Revision: Devices

Pollution 

Pollution is a term which even kids are aware of these days. It has become so common that almost everyone acknowledges the fact that pollution is rising continuously. The term ‘pollution’ means the manifestation of any unsolicited foreign substance in something. When we talk about pollution on earth, we refer to the contamination that is happening of the natural resources by various pollutants. All this is mainly caused by human activities which harm the environment in ways more than one. Therefore, an urgent need has arisen to tackle this issue straightaway. That is to say, pollution is damaging our earth severely and we need to realize its effects and prevent this damage. In this essay on pollution, we will see what are the effects of pollution and how to reduce it.

Pollution affects the quality of life more than one can imagine. It works in mysterious ways, sometimes which cannot be seen by the naked eye. However, it is very much present in the environment. For instance, you might not be able to see the natural gases present in the air, but they are still there. Similarly, the pollutants which are messing up the air and increasing the levels of carbon dioxide is very dangerous for humans. Increased level of carbon dioxide will lead to global warming.

Further, the water is polluted in the name of industrial development, religious practices and more will cause a shortage of drinking water. Without water, human life is not possible. Moreover, the way waste is dumped on the land eventually ends up in the soil and turns toxic. If land pollution keeps on happening at this rate, we won’t have fertile soil to grow our crops on. Therefore, serious measures must be taken to reduce pollution to the core.

After learning the harmful effects of pollution, one must get on the task of preventing or reducing pollution as soon as possible. To reduce air pollution, people should take public transport or carpool to reduce vehicular smoke. While it may be hard, avoiding firecrackers at festivals and celebrations can also cut down on air and noise pollution. Above all, we must adopt the habit of recycling. All the used plastic ends up in the oceans and land, which pollutes them.

So, remember to not dispose of them off after use, rather reuse them as long as you can. We must also encourage everyone to plant more trees which will absorb the harmful gases and make the air cleaner. When talking on a bigger level, the government must limit the usage of fertilizers to maintain the soil’s fertility. In addition, industries must be banned from dumping their waste into oceans and rivers, causing water pollution.

To sum it up, all types of pollution is hazardous and comes with grave consequences. Everyone must take a step towards change ranging from individuals to the industries. As tackling this problem calls for a joint effort, so we must join hands now. Moreover, the innocent lives of animals are being lost because of such human activities. So, all of us must take a stand and become a voice for the unheard in order to make this earth pollution-free.

Questions

1) What is the purpose of the passage above? (2 marks)

2) Discuss three organisational strategies in the passage above. (8 marks)

3) Discuss three language techniques in the passage above. (8 marks)

Characteristics of Creole

 

Consonants

ü    In Creole English the th in the words thief and teeth would be pronounced like a t;

ü    Loss of s at the beginning of words like strong, string, and split.

 

Morphology (word-endings)

ü    Creole English shows much less dependence on morphology. Many of the grammatical inflections which characterize standard English are either not part of Creole English or are inconsistently used.                      

Double marking for comparative and superlative are both natural in Creole English.

    Big (more) bigger       (most) biggest             /           tall    (more) taller     (most) tallest

Plural

ü    Unlike standard English, the Creole does not mark the plural in the noun phrase unless the context of the utterance is not clear, in which case it uses the third person before or after the noun 

e.g. di dog dem/dem dog

 

Juxtaposition

ü    Creole, like standard English uses juxtaposition, but unlike standard English uses it generally. Creole English does not depend on morphology for indicating possession, but solely on juxtaposition of nouns. The Creole also hardly (if at all) makes use the apostrophe to show possession 

e.g. trunk of tree/tree’s trunk/ tree trunk

ü    Juxtaposition is also used to indicate gender and possession e.g. man book, girls school, girl child, bull cow, woman doctor, man tree.

Absence of Verbs/Shorter Sentences

ü    The Creole uses shorter sentences and tends to omit verbs e.g. The cat is fat =Di cat fat

Smaller Vocabulary

ü    Creole English has a much smaller vocabulary than the standard because it is characteristic of fewer societies.

Excessive Use of Object Pronoun Me

ü    The Creole makes great use of pronoun me instead of subject pronoun I e.g Me (instead of I) feel sleepy.

ü    Some Rastafarians, on the other hand, make excessive use of I e.g. Give I (instead of me) di bread.

