Week 12

Read different text types and forms

• persuasive
• argumentative
• expository   

 WRITING COMMENTS - GENERAL REMARKS (1) 

• Comments are argumentative texts. In other words, you want your reader to understand and agree with your point of view and the reasons you give for having it. The answers to the following questions should help you to achieve this.

  
  

  1.             Who is going to read your answer? (The answer you write for a twelve-year-old child will probably be different from one you write for a teacher!)

  2.             How much background information do you think the reader has?

  3.             How much will you have to give him / her?

  4.             What do you want the reader's reaction to be after reading the text? (Should the reader DO something, accept or reject something, change his mind about something?)

  5.             Can you summarise the main point of your argument in one sentence? (It is important that you do this in order to make sure you are keeping to the point.)

  6.             What evidence do you give to support your argument? (This can taken from your own experience, books you have read, texts you have studied, programmes you have seen or heard.)

  7.             Have you presented the evidence effectively? (This can be done by using different methods such as definitions, examples, comparisons, contrasts, etc.)

  8.             What are the opposing views to yours? Have you dealt with them and shown why you think they are wrong?

  9.             How do you want to structure your answer? (How do you want to introduce the topic? How many paragraphs should there be in the main part of the answer? What do you want to put into your last paragraph?

  
  

  GIVING PERSONAL COMMENTS (2)

  In a personal comment, we usually state first whether we are for or against something. Then we give reasons and arguments for what we think, usually in contrast to a different view. Normally we finish with a conclusion based on the evidence that we have given. When we develop a comment by moving from reasons FOR a view to reasons AGAINST it, then to other reasons for and against it and so on, we follow a DIALECTICAL ORDER. This dialectical order is based on contrasts and comparisons.

  STEPS FOR WRITING A COMMENT

  1.         Think of the given fact or idea with which opposing ideas are or can be connected. Use this fact / idea as the topic to start from.

  2.         Quote or sum up the viewpoint you wish to OPPOSE. Inform your readers / listeners about the standpoint (thesis) you do not accept.

  3.         Then state your own view, the antithesis, which you can support and defend. Do this with AT LEAST two pieces of evidence.
  Your own view may be introduced by

  -      a contrastive signal (e.g. "However", "Yet", "On the other hand", ... etc.)

  -      a viewpoint expression (e.g. "I think / do not think", "In my view" - cf. the relevant handouts).

  4.         Attitudinal adverbs (e.g. "obviously", "clearly", "certainly,".... etc.) can provide EMPHASIS but care is needed when using them because they are sometimes used to appeal only to the reader's / listener's emotions and not to his / her intellect.

  5.         Support what you think with evidence from everyday experience, your personal experience, from the text you are dealing with, or from other texts, books, and magazines you have read previously. In a personal comment you may also appeal to people's needs and values.

  6.         In your argumentation, you may also wish to use the following kinds of clauses which are frequently found in comments;

  -      clauses of reason / cause with "since", "as", "because", ... etc.

  -      clauses of concession to include counter arguments. These are introduced by words like "although", "whereas", ... etc.

  -      conditional clauses with "if", "unless", ... etc. in order to say

  ¨    what is possible in the present or in the future;
  e.g. If X happens / happened ... Y will / would result.

  ¨    say what you think was possible only in the past but is no longer possible in the present:
  e.g. If X had happened ... Y would / would not have resulted.

  7.         To introduce arguments for or against a viewpoint, you can also use CAUSAL EXPRESSIONS at the beginning of a sentence;
  e.g. "The reasons for this are...."; "This is why ..."; "Another reason for this is ...".

  8.         Contrastive signals can be used in the body of your text to continue and support the dialectical order of contrast and comparison in the text (cf. no. 3 above).

  9.         At the end of a paragraph or longer comment, draw a conclusion from your arguments by using signals like "so", "thus", "therefore", ... etc.

  
  

  EXAMPLE QUESTION AND ANSWER

  “Do you agree that TV has lead to the death of books?”

  
  

  The word “death” in the question is, in itself, provocative, suggesting an extreme point of view. Evidently / Certainly / Apparently the amount of TV viewing has increased rapidly in the last ten years, as evidenced by / as shown in / as suggested by / as documented in the report /the book / the text by ....

  This would not seem / does not seem (to me) to indicate .... On the contrary, recent research in this field suggests that ....

  The next point to consider / the question then arises as to / how much time is given over to reading and what kinds of books are read by whom. When we consider that the amount of information available doubles every seven years, we must consider it the duty of members of the professions to read as much as possible.

