GROUPING TEXTS- ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Despite the differences all the texts carry in this paper, they can be divided up into specific groups under similar formats, purposes and discourse structure. While they are on extremely different issues and subjects, many have similar pragmatics or reasons for their creation. As it is impossible to look at all of these groups, the main groups that are going to be looked at in this essay are the differential use of language to illustrate different purposes- to persuade; A, E, F and G, To inform ‘A, E, B, G, and to entertain-C, D, F, G, B. However, in some cases these overlap, and multiple features of different genres are used to achieve the correct purpose.

Advertisements have the primary purpose to persuade- several linguistical features can be used to achieve this. For instance, in text A ‘an advertisement from a phone company –TalkTalk-showing a customer’s experiences and how it benefited her’ uses the positive aspects of the company to invite the reader to join. Her experience, as a real person, is persuasive because it connects with the audience and demonstrates a real effect and benefit that their services deliver. However, it is also informative as it informs the reader that ‘the more friends and family I get to join, the more we can talk to each other for free.’ The use of a comma separates the second half of the sentence, focusing the audience on the adjective ‘free’.
This is a desirable factor and is thus effective in persuading the reader to buy the product, as it emphasises its positive features. As the subject is on the product too- ‘TalkTalk broadband’ is found in the heading- we could put it under the secondary heading of informative as it tell the reader a fact about the product the company is delivering. The mode is clearly multiple- It contains a speaker ‘the customer’ and the advertising campaign, making it carry both spoken and written elements- this adds to the texts persuasive power as it uses a real person as a spokesperson, making it seem more trustworthy. However, it is possible her actual statement has been edited to make it more relevant and easier for the reader to follow, such as changing the grammar and cutting sentences. The use of language is both similar and different to other texts- this text is influential and is therefore persuasive, and we can tell this through the use of positive key points displayed through the facts about the marketed object ‘the phone line.’ This is a common feature of advertising-positive adjectives are similarly found in Text F ‘An advertisement for carrot soup’- although under the use of a semantic of ‘organic’ -‘we don’t dig anything except our carrots. This invites the consumer to get the product as it appears more desirable with only the benefits displayed. Text F is also an advertisement, so it is brightly coloured and uses a decorative font to entertain and gain attention, similar to Text A in the use of coloured images and varied font and logos. However, Text F, unlike text A, uses a country dialect to appeal to the audience and thus persuade. A west country/farmer dialect is used ‘round these parts’ ‘but what the heck’ ‘hefty fella’ ‘all kinds of stuff now’ which both entertains the reader and implies an image of organic farming and trustworthiness. It contrasts comically with the hippie feel of the mad, bright colour scheme and the headline ‘We don’t Dig anything except our carrots’ which is of course a pun and therefore supposedly comical. All this persuades the audience to buy the carrots as it is ‘100% organic’ and clearly from a trustworthy company. Text A chooses not to express a dialect, choosing to use standard grammar, perhaps to support the pragmatic of simplicity and being easy to understand, of course appealing to potential consumers.
Other texts use a persuasive nature too-but have a main purpose to inform. Text E and G are both aimed to inform primarily but to also influence either people’s