 Negation

ü    The Creole allows double and triple negation e.g Me nah no noting (instead of anything)

Variations

 Degrees of dialect

Is Dialect a Language?

Many people do not view dialect as a language like standard English?
Well, I believe it is a language even though it does not have a lot of rules like the standard.

• Now first of all, linguists are people who study language and they believe that all languages are dialects, whether they be Standard English, French or even what we call dialect or broken English.

• However, Hazel Simmons McDonald et al (1997) in Writing in English noted that even though the linguist considers all varieties as dialects, the standard nevertheless is “a special variety.” It is accorded special privileges and as“a result of its use as an instrument of mass education, it will have acquired a greater amount of rigidity/uniformity to ensure wider comprehension, than any other variety.” (page 61)
 
• Standard English has more privileges because it is the language largely used in schools, at work (for example in the banks and at Courts). In this case dialect refers to 'broken English', also known as Creole or dialect. Many people feel that when you use dialect you are talking badly but that is not always the case. Dialect is just another way we Caribbean people communicate and sometimes it is 'sweeter' to give a joke or tell a story in dialect than in Standard English. Do you agree?
• Many people tend to 'look down' on people who speak dialect. Examine the differences between Standard English and dialect in the table below.



STANDARD ENGLISH	CREOLE ENGLISH
1) Accepted and recognized as a language     globally	Accepted and recognised only in few  regions
2) Well-structured: Complex system of rules	Accused of lacking structure / Simplified Rules
3) The language of the education system	Marginalised in the education system
4) Deemed as indicator of civilization and prestige	Deemed as an indicator of backwardness
5) Purportedly associated with people in urban areas	Purportedly associated with people in rural areas
6) Usually good writers of English	Usually poor writers of English

Can you think of any other reason why some prefer the Standard?

ACROLECT

The variety of speech that is closest to a standard prestige language, especially in an area in which a creole is spoken. For example, Standard Jamaican English is the acrolect where Jamaican Creole is spoken. For example, "I want it."

MESOLECT
A variety of speech that is midway between the acrolect and the basilect (somewhere between Standard English and what some people call the "raw form" of dialect/Creole--the basilect). For example, "Me want it."

BASILECT
The variety of speech that is most remote from the prestige variety, especially in an area where a creole is spoken. This is the "raw" dialect, as some people call it. It is the politically and economically weakest dialect becomes the basilect, and often vanishes beneath the pressures of the acrolect.For example, "Me want um."

Jamaican examples 

• "im ah wok oba deh suh" (basilect)
• "im workin ova deh suh" (low mesolect)
• "(H)e (h)is workin' over dere" (high mesolect)
• "He is working over there." (acrolect)

Argument: Logical/Persuasive Devices

The purpose of an argument is to  convince or persuade...

Logical Argument (R-E-A-P)

• Refuting or acknowledging the opponents' argument (counterargument)

Evidence: factual evidence is the strongest type since they can be verified (facts, statistics etc.)

• 

• Authoritative opinions: opinions of experts or authorities are also valid (quoting/making references to experts)

• Personal experience (I had an abortion so I know it was painful)

    

Persuasion or persuasive type of argument (E-R-R)

• Emotional appeal (conscience, health, safety etc.)

• Repetition (of important words, not words like it, have etc.)

• Rhetorical question (does not require an answer)

Poetry: Irony

Richard Cory 

Whenever Richard Cory went down town, 

We people on the pavement looked at him:  

He was a gentleman from sole to crown,  

Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked;

But still he fluttered pulses when he said,

“Good-morning,” and he glittered when he walked.

 

And he was rich — yes, richer than a king —

And admirably schooled in every grace:

In fine, we thought that he was everything

To make us wish that we were in his place.

 

So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

Went home and put a bullet through his head.

                                                                                   Edwin Arlington Robinson

Questions

1) How many stanzas are in the poem?

2) Identify the rhyming scheme?

3) Who is the persona?

4)  Describe Richard Cory.

5)  Why did the people admire Cory?

6) Contrast the lifestyle of Cory to his admirers.

7) Identify 2 devices in Richard Cory.

8) What is the main theme of the poem?

9)  What  is the irony in stanza 3?

10) What is the irony in stanza 4?

11) What is the moral of the poem?

12) Why do you believe Richard Cory was unhappy?

Exposition Assignment 2

 Identify the dominant organisational pattern or device in each paragraph below.

