Conversation

I believe that person A is someone who has authority, such as a policeman, whilst person B is someone with information such as an eyewitness. The authority figure uses interrogative sentences in order to get the information which they need. This gives the person a sense of authority as speaker B feels the need to answer both questions, showing that person A has authority over person B.

The audience gets the feeling that person B is shocked or nervous. The constant use of hiatus and fillers show how the speaker is struggling to get their words out, or are thinking about what they are saying so as not to do anything wrong. This adds to the assumption that person A has authority, as person B does not want to give any wrong information, presumably because there would be harsh consequences. As well as this, the use of euphemisms such as 'he must have had it', implying the victim died, supports that speaker B is shocked, as they do not want to be as blunt as to say that the person is dead.

Speaker B uses taboo/slang words such as 'bloody' to emphasise the seriousness of the incident, as well has the shock they are in from witnessing the incident. This shows how the incident is obviously serious, and so supports the idea that speaker A is a police officer as this is the sort of situation that they would be involved in.

Speaker B has a lot more speech within the transcript, however speaker A has the authority. This is juxtaposed to the conventions of speech and turn-taking, as someone who speaks more is often presented as domineering and in charge of the situation. However, some may think that speaker B is in charge of the situation since they are the one with the vital information.

Bishops Waltham Action Group Leaflet

The primary audience of this text would be residents of Bishops Waltham, as it is their opinion which will be listened to when deciding whether the Sainsbury's should be built. The way this leaflet is written as a letter shows a formal address of the person, for example the letter starts, 'Dear Resident', which will make the reader feel as though the letter/leaflet is aimed just at them. It's purpose, to persuade the residents to vote against the construction of the superstore, is clear from the very first paragraph; the letter is stating why the letter is being written. This immediately makes the reader aware of the situation, and they will play closer attention to the letter, as they want to know why they should vote against it. The letter sustains a high register, as to sound important and professional; if the letter was written using a low register, it would not sound very impressive, therefore a high register will make the reader take the letter seriously.

In the top left of the page, is the logo for Bishops Waltham Action Group. A logo makes the page look well thought out, professional and respectable. Also, the human eye is trained to read from the top left corner of a page, so this is likely to be the first thing that the reader will see, making it more rememberable. This is important because the group will want the reader to contact them or be involved in their cause, and the audience must know their name to do so.

The writer uses a lot of words in the same semantic field as war, to make the problem seem as bad as, if not worse, than war. For example, the use of 'juggernaut' implies that the corporation is big, powerful and impossible to take down. Also, the word 'destroy' is used, saying that a new Sainsbury's will 'destroy' the town. This is obviously exaggerated, but in persuasive texts emotive language is used to make the reader worried about the consequences if they do not follow what the writer wants them to do, in this case they do not want to be held responsible for allowing the store to destroy their town.

This is a leaflet which is written in the style of a letter, and uses features of both. The features of a leaflet used are persuasive text, images and logos. These are used in order to gain the attention of the reader and to get them on board with the cause. An example of persuasive language is in paragraph four, where the text is all about the negative impact the superstore will have on the area. The features of a letter used are the start, where it says 'Dear Resident' as well as where the recipient can reply to. This makes the organisation easy to contact, which is important for an action group as people need to know this if they are to be involved.

This piece uses a lot of modal verbs which are fairly certain. For example, 'the superstore will destroy the vitality or viability of Bishops Waltham'. This implies that there is no doubt that this will definitely happen. This is obviously a bad thing, and the reader cannot assume that anything else will happen, so they do not want to risk this outcome.

English Grammar (Part 2):

Active and Passive Voice

•Active Voice: The boy kicked the ball. (The focus is on the boy, he is the subject and he is doing the kicking).

•Passive Voice: The ball was kicked by the boy. (The ball is the subject, less focus on the boy, more about the ball).

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•Newspapers often use active voice to make a story seem more controversial. For example:

•The police arrested the suspect…

Rather than

•The suspect was arrested by the police.

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•The first sentence is more emotive as people will react to the fact the police have arrested someone.

Sentences and Clauses

•In the same way words form to make phrases, phrases form to make clauses. They are groups of words centred around a verb.

The boy ran up the hill    -    Subject Verb Object

Co-Ordinated Clause – when two clauses are joined together with a conjuction. Both clauses must make sense on their own.

I played football but I got injured.

I went to the shop because I ran out of milk.

I opened my window because I was hot.

Subordinate Clause – there will be a main clause which makes sense alone, and a clause that only makes sense when with the main clause.

Although I went into town, I didn’t meet my friends.

I played football, even though it was cold.

