Persuasive Writing
Common Persuasive Techniques
1.Emotional Appeals: One persuasive technique is appealing to the audience’s emotions: Fears, desire to
seem intelligent, need to protect their family, desire to fit in, etc.
2. Rhetorical Questions: Rhetorical questions are questions that do not require an answer
Example: Do we want our children growing up in a world where they are threatened with violence on
every street corner?
3. Repetition: By repeating letters, words and phrases the author can reinforce an argument and ensure
that the point of view being made stays in an audience's mind.
4. Evidence: Statistics, expert opinions, research findings and anecdotal evidence.
5. Inclusive and Exclusive Language: 'People like you and me don't want to see this happen'
Activity 1
Read the persuasive piece and answer the questions.
And so I say to you today that I still stand by non-violence. And I am still convinced that it is the most
potent weapon available in the struggle for justice. And the other thing I am concerned about is a better
world. I’m concerned about justice. I’m concerned about brotherhood. I’m concerned about truth. And
when one is concerned about these, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder
a murderer but can’t murder murder. Through violence you may murder liar but you can’t establish truth.
Through violence you may murder a hater but you can’t murder hate. Darkness cannot put out darkness.
Only light can do that.
Questions
1. What significant point does the writer make?
2. Examine the techniques used to persuade and convince the reader of the point?
3. Note how the writer uses repetition throughout the piece and examine the effect it has on the reader.
Assignment 1: Write a persuasive paragraph to convince parents that their child should or should not be allowed to use TikTok.
Aug 26, 2023
https://barbadosunderground.net/2008/02/26/the-hair-debate-in-los-barbados/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/globalvoices.org/2015/02/04/natural-hair-gets-barbados-school-in-a-twist/amp/
Topic: Dreadlocks, afros, braids and "puffs" were once banned from schools in Barbados.
Should schools be allowed to dictate students' hairstyles?
Assignment 1: Create your outline.
Your outline should include your 3 main points and the supporting evidence or example.
Also, consider the techniques that you will use. (Repetition, Rhetorical questions, Emotive language, Statistics, Rule of 3's, etc.)
You may include a counterargument and rebuttal.
Summaries
How many people can say they’ve created a memorable legacy by the age of 26? Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in the U.S., is one of the few people who can. Biles seems to have it all and do it all. She just got married to the man of her dreams, has a flourishing career as the greatest gymnast of all time, and is building a home that she hopes to have a family in. Did we mention that she also has enviable abs?
Outside of gymnastics and love and marriage, Biles also finds the time to pursue a mission she holds dear–instilling confidence in young girls. To help carry out that work, the gymnast has launched a new collection titled “Because I Can,” which was recently released on August 28. It is comprised of T-shirts, tights, bras, pants and shorts in vibrant colors, including orange and lavender.
The name of the campaign was Biles’ idea, born out of her response to a memorable interview question.
“They basically asked why I keep pushing the boundaries whenever I’m already so far ahead of the competition. And it was simple–because I can. At the end of the day, gymnastics is what I do, but hopefully in a couple of years if I retire and I look back, I want to know that I gave it my all,” she tells ESSENCE.
The gymnast is definitely giving it her all and is ahead of the competition by a long shot. She recently became the first gymnast (male or female) to receive eight U.S. all-around titles on August 27. It takes confidence and extraordinary talent to achieve these feats and Biles wants other young people to have that confidence, too.
“I think it’s important, especially at that age when they’re starting sports and going through puberty, that they have confidence to know that they can do anything that they put their minds to,” she says.
She continues, “I think at that age your mind starts to wonder and you want to give up or quit. So I think these daily reminders on some of these items of clothing [are] really wonderful for them to just see and then to know that, oh, ‘Simone said this.’ Go for it full force and you can do anything.”
Young people in this generation have a whole host of new threats to their self-esteem and social media could be a culprit for that. Studies show teen girls who spend more time on social media tend to have greater challenges with their mental health. Biles agrees that such platforms can be a threat to young girls’ confidence.
Oct 10 - Oct 15
Expository Writing
Task: You have realised that in your community, there is the need for a recreational centre where the youth can go to relax or learn a new skill. Write a letter to the editor asking for the authorities to pay attention to this need. You must give at least 3 reasons why.
