Please purchase the workbook for maximum use. >See Techniques of Persuasion: Red Workbook Tasks; Exercises 19 – 32, pp. 28 – 43.
It is important to be clear about the author’s evidence and motivation for writing. Upon what evidence do they base their views? See the author’s evidence and their reasons, pp. 28-43. (See Techniques Pages.)
Exercise 19: Doing Exercise 25: Compare and contrast (p. 36)
- Ms McCarthy compares schools in Australia with those in the United States where drug testing is widespread. She refers to Hunterdon Central Regional High School to draw attention to the benefits
- She makes a comparison between drug testing students and testing people in other professions such as pilots and bus drivers
- Ms McCarthy also makes an analogy between drug testing sportspeople and drug testing school students.
Exercise 26: Plastiki sails across the ocean, (p. 37)
- What is the purpose of the trip?: The purpose of the Plastiki voyage is to highlight how people’s careless habits are harming the marine environment.
- What is the appeal and its purpose?: Mr Spanner appeals to our sense of duty of care and responsibility to the environment. He wants the public to recognise the importance of re-using plastic materials and becoming environmentally responsible.
- What type of repetition? : The author lists a string of verbs that begin with “r” (alliteration) to reinforce that we must re-use our plastic bottles and cartons.
- What type of evidence?: Mr Spanner uses a real-life story and anecdotal evidence from Mr Rothschild to describe the dangerous state of the ocean. Mr Rothschild is a reliable eyewitness who saw the rubbish that floats constantly on the sea. As a concerned and disinterested expert, his evidence can be considered trustworthy. Also, people often see such rubbish on the beach so we can imagine that the sea has a lot of junk. He also quotes Mr Rothschild to show that there are serious consequences if one discards rubbish.
Mr Spanner uses a list to refer to the rubbish: “garden tray, two jerry cans, buoys, plastic bags and bottles…”
- Is the expert reliable?: Dr Parker is a reputable and reliable expert because he is the professor of marine biology. He is a person who has extensive knowledge and would be aware of the problems associated with the disposal of plastics. He states that many sea-life creatures cannot “digest these particles” that arise from plastics. This knowledge is designed to make people aware of the harmful effects and make us feel sorry for the marine-life. It also shows the consequences of people’s thoughtless actions.
- Who is the source and what does it prove?: The source is the United Nations. The study concludes that plastic is causing a great deal of harm. It appears that 100,000 marine animals and fish die each year from plastic. This information is designed to draw attention to the severity of the problem and to warn us of the dangers if we continue to pollute our oceans.
See Exercise 26: Plastiki sails across the ocean: Extension Task: taking it further
Exercise 27: Editorial : Fat tax (p. 38)
- Facts and figures: The editor relies on facts and figures to prove that obese jetsetters are having a big impact on the cost of air travel. They state that the airlines in the United States are now spending an extra $5 billion on fuel because of the extra weight of the aircraft. They also use statistics comparatively to prove that during the past 90 years the average weight of people has increased and therefore action must be taken to ensure that people pay fairly.
- The expert, Mr Webber who is a trusted economist with airline experience, offers his logical opinion, that obese jetsetters must pay according to their contribution to the cost of airline travel. He states that it is obvious that the heavier a person, the heavier the aircraft and therefore the cost of fuel increases.
- Comparative real-life examples are used to prove that there is a solution; the author uses the real-life example of Samoa Air and Southwest Airlines to show that other airlines are trying to cope with the increasing problem of overweight passengers. Many are introducing different solutions in order to cope with the rising weight of passengers.
- Comparisons: disabled people in taxis; insurance policies that may discriminate; these anticipate criticism and show that it is fairer to have a user-pay principle.
Please purchase the workbook for maximum use. Options for use: Please click here if you would like to buy an immediate PDF version. This PDF version of the workbook includes all the exercises that you will need so that you can follow these extension activities and suggested responses.
- Return to Techniques of Persuasion: Red Workbook Tasks
- Go to Lesson 5: Appeals, Exercises 33 – 53, p. 44 – 53
EAL: Taking it Further: for Extension Activities based on specific exercises, please see the following links:
- Extension Exercise 19, p. 30
- Extension Word Building Exercise 22: .
- Extension Exercise 26, p. 37
- Extension Exercise 27, p. 38
- Extension Exercise 30, p. 41
- See Red workbook Extension exercises based on Lesson 4: evidence and reasons