A

B

C

D

E

F

Exposition Assignment

 Identify the dominant organisational strategy/pattern in each paragraph below.

A

Different students attend various types of schools; however, they can usually be classified as either public, private religious, private non-religious, or alternative. Public schools are funded by the state, and the majority of students in the United States attend them. Private religious schools are based around a particular faith, such as Catholicism, Judaism, and so forth. The religion is part of the everyday lives of the students and they also learn about the faiths. All types of private schools do not receive state funding. Therefore, private non-religious schools are simply just that: schools which do not receive state funding and have the ability to make their own rules. Alternative schools can be made up of a variety of different categories, such as the Montessori program or technical schools. Most students who attend class in an actual school building go to one of these types of institutions....

B

Anger is a natural, though sometimes unwanted or irrational, emotion that everybody experiences from time to time.  Anger experts describe the emotion as a primary, natural emotion which has evolved as a way of surviving and protecting yourself from what is considered a wrong-doing.

C

Masculine language sometimes appears in business documents. For example, in a business document, the following statement appeared: “The employee must arrive approximately 5 to 10 minutes prior to his scheduled time.” The use of “his” calls into question if this employer allows females to work there. If females do work there, the language of this document disregards their importance in the work place. This example shows that gender stereotypes still exist in career fields today. 

D

There are several characteristics which distinguish plants from animals. Green plants are able to manufacture their own food from substances in the environment. This process is known as photosynthesis. In contrast, animals, including man, get their food either directly from plants or indirectly by eating animals which have eaten plants. Plants are generally stationary. Animals, on the other hand, can usually move about. In external appearance, plants are usually green. They grow in a branching fashion at their extremities, and their growth continues throughout their lives. Animals, however, are very diverse in their external appearance. Their growth pattern is not limited to their extremities. It is evenly distributed and only occurs in a definite time period. Therefore, the differences between plants and animals is quite significant.

E

There is an old story that says you can't kill a frog by putting him in boiling water. He reacts so quickly to the sudden heat that he jumps before he is burned. But if you put him in cold water and then warm it up gradually, he never decides to jump until it is too late. By then, he is cooked. Men are just as foolish. Take away their freedom overnight, and you have a violent revolution. But steal it from them gradually in the guise of security, peace, and progress, and you can paralyze an entire nation.

F

Pupils are more like oysters than sausages. The job of teaching is not to stuff them and then seal them up, but to help them open and reveal the riches within. There are pearls in each of us, if only we knew how to cultivate them with ardor and persistence.

G

It is premised that since food requires careful preparation and special skills, it should not just be brought to the table on a platter. Instead, it should be the subject of a performance. Thus, the table becomes the stage; the chef, the performer; and the diners, the audience. The performance starts when the chef puts on his red hat and begins to act his part. He cuts the vegetables with spritely movements, tosses in some seasoning, and then attends to the meat, the fish, or the seafood on hand. The vegetables dance on the grills at the chef's command and jump into the diner's plate. Applause or an encore may be inevitible,but of course, the test of the pudding is in the eating.

                                                                                H

                                                                              I

J

Exposition: Organisational Strategies/Devices

Exposition is one type of discourse or writing. We use this type of discourse everyday: when we give information to someone, when we explain how something was done, etc.

Definition-meaning

Illustration-examples

Cause and Effect (causal analysis)-reasons for...and results

Comparison and Contrast-similarities and differences

Classification-categorisation

Analogy-a comparison of two unlike things

Analysis (process/subject)-step by step explanation, explain what                                                                              something is like

Problem-Resolution-problem-solution

Cause and Effect: Showing how facts, events, or concepts (effects) happen or come into being because of other facts, events, or concepts (causes).

Comparison and Contrast: Pointing out the likeliness (comparison) and/or differences (contrast) among facts, people, events, concepts, and so on... 

Classification: to organise items into a group and explain the characteristic of that group.

Analogy is another form of comparison.  It is different from a simile or metaphor because:

1) it highlights the similarities between two things you would never expect it to compare,

such as a television addict to a drug addict

2) it usually makes sure that we are familiar with one of the things in the comparison like a drug addict, but we never really view people who love to watch television as addicts.

Analysis: There are two types of analysis: process and subject.

Process analysis involves a step by step explanation of how something is done.

Subject analysis requires an explanation of what something is like e.g. cricket, love and marriage.

See more under comments.

Conclusion