I have used different linguistic features in order to fit a “football article.” The repetition of the proper noun Liverpool creates cohesion throughout the article and reinforces the read that the article is about Liverpool. The proper noun used in the article would only fit in to a football article as a lot of the names would probably only be recognized by football fans who have knowledge of them and would make them understand the article better. Names like “Gerrard” and “Shevchenko” may be recognised by non-football fans whereas names like “Smicer” may not.
The use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ gives my view of the game and what I went through. My aim was to explain to the reader how I felt and relate it to how fans felt throughout the game. The possessive pronoun ‘My’ and ‘Their’ gives ownership to the fans who were supporting the club, fans were seen to be the ‘twelfth man’ on that night and I am underlining the importance of the fans on the night.
Giving ‘The’ a capital when talking about Steven Gerrard “The Captain, The Skipper, The Heart of the Club”, even though it is in the middle of a sentence, emphasises the importance of Steven Gerrard to the club and this reinforces it to the reader. Capitalising “PENALTY” is to put into perspective the reaction from the fans, only doing this at one point in the whole article shows how big of a moment it was during the game. My target audience will be able to relate to this as they would’ve reacted in the same way.
Adjectives are also used like ‘distraught’ and ‘dejected’ to have an effect on the style of writing by extending vocabulary and making it read better. In the article I change from 1st person explaining how I felt and a narrative of the game, so that the audience could relate to it. The rhetorical questions help to make it more personal as Liverpool fans would have been asking the same questions. This makes it more effective and relates to the reader bring the reader in to the article.
I use short sentences, with a lot of commas to slow that pace of the article down. This way the reader can think about what he is reading.
I have also used similes to make it accessible for football fans in general.
“You'll Never Walk Alone is one of those things opposing fans, especially in Europe, feel a great need to experience. It is like those who paid to hear Sinatra, in his prime, singing My Way.” This helps football fans understand who haven’t been to Anfield, how great You'll Never Walk Alone is seen.
The language in my piece is both formal and informal. The article has a simple grammatical structure which has loosely-connected sentences and phrases. Also the use of terms likes ‘Liverpudlians’ makes it informal. I have used informal language so that it is easier for my target audience to read. My aim of the article was to explain, I have used formal language so that I can explain using description easily.
The article would be aimed at older fans (16+) as younger fans may find it difficult to understand the language and words that are used. The article is my point of view and takes the reader from the low points of the game to the high, the quotation at the beginning relates to this. This helps the audience the feeling before they start reading the article.
Language Production 2: ‘The Little house on top of the hill’
My second piece The Little House on top of the Hill is a short story that I have decided to write and is aimed at teens around the age 13-14. My purpose for this story was to entertain readers and to slowly build up tension adding a bit of humor to the story. The story fulfils this, as the tension is built up the humor brings it back down adding false suspense to the story, and ending the story so abruptly.
Before I began writing this story I had to decide what viewpoint I was going to take and consider the effect such a viewpoint would have upon the audience reading the story. I believed that by choosing a third person narrative it would allow me to take a neutral voice when telling the story. Viewpoint as the narrator would be trusted and perceive any events as facts. Although the narrative is in past tense the narrator uses the present tense telling it as though he is relieving the experience.
The use of the pronoun ‘he’ creates grammatical cohesion through out the story as it links the sentences together. Repetition of the personal pronoun “You...” has the effect of involving the reader and making them feel part of the story. I am directly appealing to the reader and drawing them in to the story.
Tension is created in the story line through the use of hidden information. This use of withholding information and short sentences adds tension. The vocabulary in this story has not been restricted in any way as I am writing for teens. I did not feel the need to use highly sophisticated language and did not want to complicate the reading as I wanted to ensure the reader’s comprehension. As the vocabulary used can be easily understood by teens, I have made my lexical choice appealing to the targeted audience. I used a mixture of simple and compound sentences in order to make it easier for my target audience to read.
Sentences are kept fairly short and simple, to states the point clearly and effectively and also reflecting the type of reader it is aimed at. The structure of the sentences helped me build up tension slowly, and effects use in certain sentences added a sense of mystery to the story.
“...the house, creeping through the walls, up the broken staircase, and into a very small room at the north corner of the house.”
The story is dark and humorous to appeal more towards teens and to make it more interesting and entertaining. The story is simple to relate to the audience. However it is written in such a way so that to make it attract a wider audience.
