Sunday, November 23, 2008

Language Features of Analytical Responses

Activity

Refer to a substantial piece of writing that answers a HSC style question about your prescribed text for the following activity.

Discuss the language features used in the example.
Discuss the effectiveness of the language features used in the example.
How could language features be improved to clarify meaning and relate to belonging?

Narrative mode
• Analytical responses are usually written in the third person as this is a formal form of writing. Third-person narrative allows the writer to objectively comment on the events in the texts being analysed. Third-person narrative is indicated by words such as it, he, she, their, etc.

• First-person narrative is used when you are invited to give a personal response, for example, in a speech or an opinion piece. First person is indicated by words such as me, us, I, we, ours, etc.

Example:
Effectiveness:

Sentence choice
• Use a variety of sentence types. Simple sentences are often used in more informal writing, like speeches and magazine articles, rather than essays. However, complex sentences are still appropriate for informal forms of writing.

Example:
Effectiveness:

• Complex sentences are sentences which contain a number of ideas in the one sentence. They have multiple clauses.

Example:
Effectiveness:

Word choice
• Use connecting words to link ideas between paragraphs.

Example:
Effectiveness:

Evaluative language
• Use evaluative language to strengthen the argument. Evaluative language is language that attributes value or worth to an idea or statement.

Example:
Effectiveness:

Nominalisation
• Try to change verbs into nouns to sound more objective. This is called nominalisation. For example, the verb ‘behave’ becomes the noun ‘behaviour’, ‘judge’ becomes the noun ‘judgment’, and so on.

Example:
Effectiveness:

Abstract nouns
• Use abstract nouns to explain things. An abstract nouns is the name of a quality, state or action

Example:
Effectiveness:

Noun groups
• Use detailed noun groups to provide information in a compact form. Noun groups expand or elaborate on a noun.

Example:
Effectiveness:

Clause combinations
• Use complex combinations of clauses as contrast. Conjunctions like although, because and while provide the link between ideas.

Example:
Effectiveness:

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