answering the question: how does language work?

language is broad:

music

ads

essays

movies

clothing

poems

all language is about persuasion

How effectively language ...

persuades

generates a response

works

all nested under language...

ethos

pathos

logos

kairos

enthymemes (claim + a reason)

color

shape

image

arrangement

Check out this movie poster

Ask:

What does this poster want me to feel/do?

(excited? anxious? hyped?)

How does this poster try to accomplish this?

(red tones? somber expressions?  overwhelming amount of people)

How effective is it?

Our Mission Statement

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the largest animal rights organization in the world, with more than 3 million members and supporters.

PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in the clothing trade, in laboratories, and in the entertainment industry. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of beavers, birds, and other “pests” as well as cruelty to domesticated animals.

PETA works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns.

Again, what does this text want me to do/believe?

How does it pull this off?

Does it work?

The terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years—if it ever did end—began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain. 

Stephen King's opening lines of It

How should King want you to feel?

What techniques does he use?

How effective is it?

Open your blog and the Grant-Davie reading.

On your blog, type a definition of audience, exigence, and constraints. Paraphrase or quote directly from Grant-Davie.

Then, dive into Twitter and look around for hashtags.

Tweet me 3-5 hashtags you are considering writing about.

See the assignment sheet on our class website