Q. Explain how Happy Bapetsi presents her experience of meeting her father for the first time. (Jan 2013) By Umer Ali Abbasi

This is an extract based on the life story of a girl named happy, who is presumably also the author in this case.The extract is called,”The No.1 ladies detective agency.”From the title one can infer that something dramatic has occurred in the authors life and now she seeks help. This extract is uniquely structured. With a variation in sentence structure and frequent use of short sentences, the author gives her write a dramatic appeal.The purpose of this extract is solely to entertain the reader and that is done so by adding humour,irony and other techniques to keep the reader hooked.
The language used in this extract ranges from hopeful to disappointed and then hopeful again. This extract targets multiple audience groups such as adults, young adults, the elderly, as well as children. This is clear from the fact that the author uses simple language and jokes that can be understood by anyone. In addition to that she uses a simple tone that appeals to all of her audience, a positive, calm and humble one.

Firstly, the author starts off with an anecdote. “Let me tell you a little about myself….”Through this anecdote she explains her life story to the audience. This builds a relationship with the audience right from the beginning as the audience get to know the character and support her. She is developed as a protagonist in the audience’s eye.
Secondly, the theme of this extract mainly revolves around ‘Family’ and ‘loyalty’. This can be seen through the writers use of diction such as, “my daddy”, “after all” and “mother”. She constantly relates back to her family and her time growing up in it. She says ‘after all’ because she knows that after all that man could be her dad and she is bound to help him as she is loyal to her own. This develops Happy’s character in the audience’s eye and makes them feel sympathetic towards her. This also leaves them curious to know how she handles the situation, hooked wanting to read ahead.
Furthermore, the writer maintains a nostalgic attitude since she’s recalling her past. This is evident from, “I was still a little baby”,“Back then” and “I didn’t have to work at all”.Here the author feels nostalgia as she relives the happiest moments of her life .As the story develops the attitude changes from positive to negative, but in the end it changed back to positive as she doesn’t want to leave the reader on a negative note. This is done so to trigger an emotional response from the reader and make them agree to the authors perspective.

Moving on, The author uses significant bias in her extract. This bias is against men , since on many occasions she favors women And undermines men Just because of the actions of one man, her dad. This is clear from the fact that during the discussion she says ,“many men are like that”.By doing so she generalizes the behavior of all men Gaining the sympathy of her female readers And bringing her male readers to the realization of acceptance.
In addition,the author uses irony in the extract. This is done so that the audience feels sorry for Happy, keep them hooked to the extract and add colour to the passages.The irony being that her name is happy, on the contrary her life is far from happy. She goes though a lot in her life with very little exposure happiness herself.

Finally,the author uses humour is her passage.This adds emphasis,and colour to the write.This also keeps the reader entertained and builds her character as a funny one.This can be seen ,”all the men are worried that I’ll make them look stupid”. Here she jokes about how she can’t get a higher position at her office.This also shows the reader where her bias against men is really coming from.

In conclusion, the author completely builds Happy’s character for the reader, then she gains their sympathy and pushes her points through to them.She targets a wide audience by keeping language simple and understandable to anyone.She tries her best to keep the reader hooked and entertained. She uses bias, irony and humour from time to time,only to give the reader her view on the topic.

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AO2: Q) How does the writer convey his thoughts and feelings about his visit to Naples in Italy in the passage? By Aaizah Tahir 11M

A) This extract is a travel writing written by Bill Bryson, called “Neither Here Nor There”. The genre of this piece of text is non-fiction with the themes of travelling and beauty of simplicity of life in Italy. The tone of this passage is skeptical. The language is colloquial and engaging, with a simple vocabulary, including compound and descriptive words. The purpose of this passage is to entertain the reader and inform the audience about Italy. The audience consists of young adults, adults and tourists wanting to know about and/or visit Italy. This extract explains and describes in detail of what the writer sees as he wanders in the strets of Italy, and his thoughts and emotions while travelling and seeing the sights.

