Studying Written Language

A text is designed, not just written

Put a poster at a bus stop next to a page from a novel next to an instruction sheet for a flat-packed shelf. Nobody would confuse them, and not one of the differences is an accident. Somebody chose how long the sentences would be, what order the information would come in, whether there would be headings, how large the type would sit on the page and what the reader would see first. Every one of those choices was made for a particular reader doing a particular thing in a particular place, and studying written language means being able to name the choice and say what it does for that reader. There are three families of choice and this course names all three. LINGUISTIC choices are about the words: which ones, how loaded, how formal. STRUCTURAL choices are about order: what comes first, what is held back, where the text turns. PRESENTATIONAL choices are about how the text sits on the page: headings, sections, images, type size, space. The third family is the one most often described and least often analysed, so it gets most of the attention here. The others are taught in depth in their own modules and this one points at them rather than repeating them.

Five words for looking at a page

Three of these name the families of choice, and two name what you do with them.

Why is each one like that?

Which sentence is analysing?

Four students write about the same bus-stop poster, which carries six words in very large type. Which one is analysing rather than describing?

• The type is large because the reader is passing on foot and has only seconds, so the message has to work at a distance and at speed
• The poster uses very large type, which makes it stand out and grabs your attention
• The poster contains six words, one image and two colours
• The poster would have been better with more information on it

Same message, two situations

Here is one piece of information, written twice for two different readers. Nothing about the CONTENT changed. Everything about the design did.

Analyse a text in this order

Five moves for writing about a written text. Put them into the order that produces analysis rather than a list.

• Work out who the reader is and how they meet the text
• Work out what the text is trying to get that reader to do or feel
• Notice the choices, across all three families rather than only the words
• Connect each choice to the reader and the purpose
• Say which choice does the most work, and why

Presentational choices, and what they are not

Which THREE of these are presentational features?

• Breaking the text into sections, each with its own heading
• Setting the opening line much larger than the rest
• Placing a photograph above the text rather than below it
• Choosing a strong verb instead of a mild one
• Holding the most surprising fact back until the last paragraph

Ask where the reader is standing

Almost every weak answer about presentational features has the same shape. It notices something true, adds an effect that could be said about any text ever printed, and stops. The type is large, which makes it stand out. There are bullet points, which make it easy to read. There is a picture, which draws the reader in. Each of those sentences would fit a poster, a leaflet, a website and a cereal box equally well, and a sentence that fits everything explains nothing. There is one question that fixes it, and it is worth memorising because it works every single time: WHERE IS THIS READER, AND WHAT ARE THEY DOING WHILE THEY READ. Standing at a bus stop with a bus coming. Sitting at a kitchen table with a letter that worries them. Kneeling on the floor with a screwdriver in one hand. Each of those situations demands a different page, and once you have named the situation the features explain themselves. Large type stops being something that stands out and becomes something readable from four paces by somebody who is not going to stop walking. Numbered steps stop being easy to read and become a way of finding your place again after you look away at the shelf you are building. Notice also what this question does to the absence of a feature. A novel has no headings, and that is a choice made for a reader who is settled and reading in order, not an oversight. Analysing what is NOT there is one of the clearest signals that somebody has understood the task.

Complete the analysis words

A choice about the words themselves is _____. A choice about what comes first and what is held back is _____. A choice about how the text sits on the page is _____. Naming a choice AND saying what it does for that reader, rather than only noticing it, is _____.

One leaflet, read properly

Picture a leaflet from a health service about a service people can use if they are worried about their hearing. Walk through the three families. PRESENTATIONAL first, because it is the one that gets ignored. The text is broken into four short sections, each with a heading phrased as a question, and the type is a good deal larger than a leaflet would normally use. Both of those are explained by the same fact about the reader: many of them will be older, several will be anxious, and almost none will read the leaflet from beginning to end. Headings phrased as questions let somebody find their own worry on the page in a few seconds. Larger type removes a second barrier for a reader who may already be struggling with one. A contact panel sits at the end rather than the beginning, because the reader is not ready to act until they have found their own case. STRUCTURAL next. The reassuring information comes before the practical information, because a worried reader who is not reassured will put the leaflet down before reaching the phone number. LINGUISTIC last. The words are plain and the sentences short, and the leaflet says you rather than patients, which addresses one person instead of a category. Notice that every explanation names the reader. Not one of them is about hearing.

Find the sentence that analyses

Five sentences about the same instruction sheet for a flat-packed shelf. Tap the ONE that analyses rather than describes.

• The instruction sheet uses numbered steps and a diagram beside each one.
• The numbering makes the sheet clear and easy to follow.
• Each step is numbered so that a reader who looks away at the shelf can find their place again when they look back.
• There are eleven steps altogether and four diagrams.
• The sheet would be better if it used more words to explain each step.

Build the analysis sentence

A sentence about a presentational feature earns marks when it reaches the reader. Choose the option in each gap.

The written-language run

Five quick questions on studying written texts. Three lives.

One text, four decisions

You have been given a text to study: a single printed sheet pinned inside a changing room, telling people how to report a lost item. It has a heading in large type, three numbered steps, and a phone number in a box at the bottom. Work through three decisions.

• Where do you begin?
• You want to write about the phone number being in a box at the bottom. What makes that analysis?
• You notice there is no image on the sheet at all. What do you do with that?

Analyse a text you know

Choose any written text you have read recently that was NOT a story: a leaflet, a poster, a sign, an instruction sheet, a menu, a form. Analyse how it was designed for its reader. Do not simply list what is on it.

• Say who reads this text, where they are, and what they are doing while they read
• Say what the text is trying to get that reader to do or feel
• Name at least two presentational choices and explain what each one does for that reader
• Name one choice from another family, the words or the order, and explain it the same way
• Finish by saying which single choice does the most work, and why