As tired as I was, I did my homework.

English Grammar (Part 1):

Nouns:

•Concrete – name of something, a physical object (chair, table, wall)

•Abstract – the name of an idea/concept (love, courage, pride)

•Collective – the name for a group (murder of crows, herd of cattle)

•Common – a noun that follows the word ‘the’ (box, wall, door)

•Proper – A name, starts with capital letter (Shenfield, Bible, Saturday)

Noun Phrases are used to modify a noun, They are common in newspapers.

Original: A plane crash                             Noun Phrase: The most horrific plane             .                                                                                                                                                                  crash  ever

Nouns can be used to:

•Create lexical cohesion

•Help paint a picture and describe a scene

•Create an emotional response from the reader

Adjectives:

•An adjective is a word or phrase that modifies or describes nouns and pronouns. They can be evaluative, emotive or descriptive.

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•The painter took off his overalls and ate a meal.

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•The weary painter took off his blue, green and white overalls and ate a day-old Chinese meal because he felt ravenous.

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•Adjectives can be comparative (comparing one thing to another, e.g better, happier) or superlative (emphasising something about that thing, e.g best, happiest). The word ‘than’ always comes after a comparative adjective, and the word ‘the’ always comes before a superlative adjective.

Verbs:

                                 / Main Verb (action)

Base Form (infinitive) 

                                 \ Auxiliary Verb ---- Primary auxiliary 

                                                          \ Modal Auxiliary

•Verb phrases are built around a head word (main verb). A modal auxiliary can be placed along a continuum to degress of strength towards commitment. E.g:

•Most Committed: Spurs must beat Man City

•Less Committed: Spurs should beat Man City

•Least Committed: Spurs might beat Man City

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•Primary Auxiliaries help to distinguish tense (was/is/will be).

•Past: He was good at football.

•Present: He is good at football.

•Future: He will be good at football.

Euphemisms:

'Economical with the truth' - Lying

Lying can be considered a taboo subject, so it may be best to disguise the fact that someone was lying. Also, masking it may make a situation easier on oneself, so using a euphemism will take the sting out of saying the word 'lying', which can be quite harsh and unpleasant.

'To let someone go' - To fire someone

Some people may be too embarrassed to admit that they were fired from a job, so instead they could soften the term 'fire' by saying that they were 'let go'. This sounds more gradual and less abrupt and harsh. Similarly, this could work for when someone is doing the firing of an employee, it would make it easier to tell them.

'Gone to meet his maker' - Died

Death is another taboo subject, especially if talking to someone about their relative or friend. They may not want to go into detail, or admit that they are dead, so instead this phrase makes it seem as though they have left for a while but will be coming back, so it is a temporary comfort.

Connotations:

Minor - Youth - Juvenile - Teenager - Youngster

I think that minor and youngster are patronising terms. Both can be used to look down on people, so they have negative connotations, and most people would not be happy with being called one of them. As well as this, juvenile also has a very negative connotation, as I, personally, relate this to complaining, for example that someone is being immature. Teenager and youth should not have negative connotations, becuase that is a simple term for someone classed as that, however the use of such words in the media is often in a bad light, and therefore people are weary of people who are known as the 'youth' or a 'teenager'.

Boy - Man - Gentleman - Male - Lad

Man and male both have fairly neutral connotations, as there is little use of them in society, so people just take the words for what they are. However, 'boy' implies that a male is immature and not an adult. This is a negative connotation because often people want to be adults, so it can be used as an insult toward a male. 'Lad' also has differing connotations, from a male perspective, it is a word used to describe a friend, and is usually used as a compliment. On the other hand, from a female perspective, they do not want a boy to be, what they consider, a 'lad', because this usually involves other women. 'Gentleman' has a positive connotations, as this is what society says a male should strive to become, so to be called a 'gentleman' is usually used in a positive manner.

Opening to a Children's Book - Miss Kelly

There are lots of jobs when you grow up,

you can fly all the way to space,

or drive a car in a race.

You can kick about some footballs,

or fix a car with your tools.

But these jobs did not interest Billy, 

he thought they were rather silly.

For Billy, only one job wins,

he waned to collect the bins.

He would love to pick up our rubbish,

even if it smells like rotten fish.

I did the opening to a children's story book. I used monosyllabic words for the most part, as it makes the text easier to read and understand for a child. Also, I used mostly concrete nouns, as this, again, is easier to understand from a child's perspective. Had I used more complex sentence structures and lexis, the audience may have become confused and lost interest. The story is also quite amusing, as it's purpose is to entertain, and a child is unlikely to be entertained by a serious topic.