The tone of the author in this extract is skeptical and somewhat cynical. This can be seen by, “I awake to a gloomy day”, “Naples looked even worse”, “the worst of these districts” and “yet i feel safe enough.” These display the conflict that the writer feels about whether he likes the place or not. He describes the “shady square” and that there were “unattended children” who wore ” filthy shorts”, but then he tells the reader how despite all that, he feels safe. This reflects the writer’s attitude and gives the impresssion of a reasoned piece of writing. It also informs the reader of the writer’s view on Italy.

Then, the writer says, “there were no sign of happy fishermen”, “more people selling lottery tickets” and “dirty underpants, half a bar of chocolate.” This portrays the very colloquial and engaging language. The author explains and paints a picture of all that he saw or encountered on his trip to Italy in a simple, yet interesting manner. The colloquial language engages the reader, creates interest and makes it easier for the writer to get his point across. The reader gets impressed with all the information, and also makes the reader feel more at ease with the writer.

Furthermore, the writer has incorporated multiple figures of speech for effect. Firstly, he has made use of personification. Point in case, “wispy haze… taken away in the night”, “tumbling fog”, “slicing rain” and “stray smile”. The writer makes his point by describing something with something totally unrelated. This sparks interest in the reader, helps the reader understand the point being made and it also sustains the reader’s interest as it is easy to read.

Secondly, the writer has used simile, shown by, “washing hung like banners”. This clarifies and enhances the idea of the alleyway and is very effective, the aptness of comparison helps make a point.

Then, the writer has made use of alliteration. For example, “banners between balconies” and “stray smile”. This adds emphasis and reinforces the meaning of what is being said. It creates a highly emotive picture.

Finally, the writer has irony shown by, “Yet, I felt safe enough.” This is ironic as throughout the passage, the writer says how the streets are dirty and full of rubbish and there was theft but still, he feels safe. This makes the writer’s point distinctively and engages the reader through his words.

Next, the writer has used words like “obscured’, “hill sides”, “waterfront”, “menacing-looking”, “derelicts” and “blunder”. This shows the simple vocabulary used in the passage including compound-words. The writer also uses triples, “mean, cavernous and semi-paved”. All of this helps the reader read and understand the text written, easily. It engages the reader and puts them more at ease.

Finally, the writer uses sarcasm such as “pettier crimes like car theft”. This is a very powerful device and with a humorous touch, shows that the writer has negative feelings towards the crimes in Italy.

In conclusion, the writer has used various linguistic elements and techniques such as simple vocabulary, figures of speech and sarcasm to add effect to the passage. By this, he engages the reader, sustains the audience’s interest, makes his point distinctively and creates a highly emotive picture.

AO2: How does Mail Online express views on social websites? Explain your answer with brief quotations. By Areesha Fatima 10-F

The title of this text is ‘SOCIAL WEBSITES HARM CHILDREN’S BRAINS’ taken from ‘Mail Online’. It is an article which has been published on a website which is its structure. The purpose of this text is conative and informative as it seeks to inform and affect the reader. The language is quite straight-forward and appealing. The audience is young-adults, adults and people who are interested in knowing about the harmful effects of social websites. The tone of this passage is semi-formal and slightly negative as it can be seen by the diction. The theme is this passage is social websites.

Moreover, this passage contains expert opinions such as “neuroscientist Susan Greenfield”, “study by the Broadcaster Audience Research Board”. This shows that the author has ample knowledge about social websites and it makes the passage more reliable for the reader to relate.

The author has used Jargon which can be seen “Facebook”, “Twitter”, “Bebo”. The use of naming social networking sites helps Mail Online to express views and add more emphasis on social websites.

Furthermore, the author has achieved their target by using triples in the text. For example, “shorten attention spans, encourage…and, make young….”. Also “killing, skinning and butchering.” This helps the author to stress upon the fact so that the reader understands the effects of social websites.

Another stylistic device that the author uses is contention which is the main line of argument. For example, “social networking websites are causing alarming changes in the brains of young users.” This shows the author’s point of view and it helps to pinpoint the issue being discussed.

The author has also used slight humor to engage the reader. For example, “we know how small babies need constant reassurance that they exist”. This device provokes laughter and makes a connection between the reader and the author.

