mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood, a fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.’’ The use of the determiner and indefinite article of ‘’a’’ when referring to the characters depersonalizes them, in doing this the author makes it seem like it could be any fox or any mouse that this story is about making it more exciting for the audience. By only having 10 syllables in each verse also makes the book more memorable. The use of plosives in ‘’deep dark wood’’ makes a heavy sound which makes it easier for the reader to imagine the setting of the story, this then might make it seem like we are walking through the woods with the together making the story more interactive. The next line in the excerpt is ‘’where are you going to little brown mouse?’’ and could be seen as a form of colloquial language. The language used here is similar to that of a child, this clearly shows us who the target audience is and is also an example of accommodation. It also creates a light atmosphere within the whole story as even the speech rhymes.  Text E is a poem by Daniel Gabriel Rosetti known as ‘The Woodspurge’ and although has similar techniques as B it has a different target audience. Like Text B ‘The Woodspurge’ has an AAAA rhyme scheme throughout the whole poem, however in the poem it is used to create a dull and repetitive atmosphere. The rhymes in the poem aren’t quite as simple as the rhymes in B as it occasionally uses half rhymes, however the strengths of the rhyme are the same: ‘’from perfect grief there need not be, wisdom or even memory:’’ The use of oxymoron in ‘’perfect grief’’ conveys to us the powerful sadness that the writer feels, and also creates the monotonous atmosphere that the writer is trying to create. The next line adds to the feeling of hopelessness that the poet feels as it is saying that sometimes grief doesn’t have a point and it’s just there to be felt. The two verses show us that the language used in this poem is more sophisticated than the language used in Text B. This is because it contains disyllabic and polysyllabic words; the use of formal language could be attributed to the fact that it is aimed at an older target audience or the age of the poem.  

Grouping Texts

Texts A, C and E all have the purpose to persuade, however they do it for different reasons; A and C are all trying to make the audience do a task whilst E is trying to get the audience to buy the product.  Text A is a missing’s poster for a lost cat and is asking the audience- any person that may have the cat- to call the owner. A does this through the use of emotive language, when describing the cat, the writer states ‘’ he loves food and will definitely respond to the words ‘dinner time’, ‘’ the use of anthropomorphism makes the cat seem more human and so creates an image of importance which might make people more willing to look for the cat. It also adds light hearted humour in a relatively serious text which allows the writer to persuade the audience to help him/her more as it might make them more likable and so the audience feels more willing to help out.  Text A also uses emotive language to persuade the reader similarly with Text E. However Text E’s use of emotive language isn’t as strong as that of A’s, this could be attributed to the fact that in order to read the back of the bottle the audience would already have interest in the product, which means they don’t require as much persuading as the audience of A’s. Text’s E is the back of a shampoo bottle and therefore contains information about the brand, under the heading ‘’Our Philosophy’’ the bottle reads ‘’ we believe that every woman deserves to look fabulous without spending a fortune.’’  By using the first person plural of ‘’we’’ it makes the company seem like one big group of friends which might make the audience trust them more. The verb ‘’deserves’’ is a form of flattery which in turn is a form persuasion but also it raises the status of the brand as well as the audience. It makes it seem like women should only get the best and the best is this brand of shampoo. The noun ‘fortune’ is informal and in this case is an example of colloquial language, this gives us an idea of who the audience for this shampoo bottle is; average working woman who want the best products but for a reasonable price. ‘’Fortune’’ in this case could be an example of accommodation which is a persuasive technique as subconsciously l it makes us trust the brand because they are similar to us.  Text C could be categorised as a weak inclusion as it doesn’t use emotive language to persuade the audience to quit smoking but uses graphology, facts and imperatives. The main fact that the poster is centred around is ‘’ you are four times more likely to quit with our help than on your own,’’ the use of a different colour on the first half of the sentence highlights the importance of the fact and therefore makes it stay in people’s heads more. Fact is a form of persuasive technique as people are more likely to trust it rather than an opinion, and by putting the NHS logo on the poster it further heightens the importance and reliability of it. Another word highlighted in the text is ‘’free, ’’ ‘’patches,’’ ‘’gum’’ this could be used to convey to people how it can be to quit smoking. It might make more people willing to quit smoking. The main focal point of the poster is ‘’take the next step,’’ this is in bold and in a bigger font than the rest of the other words. The imperative implies that it is up to the person to quit smoking, it also has positive connotations because ‘‘take the next step’’ implies moving forward onto a better and healthier life away from smoking. This is supported by the image of a woman’s shoe stepping on a packet of cigarettes.