Exploring sentences: see p. 39 and p. 85 (audience and impact)
- Respect and trust
By foregrounding issues of community safety (by focusing on community safety issues), Ms Maurus seeks to earn the trust of like-minded residents.
By exposing the hazardous consequences of parked cars, as well as their tendency to become a soft target for “theft and vandalism”, Ms Maurus seeks to earn the respect of all residents who value their peace and safety/law and order.
- Attack and Anger (Exercise 17, p. 28)
Ms Maurus discredits councillors owing to their failure to solve traffic-related problems of neighbourhood streets.
Ms Maurus encourages residents to share her indignation at the fact that so many residents “with multiple cars”, are using the street as a convenient and a cheap parking place.
Ms Maurus taps into a heightened sense of frustration among cyclists and motorists through her depiction of parked cars whereby cyclists must allow for potential passengers. The hypothetical situation whereby they do not know “if there’s someone sitting in the parked car and about to open the door” adds to (exacerbates/increases) the dangerous driving conditions/ (adds to a sense of stress among cyclists).
Ms Maurus includes a rhetorical question as a means of attacking/condemning the parking habits of unsuspecting or naïve residents in Whitehorse: “When was the last time you drove out of your neighbourhood without having to give way to an oncoming car due to a parked car?” Its purpose is to encourage residents to reflect upon feelings of frustration or stress that often occur because of parked cars and poor visibility. She also seeks to provoke people’s anger at the loss of safety.
- “It’s so unfair”: appeal to morals and guilt
Ms Maurus seeks to shame those residents who fail to provide for adequate parking places on their properties and who are shamelessly destroying beautiful landscapes.
The comparison between residents who do, and those who do not, provide for adequate parking on their properties is designed to reveal an unfair situation. She shames the residents who add to the congestion. She also seeks to shame/isolate the councillors who fail to resolve an untenable/impossible problem.
- Fear and shock: Problem: Exercise 17, p. 28
The statistical/fearful reference to the fact that there has been a 56 per cent increase in “disability affected life-years” is designed to alarm residents of Whitehorse.
Many such citizens may find it distressing that over the past eight years, there has been a 56 per cent increase in “disability affected life years”.
Ms Maurus establishes a connection between “dooring” and a rise in serious injuries among cyclists, which she hopes will be disconcerting to many unsuspecting or naïve residents.
Ms Maurus hopes to unsettle/jolt residents out of a sense of complacency by establishing a connection between “dooring” and serious injuries.
- Appeals to common sense and calmness: (Solution): (p. 85) Exercise 17, p. 28
Ms Maurus hopes that her parking-permit solution will reassure residents about the need to minimise congestion in the suburbs.
By presenting a parking permit as a possible solution, Ms Maurus expects to alleviate feelings of frustration or anxiety among many residents in Whitehorse Shire.
See Exercise 17, p. 29: Easy target for thieves
Return to Orange Workbook: arguments and persuasive language