Phyllis Blog

  The subject of Richard Branson’s letter is how he achieved happiness. It is meant to be read by someone who is in a “tough time”. The audience for the letter is very broad since many people can be unhappy or struggling through a bad time. The purpose is to hopefully help someone appreciate their life and become happier. The form of this text is an informal letter which affects the way it looks. Since it is a letter it has many short paragraphs which allows the author to organize their information and ideas. Since the letter is informal Richard had to change his language. For example he closes the text with the phrase “Happy Regards” which would not be considered appropriate for a formal text however, it is good for an informal text since it is friendly but not serious. The audience plays a significant role in the text. Since the audience covers such a large range which made him make statements that were very broad. For example he starts by addressing the audience as “stranger” wh...

a  April 19, 2022 Dear Mr. President, The recent events at the Notre Dame Cathedral have had a massive impact on our society. A piece of our world's history has just been taken out of the world. The beautiful building that was used for over 800 years to host events and bring people together. I still remember that horrific day. Just minutes after it started I saw the broadcast pop up and watched the cathedral fall to pieces. It is nice to see so many people care about our planet’s history and tons of money being donated to rebuilding this important place. However, I feel as if this large catastrophe has overshadowed an even larger issue on our planet. Our earth’s lungs have been injured and they continue to set a blaze. Before the tragic catastrophe social media and people everywhere were focusing their efforts on the Amazon Rainforest but after the cathedral incident efforts have shifted. It is not an argument that the rainforest is a very special part of our earth. With over...

       In the text the mother’s language is different since she is speaking to her five year old daughter. For example, “no(.) too long grass in there”. This is irregular speech since it is improper syntax and it should be said, “no, the grass is too long in there”. This is an example of caretaker language since the mother tries to speak to the child differently in order for her daughter to understand. This is due to the fact that the daughter is only five years old and her language is in the post-telegraphic stage which means she is still developing. Another example of caretaker language is, “there might be creepy crawlies in there”. The mother uses the phrase “creepy crawlies” in order to describe the animals in the grass. This may be because the daughter uses hyponyms and “creepy crawlies” is the word she categorizes all the animals in the grass as. These all support the Language Acquisition System since the mother is aiding the child’s development by speaking a c...

       Text A shows the change of language through its vocabulary since the author uses lexis that are no longer used in modern times. For example the word “coxcomb” is a lexi considered archaic. This example shows how language has changed due to the fact that the author uses language that is not used anymore. The term “coxcomb” comes from the middle ages and refers to a vain and conceited man or a jester’s cap. Since Jester’s are not used anymore this word has fallen out of use and shows the change of language in Text A. This supports the functional theory which means that the language has changed due to the needs of its users. Since the text was written in 1832 the users socially used the term ‘coxcomb’ however, today it is no longer needed and is archaic. Language can change in many ways and phrases can change over time. When looking at the n-gram in Text C it is more apparent how the language has changed. Looking at the graph it shows when the phrase “are apt to ...