PowerPoint Presentation

VOICE, AUDIENCE ,REGISTER AND PURPOSE (VARP)

We all have a personality that is unique to who we are. Whatever our personalities - ambitious, caring, passionate, stable, and everything in between - they are unique to how we see ourselves and the world around us.

In writing, voice can be expressed when a writer puts him or herself 'into' the words, providing a sense that a real person is speaking and cares about the message. When a writer is engaged personally with the topic, they impart a personality to the piece that is unmistakably theirs alone.

Voice is the distinct personality of a piece of writing.

What Is Voice in writing?

What is Audience in writing?In writing, audience is who you are writing for. If you know who you are writing for, you can make good decisions about what information to include, as well as your tone and language in conveying it.Our content, tone and language changes according to what we know about our audience.

How to find out who the Audience is?The audience for a local newspaper is very different from a national music magazine.Writers tailor their texts to their audience carefully. They consider them in how they write sentences, what vocabulary they use and the style of their writing.Who is the text aimed at? What age group ?( work this out form the form the language or layout)Are they people who are interested in a specific topic?

How to find out who the Audience is?Contextual information about a text may give you some clues to its audience. The topic is it of interest to a particular group?The tone is it chatty or formal?The words use of specialist vocabulary, or easy words, or polysyllabic vocabulary?Does it use Standard English or dialect?Does it use you and if so, what kind of characteristics does that you seem to have?Is the layout changed for the audience and purpose?

How do you identify a texts Audience?Word Level look for: Register Complexity of words Noun and verb forms e.g. use of abstract nouns

Sentence Level look for: Narrative voice Complexity of sentence forms

Text Level look for: Presentational features like font size, amount of text versus image, colour, layout...

What is the texts Register?Register is the form of language appropriate to a particular situation i.e. formality. Formality has a spectrum: Highly formal to Highly informal.where would you place the following situation on this spectrum: A meeting between a teacher and the head teacher? A conversation between a customer and a shop assistant? A letter from a firm of solicitors?

Level of formality How is the level of formality influenced by basic language features?Word formalityA texts register is determined by the way a writer uses language and structure.When a writer chooses their words they have any number of synonym choices and have to decide on the formality of the word they want.Formal language and informal language are associated with particular choices of grammar and vocabulary.Contractions, relative clauses without a relative pronoun and ellipsis are more common in informal language.

Level of formality Compare

Level of formality Compare

Level of formality We often choose to use certain modal verbs to be more formal and polite:

Can I suggest you try this new model? (neutral)

May I suggest you try this new model? (more formal)

Might I suggest you try this new model? (very formal)

Difference between Connotation and DenotationDenotation is the literal meaning of a word as defined by its context.

Connotation is the suggestion or implication represented by a word which alludes to its social context.

The most common example to use is the red rose. Red is the denotation of a colour, and rose is the denotation of a flower. Together they present a description of a flower of a particular colour: a red rose. The connotation of red rose is a symbol for love. The words red and rose simply describe a noun in terms of its colour and define a type of flower. Social convention has meant that the red rose as an idea represents or symbolises love.

Register and AudienceRegister' means the tone and level of formality of language. Always choose the register appropriate to your audience and purpose. Standard English is always appropriate to formal situations as well as many informal situations Consider the age and background of your expected audience along with your purpose in writing or speaking.

How do you identify a texts Purpose?Word Level - look for: Fact and opinion. Subject specific words. Description e.g. adjectives, imagery. Verb types e.g. imperatives or modal. Persuasive language e.g. rhetorical devices. Personal e.g. use of pronouns.

How do you identify a texts Purpose?Sentence Level look for: Tense and narrative voice. Balance of sentence functions e.g. interrogative, statement, exclamatory, imperative. Balance of sentence types e.g. simple, compound, complex, minor.

How do you identify a texts Purpose?Text Level look for: Topic sentences. Length of paragraphs. Layout and presentational devices like images, colour, headings. Connectives. Order of information like chronological. Text Form - look for: Text level features like presentational devices and layout. Word level features like yours sincerely or dear diary.

Purpose And AudienceA text may have many purposes. Some examples are to:entertain to make the reader enjoy readingpersuade to change a readers opinionadvise to help people decide what to doanalyse to break down something for better understanding argue to make the case for somethingdescribe to give details about a person, place, event or thingexplain to make clear why or how something worksinform to tell a reader about somethinginstruct to tell a reader how to do something

Purpose And AudienceSome types of non-fiction text are linked to specific purposes.For example, advertising is intended to persuade you to buy something.To work out what the purpose of the text is, its useful to think about what the writers attitude was at the time of writing.

Looking at any contextual information like where is it from ?