  Evidence in the USA / UK / Germany seems to indicate / suggest / point to an increase in the number of hours spent in front of the TV screen.

  The result of this is that / Consequently people have less time for reading

  To return to the question, the answer seems to be ....

  Perhaps we should also reconsider how books are written in view of the limited reading time available. 'Books' here includes those written to entertain as well as those providing information. …

  Thus, after a careful consideration of the arguments, I am lead to the conclusion that …

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  ARGUMENTATIVE TEXTS

  (evaluation and judgement in response to a problem)

  An argumentative text

  a)   tries to persuade/convince the reader/listener

  b)   is based on subjective evaluation of a problem

  FEATURES

  1.       Two main types:-

  Comment - subjective argumentation

  Scientific argumentation - from an objective point of view

  2.       Types of connectives frequently found:

  reason/cause; contrast; purpose; result; exclusion;

  3.       Styles involved:

  informal; ironic; appreciatory/depreciatory, persuasive

  informal style:

  -      1st/2nd person point- of view (“I” / “you”);

  -      simple short sentences and words;

  -      Only essential punctuation.

  -      The speaker/ writer is socially at ease with the addressees.

  ironic style:

  -      speaker/writer feels disrespect or contempt;

  -      linguistic exaggeration;

  -      speaker/writer says the opposite of what he means.

  -      A: I fine students who make mistakes.

  -      B: That sounds like a fine educational idea!

  -      The user often employs this style to persuade quickly instead of employing reasoned arguments.

  appreciatory style:

  -      The writer wants to influence the addressee in favour of what he refers to in the text; e.g. “Come to Germany and enjoy the quality and high standards we’re world famous for.”;

  -      this style frequently employs emotive words and euphemisms (“He passed away” instead of “he died”);

  -      it avoids negative sentences;

  -      it uses words with positive connotations. Something is presented as being better than it really is (e.g. advertising)

  -      The opposite is “depreciatory style” (unpleasant connotations, negative not affirmative sentences Something can be presented as being worse than it really is.

  persuasive style

  -      seeks to get addressee’s spontaneous consent. (“It is, of course, obvious that...”); makes use of attitudinal adverbs (“surely”, “obviously”, etc.;),

  -      intensifying adverbs (clearly/terribly/ absolutely),

  -      rhetorical questions and parentheses (“The search for happiness - as we know front our own experience - is a long one”.)
  
  
  Personal comment
  Comments are argumentative texts. You are asked to state your own opinion on a certain topic. In other words, you want your reader to understand and agree with your point of view and the reasons you give for having it. This is called writing a personal comment. A comment normally combines fact and opinion. You start out from given facts or events and then express your personal judgement, leaving no doubt as to where you personally stand.
  Basic rules:
  -      To be effective, your comment must be dear and comprehensible.

  -      A comment needs structure; a clear beginning, a discernible middle, a convincing ending or conclusion.

  -      First state whether you are for or against something.

  -      Then give reasons and arguments for your point of view.

  -      Rank your arguments according to a certain order, for instance according to their importance.

  -      Finish with a contusion based on the arguments and evidence you have given.

  -      Always make a plan before writing your final answer. This plan can be laid out as a mind map.
  How to write a personal comment
  Preparation

  Step 1

  Determine what your position is. Collect ideas and arguments in a first draft (e.g. as a mind map). Collect supportive evidence.

  
  

  Step 2

  Decide how you want to structure your comment. Group your ideas and arguments according to -      their relevance and importance -      their logical link to each other

  
  

  Writing Step 3

  If necessary say what the problem subject is or explain how you understand the topic. Begin forcefully, use expressions such as: It is often argued that It is widely believed that A commonly held view is that

  
  
  
  

  Step 4	Introduce your opinion in a general evaluation of the problem. Use expressions such as
  	I am (not)	of the opinion (quite) certain am firmly convinced		that…
  	I do not	believe think		that…
  	I	agree with disagree with		the writer the author name	when she	argues asserts claims expresses the opinion expresses the view tries to persuade us	that…
  	There is no denying that ...		(The writer is very sure)
  	I wonder if / why .. I am doubtful whether ... I am in two minds about ...		(The writer is uncertain or doubtful)

  
  

  Step 5	Present your arguments in detail.
  Give reasons for your view and mention opposing arguments. Either: - one argument follows the other, with the strongest argument at the end; or - an argument for a view is immediately followed by an argument against it
  Support what you think with evidence from everyday experience, your personal experience, from the text you are dealing with, or from other texts, books, and magazines your have read previously. To make your comment sound convincing and to “bring home” you arguments you will need “argumentative” sentence structures and phrases.
  Sentence links to express ...		…reason: …condition: …concession …result:	therefore, that is why, because, as, since etc. if, unless, provided that, providing, as long as etc.: although, even though, whereas, despite the fact that, on the one hand ... on the other hand, nevertheless, however, nonetheless consequently, thus, as a result

  
  

  Step 6

  Draw a conclusion. Refer back to your strongest arguments. Use phrases such as:

  In conclusion ... In consequence... All in all ... To summarise ... To put it in a nutshell ... etc.

