Table for analysing own writing

Genre What type of text is this? Be specific. How does the genre affect the style of the language?

Audience Who is going to read this? Is It aimed at all adults? Males? Females? Certain age groups? People interested in specialist areas / topics?
How does that affect the language used?
Purpose (angle) What does this text want to do? Inform? Entertain? Persuade? Instruct? Educate? Conjure emotions?
What angle does the writer take in carrying out this purpose?
How does this affect the language used?
Context / Discourse • What are the expected conventions of the discourse? Are these adhered to? What is the effect?
• Where/when was the text produced? How does this affect the language?
• Where/when will the text be received? How does this affect language and interpretation of it?
• Is there anything unusual about this discourse?
• Are there shared beliefs and values that are important to the discourse?
Lexis (semantics) • Is there a title? Does this have any importance? What do the individual words suggest?
• What is noticeable about the style? Simple? Easily readable? Appropriate? Satirical? Sarcastic? Indifferent?
• Are the words formal or informal? How can you tell (Latinate, mono/polysyllabic)
• Is there any repetition of words, clauses or sentences, highlighting key points?
• Modifiers – are they there to express detail or for making the text emotive?
• What are the connotations (suggestions) of different words? Verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc. Do you use a certain type of verb, noun? Do you use
many adverbs? Adjectives? To what effect?
• What imagery is created through the lexis – Metaphors or similes evoking emotive associations? Personification or animation creating a mysterious or
humorous atmosphere? Clever or comic puns? Ambiguity, adding interest or amusing the reader?
• Appeals to the senses, collocations?
• Are rhetorical techniques used? How does the writer persuade the reader to carry his/her ideology? – Juxtaposition? Listing? Parallelism? Rhetorical
questions? Emotive words? Humour? Passive or active voice? Hyperbole? Personal pronouns? Clusters of three? Use of positivity/negativity? Balance of
sentences? Selective choice of detail? Reliable sources / links? Intertextuality? Personal attacks? Opinion as fact? Well-known or respected public
figures?
Register (to do with • What is the mode? Written or spoken? Is the boundary blurred?
in/formality) • What is the manner – the relationship between the writer and the reader? Formal? Informal? Personal? Impersonal? Reliable? Are there any shared
beliefs, values, knowledge?
• What ideology is expressed – the ideas and values of the writer? This will affect the register.
• How does the function (purpose – see above) affect the register.
• What is the field (subject matter)? – how does this affect the register?
• Is the writer reliable? How? Or why /not?
• What is the relationship created between reader and writer? How are we made to feel about them and their beliefs?
Grammar (and • Is the sentence structure varied? What affect does sentence structure have as a whole AND at different points in the text?
structure) • How does it slow it down or speed it up? Change the tone? Simple, compound and complex?
• What about the syntax? How does this affect the tone of your text? Is it complicated? Or straight forward and simple?
• Is grammar: standard? Non-standard? Archaic? Modern?
• What sentence types have you used and how do they reflect the genre conventions of your style model? What tone do they create?
• How does tense affect the text – past, present, future? Shifting from one to another?
• Structure – is the structure of the text important to its meaning, purpose? Is it structured as a narrative? What pattern does it follow?
Phonology • Do you use any alliteration? Assonance? Onomatopoeia? Rhythm and rhyme? Other manipulation of sound? What effect does this have?
Graphology • Anything significant about print size? Shape? Style? Making text manageable/clearly structured? Layout of the text?
Pragmatics • How does the context of your piece affect the language you use? Is a shared knowledge required? Are there aspects of your discourse that will be better
understood by those people who receive it in a specific time, place, occasion? How does the context prevent your text from being ambiguous? What
pragmatic competence is required by the reader in order to fully appreciate your text?