The author has also used alliteration in this text ‘flight or fight’ which creates a rhythm for the reader and adds emphasis.

The author has also used inclusive language such as “of course, we do not know”, “we are seeing”. This gains sympathy and/or persuades the reader to agree with an idea. The author successfully grabs the reader’s attention.

Moreover, the author has used a variety of sentence structures which are simple, compound and complex. For example, “but they will strike”, “whether it can”, “and extremely profitable”. The use of these sentences creates short and long sentences to develop and reinforce viewpoints. This further builds a flow for the reader and through careful choice of words different effects are gained.

In conclusion, the ‘Mail Online’ has fulfilled their target of expressing its views about social websites. The author has used figurative language and rhetorical devices to have more impact on the reader. This makes the reader enjoy the article as its interesting. It gives a great deal of information about social media which shows that the author has a good amount of knowledge about the topic ‘social websites’.

 

 

 

AO2: How does Mail Online express news on social website? Explain Your answer with brief quotations. Written By: Ahmad Raja 10-F

Ans) ‘Social Websites Harm Children’s Brains’ is the title of this passage which is taken from a website named ‘Mail Online’. This Passage is informative but gives a touch of persuasion as well. The tone of the passage is negative as the writer is mostly talking about harms.

 

Straight-forward language is used by the writer to make the young and adult audience understand at the same time.

 

The writer is mainly using evidences and references himself, from neuroscientists and psychologists such as “Baron Greenfield” and “Jane Healy” so that the  audience could have more faith in the writers writing. Then, social networking Jargons like “Facebook”, “Twitter”, and “Bebo” are also used to gain faith of the readers and avow’s that these sites “shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification, and make young people more self centered” so that the reader believes him.

 

The writer has not used many statistics, he has only used them occasionally like, “150 million”, “Six million”, or “Seven-and-a half hours a day”, but these also gain the interest and faith of the reader, as it gives an image of ponderousness.

 

The words such as “sharp decline”, “engaged in for millenia”, “Toxic Childhood”, “alarming changes”, “rewire the brain”, are used by the writer to logically persuade the reader about the bad effects of “Social websites” and make them think that our brains are being rewired by these  gargantuan things and that these should be ostracised or at least be used less.

 

The writer then compares a present day’s child talking to real people with “killing,skinning, and butchering an animal,” that this is replaced with packages of meat on the supermarket shelf for convenience. This grabs the readers considerateness as firstly, draconian words are used by the writer and secondly, the words are triples, which make the reader more interested in reading and understanding the meanings and intention of them.

 

The writer gives expert opinions of neuroscientists and psychologists such as, “technologies are infantilising the brain,” then he says that it’s in a state that children who like “buzzing” sounds and bright lights have small attention spans and “live for a moment.” Now this scares the reader and onomatopoeia is used, which makes and produces a familiar sound in the readers mind and gets a better idea of what is meant and that the reader has also heard this sound before.

 

In conclusion, the writer successfully reaches his goal and purpose of writing this passage by giving factual references of educated and qualified personalities and by using severe words to go deep in the readers mind to fulfill his purpose successfully and convince him that “Social websites harm children’s Brains.”

AO2: How is the message communicated to the reader in the passage when the Ram sees the Taj Mahal for the first time? By Zara Irfan 11 E.

This passage is an extract from the novel ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, written by the author ‘Vikas Swarup’. The purpose of the author writing it is to entertain the reader, and to be expressive correspondingly while the language used is casual to conversational. Apart from this, it is certain that the audience and its readers are travelers, people interested in exploring and adults/young adults. The tone the author uses is friendly, with flecks of sarcasm. The style being narrative and the theme being ‘travel’, the author has enveloped many literary techniques in his work.

Starting off with the most evident technique used- imagery- the writer has condoned in giving his readers a lot of examples, for instance he says, “plastic debris float on its eddying currents.” In another place this has been mentioned, “It is a gleaming white structure which rises up.” This gives the reader a description to envision the scene unfolding, which in result promotes interest.

