COMPARISON

The two given texts share the theme water and the perception thereof. Predominantly, the discussion ensuing the reading of the two quite polar articles concerns first and third world problems.

The first text is an article written for ‘the Observer Food Monthly’ in 2003 by William Leith and has the title ‘Give me an Eau’. The second is an information sheet adapted from UNICEF, written in the same year.

The article written by Mr Leith has many compelling factors, the first being its aimed audience. Being written for a foods magazine, it is directed at food lovers, chefs and gourmands. Furthermore, the way it is written (the irony, humour and puns) reflects an entertaining tint that suggests it is not meant to be taken
“Water and Sanitation” has a very different view on water. Where Leith laughs at the banality of bottled water and the money we throw at it, UNICEF talks about its values and our needs of it as a fundamental basis for living. More precisely, this information sheet addresses the topic of water in third world countries. In comparison, it is concerned with the values of water rather than the taste, or rather the paucity thereof.
At the same time, the set up of an information sheet is very different of that of a magazine article. It is fashioned in many short paragraphs, all with a separate heading to make reading easier and messages more direct. Furthermore, there are a lot of numbers (usually percentages) meant to shock the reader. Being a non-for-profit organisation, UNICEF is asking for donations (see bottom paragraph: “How You Can Help lines 34-35) and therefore uses stylistic devices aimed at making the reader feel guilty, which has a strong polarity in comparison to the first text by Leith.
However, like Leith, the author(s) build trust in the reader by utilising personal experiences and examples- such as successful programmes that UNICEFS has installed and organised in certain third world countries. The register and tone are both very formal, although clear-cutting and there is little to no jargon.

In direct comparison, there are few factoids that are immediately obvious. For