The Analytical Commentary should cover:
- contextual factors affecting/surrounding the text
- social purpose and register of the text
- stylistic and discourse features of the text
2020:
- Rule of thumb: See Tips and a sample commentary : make sure you stand out. A smart way to write your analytical commentary.
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INTRODUCTION: give a short and concise introduction to the context/ discourse type, social purpose and register.
Paragraph one:
Analyse contextual and discourse factors that are critical to the meaning of the text such as:
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- register and context; tone and background, point of view, purpose and message
- degree of formality or informality and specific conventions
- Register/ Context/ Coherence/ Cohesion; meaning; headings; structure;
- discourse markers /conversational strategies: adjacency pairs; opening and closing strategies; main topics/ topic management); cohesive ties (pronouns referring to speaker and audience: address to reader)
- inference and the referential nature of the text (The article assumes /presupposes that the audience has prior knowledge / awareness of … Or Readers would infer from the context and the nature of the open letter that …
- See Cohesion and Coherence: notes and summary
Paragraphs 2 and 3 will depend upon the text type and its features:
Paragraph 2 : social purpose/register/style (lexicology/syntax) (Speaker 1/Theme or Part 1)
Paragraph 3: social purpose/register /style (lexicology/syntax) (Speaker 2/Theme or Part 2)
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