A few slides for the classroom, on texts in English. See mycollsonline.com for more details

2. 1. IDENTIFYING THE PORPOISE
“They were obliged to have him along. If any fish came to me and said that
they were going on a journey, I should say “With what porpoise? ‘
“You mean ‘Purpose’ “ said Alice.
“I meant what I said! “ snapped the Mock Turtle.
From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
.

3. Obviously, We did mean “Purpose”. In analysing any text, one of the first
questions that we must ask about it is “Why was it produced? “
Compare the following two sentences:
• If two men can build a wall six feet high and twenty feet long in half a
day, how long will it take six men to build a wall of the same height?
• If illegal immigrants are prepared to work for 20 credits a day, but the
state requires that all legal workers are paid a minimum of 50 credits a
day, how much can an employer save by hiring illegal immigrants, even
if this will ruin the national economy?
Notice how they are both phrased as mathematical questions, but clearly
have very different purposes, and messages for their readers. The second
question has a clear agenda, regardless of how it has conveyed this.

4. Once we know why a text has been produced, we are able to comment on it
far more accurately, and decide whether it is successful in its purpose.

5. ACKNOWLEDGING THE AUDIENCE
Who is the text being written for? In the same way that you wouldn’t take
kids to a violent adult action film, or a first date to see a Western (trust
me), texts need to be analysed in terms of who was intended to read
them.
Saying that you found a “Spot the Dog” book juvenile and patronising, or a
repair manual for a low-pressure reduction steam engine to be
predictable and slow-moving really says that you have no appreciation
for the audience or context of the work. Expect to be snubbed at dinner
parties.

6. CONTEXT
Having established that almost any source of information can be
considered a text, we need to appreciate that the conditions that
produced said text need to be taken into account when we analyse it.
Note that this DOES NOT excuse hate speech or bigotry ! These are not
acceptable reasons for voicing such things:
• I didn’t think anyone else was listening.
• I was addressing a particular audience. They understood where I was
coming from.
• Everyone else was saying stuff like that.
Context can help us to understand the purpose of a text, and often the tone
of this, but it cannot be the sole factor by which we assess a text, either
linguistically or morally.

7. REPUTATION AND PRECEDENT
As part of context, we need to appreciate REPUTATION. History students
will know this in terms of assessing the validity of sources.
For instance, what if aliens landed in the cities of the world? Would you
believe it if you saw the story in this newspaper?
What about this one?

8. REGISTER AND TONE
How has the text expressed itself? Lots of visual images, or verbose text?
Simple diction, or jargon?
Does it address the audience directly, or offer vagaries?
Is it informative, or patronising, friendly, formal or cold?
Is there a lot of direct speech, slang or informal speech, foul language, etc?
Are we being asked to take this text seriously, and do we?