  
  
  
  
  
  

  POINT OF VIEW (in narrative Texts)

  1st-person narrative “I” is used

  3rd-person narrative “He/She” is used with all characters

  -      the main character / protagonist tells his/her own story; -      the narration is limited to the hero’s thoughts, feelings and perceptions; -      The reader only sees, knows, hears, thinks, … what the hero sees…

  -      the narrator tells someone else’s story as a witness / observer (e.g. “I saw that he became frightened when …”); -      the observer does not know the thoughts, feelings, … of the other characters

  third person limited -      the narrator is outside the story and tells it from the standpoint of one character within the story; -      the narrator is limited to the knowledge and perception of one single character; E.g. “Mr Brown looked closely at Peter but couldn’t guess what he was thinking.”

  omniscient narrator -      the narrator looks into the mind of all characters (or some of them); e.g. “Four people were sitting in front of the TV set. One of them was asleep and dreaming of …, two were … and the fourth was thinking  …”

  Effect: similar to real life

  Effect: illusion of reality and of being present at the scene of the action

  
  
  Language features of persuasive texts
  Blake Education
  The use of effective language is very important in persuasive texts, and this is reflected in the marking criteria. Students can be assessed for their language use in: • audience – as they engage and persuade the reader • ideas – as they use words to elaborate and link ideas/arguments and reasons • persuasive devices – as they portray the writer’s position and try to convince the reader • vocabulary – as they use appropriate topic language according to the context of the task • cohesion – as they use referring words, substitutions, word associations, and connectives and conjunctions through the sentences and paragraphs So what types of language features do persuasive texts use? • Present tense – a persuasive text is written ‘now’. The verbs are written using present tense. E.g. is, be, are, means, need, act, stop • Action verbs – words that show what is happening E.g. save, battle, lose, repair • Thinking and feeling words – to convey the emotion of the topic and the writer’s point of view E.g. believe, opinion, think, feel, know, like, grateful, surprised, doubt, trust, hope • Emotive words – to engage the reader and make them see the issue the way you do E.g. harsh, fierce, treasured, unique, nasty, special, delightful, gorgeous, dangerous, brutal • Evaluative language – to examine the arguments and supporting evidence  E.g. important, simple, narrow minded, threatened, it is obvious, future benefits, easier, expected, unlikely claim, too fragile, poor judgement, only option • Degree of certainty (also known as modality) – how certain are your statements? Do you want to make people agree, or do you want to cast some doubt in their opinions?  E.g. may, will, must, might, usually, almost, always, never, sometimes, generally, undisputed, hardly ever, certain, should, could, have to
  6© Blake Education, 2010 Persuasive text work sheets (Primary) ISBN 978-1-921852-00-8
  • Conjunctions and connectives – conjunctions are used to join ideas within the same sentence, while connectives are used to link ideas between different sentences and paragraphs  E.g. and, but, however, another reason why, also, some people, on the other hand, or, firstly, if, secondly, finally, regardless, not everyone agrees, while, although, first of all, in the end, because, since Getting a good start Persuasive texts need to make a point, or persuade the reader to agree with a particular point of view. As such, their introductions need to be clear and summarise the main message. The writer may use a title that is bold, inspiring or controversial. They must engage the reader and their emotions so that they want to keep on reading. Some interesting ways to grab a reader’s attention in persuasive texts are to: • use a title with powerful language – Students injured in another sporting tragedy – Government fails to solve environmental disaster • start the introduction with a rhetorical question – Why on earth would anyone want to use public transport? – What’s so good about dogs? • start the introduction with highly emotive language – It is obvious that people have been ignoring playground safety for far too long. – Quite clearly people in the local area are fed up with the lack of action. • start the introduction by using personal pronouns to involve the reader – I am certain that you wouldn’t agree with the ridiculous idea that cats make better pets than dogs. – You have got to be joking if you think that it is safe for young children to be riding dirt bikes! • start the introduction with a clear statement of the topic – Each year countless animal species are added to the world’s endangered list. –  Climate change is constantly in the news, but there are still people who disagree over what causes it and how its effects can be slowed.