Another trait visible in the passage is its uplifting humor. “Craned to catch a glimpse of a dead body floating on its surface.” This very statement provides evidence to my appeal. Henceforth, it is sufficient to say that the writer has worked in providing an interesting narrative as humor sustains the reader’s attention.

Thirdly, personification (a figure of speech) has been used in this extract as the writer uses the words “swelling” for dome and “dancing” for the Taj. This enables the reader to have proficient understanding of every detail as this technique gives human-like characteristics to non-living things. Other than this, it also had description and an oomph to the writer’s work.

Side by side, the writer uses words like ‘spear-like’, ‘passer-by’ and ‘baton-wielding’ which can be identified as compound words and ‘Arrey’ (a vernacular word). This variety of vocabulary adds spice to the passage and a little but of funk. It also shows the comprehensiveness of language of the writer.

Entrancing the reader with exaggeration, the writer says the following statements, “After and eternity, I turn to the first passer-by” and “It glitters in the sunlight.” Exaggeration generally emphasizes a point and reinforces the author’s words, making the entire writing seem much more detailed and believable.

Other than this, the author has enrolled irony in his story. For example, he says, “the loss of my fifty thousand rupees” and at another place says, “baton-wielding policemen try to restore order”. In the first example, the writer loses his most important source; money, while in the second example, the key word is ‘try’, when a policeman’s basic duty is to maintain peace. This makes the story more appealing and the writer’s point more distinctive.

Pun is another technique used by the writer when he says, “the reflecting pool with a glassy image,” in the sixth paragraph. This adds humor and positions the reader to enjoy the author’s writings and grabs substantial attention as well.

Another one of the many figures of speech used is alliteration. ‘Purity of its perfection’ is what the writer says in line 20. Alliteration is catchy, joy able to read and focuses on a healthy flow of words. It also maintains reader’s interest.

Corresponding to the last technique, onomatopoeia can be spotted. For example, the writer says, “babble of voice rises.” This creates a wider image of what is happening and makes the reader live in the moment.

Lastly, statistics have been provided by the author in various parts of the extract, for instance, the writer says, “Indians Rs 20 Foreigners $20.” This backs up the reader’s words and gives them evidence, making everything seem more believable too.

Wrapping everything up, it would be an understatement to say that the writer has endorsed a lot of figures of speech in his work for example ‘alliteration’, ‘personification’ and ‘onomatopoeia’. Along with this, techniques such as exaggeration and humor have also been used, making the narrative seem increasingly eye-catching.

AO2: How does the writer convey his thoughts and feelings about his visit to Naples in Italy in this passage? By Zara Irfan 11 E.

Entitled as ‘Neither Here Nor There’, this extract has been endorsed by the writer Bill Bryson, the purpose behind it being to entertain the reader while being expressive side by side as well. The language used is semi-formal, going in a smooth flow, making the writer’s words seem conversational and easy to read. The audience includes travelers and mainly young-adults and adults since the extract is a travel log and the tone holds a humorous and jolly pace. The attitude, however, is skeptical (somewhat under tension) regarding the fact that the author is in a new place, facing foreign problems. The style can be described using two different elements; description and narration. Furthermore, the theme can be recognized as ‘travel’ or even ‘new experiences’.

Coming to the actual body of the narrative, this extract holds various techniques to woo the reader into reading it. The first and foremost detectable feature can be the mass of the description the author has used and how he has coupled words with adjectives, creating the best example of imagery. For example, the author has used the lines ‘obscured by a wispy haze’ and ‘I would blunder onto some shady square lined with small but decent hotels’. This adds color to the writings and allows the reader to be attracted to the passage.

Carrying forth with the last given example (‘square lined with small but decent hotels’), use of alliteration can be spotted as the writer is playing about with the letter ‘s’. Relating to this, associations/connotations have also been made by the writer. For instance, the author in the third paragraph says, “mean, cavernous, semi-paved alleyways.” These words- specifically the word ‘mean’- hold more meaning to them. Hence, it is safe to say that both persuasive techniques make the readers hold on to the passage. Alliteration adds emphasis and associations bring about readers response in various ways.

Thirdly, different forms of figures of speech have been used. Personification can be highlighted when the writer says, “tumbling fog”. Another place where we can find an example is in the same line, the continuation being, “creatures from beyond the grave stumble.” This makes the reader visualize the scene in a more comprehensive manner and makes the writer overall more attractive. Euphemism is another figure of speech used. The writer uses the word ‘overplump’ instead of fat when describing the women he sees, which makes the situation more pleasant and polite to read.

Besides all of this, the writer’s work is full of sarcasm and humor. The extract has been wrapped up with a comical touch as the writer says at the end, “all they would get was some dirty underpants.” Another example can be seen in the third paragraph, “streets were full of overplump women and unattended children, often naked from the waist down.” Humor generally is a technique to enhance one’s writings and to make it seem more engaging, and as in this case here, the author has been successful.

Exaggerations, overstatements and hyperboles have been repeatedly used throughout the passage. This is evident in these exact words of the author, “I felt as if I had wandered onto another continent.” The usage of these makes the writer’s words clearer and more understandable by the reader. It also adds complexity and a flavorful touch to spice everything up, upholding drama at its best.

Providing us with facts and statistics, the author produces substantial evidences to back up his own words. For example, “has the highest population density in Europe”, “70,000 families even live now in cramped bassi’s” and “the pettier crimes like car theft (29,000 in one year).”

Use of several vernacular words is also highly prominent. ‘Scippatori’ and ‘bassi’ are some words which prove this point. These words are informative and give an overview of different cultures, making the reader indulge in the authors words even more. It creates a base of interest and is highly profound in attracting attraction.

In conclusion, the writer has been highly effective and efficient in proving and describing his experiences, using enhanced techniques such as figures of speech, persuasive tricks and statistical information for back up. Being highly descriptive, majority of the reader’s would find Bill Bryson’s work exclusively entertaining and humorous at the same time.

AO2: How does mail online express views on social websites? Explain your answer with brief quotations. By Amal Adil

The title of the text is “social websites harm children’s brains” and it has been taken from “mail online”. The structure of the passage is a website article and the purpose of the passage is to inform the reader. The language of the text is quite simple and straightforward and is easy to understand. The audiences of the text are mainly young adults and adults who are interested in the harmful effects of social networking sites. The tone of the text is slightly negative as the author has not mentioned any positive effects of social media. It is also a slightly semi-formal tone.

The author has used facts and figures to support their theory, for example “150 million us Facebook”, “six million have signed up to Twitter”. This shows the reader that the author has some knowledge about the harmful effects of social media. By using facts, the writer supports his point of view.

The writer has also used many adjectives to describe his arguments or statements, for example “bright”, “buzzing”, “sharp”.

The writer has also used triples in the text, “killing, skinning and butchering”. This also makes the text more descriptive. This engages the reader and creates an image in the readers mind. It not only entertains the reader but also informs the reader.

The writer has also used a great deal of evidence in the text and has used many examples from different sources or people. This backs up the passage even more as by mentioning the person who said the dialogue, the writer adds more weight to the article and makes the passage more believable.

The author has used exaggeration in the text, “we know how small babies need constant reassurance that they exist”. This also adds a little bit of humor in the article. This reinforces the writers point and makes the argument gain more attention.

Heavy vocabulary has also been used by the author. Words like “gratification”, “neuroscientist” and “prevalence” add weight to the text and create a better effect. Jargon has also been used for example “Facebook”, “Bebo”. These are words normally used by people who use social media.

The writer has also used different sentence structures such as simple, compound and complex. “Computer games and fast paced shows were also a factor” is an example of a simple sentence. The author has used many coordinating conjunctions in compound sentences like “and extremely profitable… harm than good….” By using different types of sentences, the writer has created a flow of writing and creates a better effect.

The author has successfully proven his point and has proven the harmful effects of social networking sites supporting the text with a lot of evidence. The article is very detailed and the writer has used many unique words to describe the effects. He has also used many rhetorical techniques to engage the reader.

AO2 (second): Why all this Selfie Obsession? By Mohsin Raza

AO2 (First): Prom Dress by Mohsin Raza

AO2 (Second):Social Websites Harm Children’s Brains by Mohsin Raza