Report Writing
Write this:
Guidance: https://youtu.be/
A student speaks: https://youtu.be/
Additional resource: https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/10/12/students-faint-traumatised-as-masked-men-invade-school
Assignment: You are a student of the Springer Memorial School. You were an eyewitness to the failed intruder drill. Write a report to the Chief Education Officer to explain what you saw.
A student speaks: https://youtu.be/
Additional resource: https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/10/12/students-faint-traumatised-as-masked-men-invade-school
Assignment: You are a student of the Springer Memorial School. You were an eyewitness to the failed intruder drill. Write a report to the Chief Education Officer to explain what you saw.
Activity
Instruction: In each of the following sentences, replace the italicized word or phrase with a
more descriptive word or phrase that means the same thing.
1. The front page article reported that the senator suffered a serious injury in the car crash.
A. sustained b. retained c. maintained d. preserved
2. Her attorney claimed that she suffered great mental distress as a result of the accident.
A. euphoria b. rapture c. disdain d. anguish
3. The new business owner remained bold and determined in spite of the many setbacks.
A. fatigued b. resolute c. prominent d. acute
4. The masterpiece bought by an antique dealer at the auction was credited to Picasso.
A. attributed b. denied c. excised d. attested
5 Americans have become used to consuming large quantities of oil to run their homes and
automobiles.
A. deprogrammed b. habituated c. unaccustomed d. reconciled
6. His hope was to pass on a love of woodworking to his son.
A. impart b. conceal c. withhold d. infringe
7. The most infamous misleading trick in history was a wooden horse sent to Troy by the Greeks.
A. omen b. veracity c. authenticity d. ruse
8. The smooth, thin outer layer on the dining room table was designed to make the table look as
if it were constructed entirely of oak.
A. veneer b. shell c. epidermis d. interior
9. Since all of the employees worked together on the project, they met their deadline.
A. evolved b. advanced c. deconstructed d. collaborated
10. Carolyn prevented a petty disagreement between Ethan and Andrew.
A. bramble b. squabble c. geyser d. perseverance
11. There were so many riders on the crosstown bus that I was shoved from one side to the other
on my way to work.
A. jostled b. neglected c. maneuvered d. abashed
12. Helicopters are specially designed to float in the air over an area.
A. hydroplane b. revert c. transition d. hove
13. Certain passages were taken from the book for the purpose of illustration.
A. excerpts b. contents c. diatribes d. Indices
14. The rescue team searched among the ruins for signs of life.
A. terminal b. foundation c. rubble d. establishment
15. New experiments enabled manufacturers to make a long-lasting material that would save
consumers a great deal of money.
A. fleeting b. fragile c. perishable d. durable
16. The teacher distributed four sheets of paper for each student so each one could complete the
necessary assignments for class.
A. grappled b. allotted c. mustered d. asserted
Comp - Times Change (Past Paper, 2001)
Times change. Some years ago, if you asked an Antillan about graduation ceremonies, he knew you were referring to annual events at the University, when those who had been successful in passing their exams and earning a university degree were presented with an important document which qualified them to work as doctors or engineers or to take on special responsibilities in other fields of work
This of course, was what the word ‘graduation’ meant according to the educational tradition we had been following for ages, the British system. In North America, however the world had developed a different significance. Elaborate graduation exercises were used to mark the end of any school courses or training programme. Recently, a grandmother was invited to travel from Antilla to the United States to attend the graduation ceremony of her six-year-old grandchild who had completed the kindergarten stage of education, and would be wearing full academic garb for the occasion: suit, gown, and mortarboard, if you please.
Maybe we won’t go to quiet this extreme in Antilla, but sometimes I’m not so sure. Last year we saw pictures in the newspapers of people in the mortarboards and gowns who were graduating from a six week training programme somewhere in the city!
Some people will say that there’s nothing wrong with students at any level having their success marked with a ceremony: it no doubt serves as an encouragement, and improves the self-concept. There are two problems here. First, our graduation ceremony don’t always mark success in anything but remaining in a particular institution for a specified period of time. Secondly, something is wrong when the culmination of many years of advanced training is made to seem no more significant than the completion of some junior stage of learning.
The danger we run of letting graduation ceremonies distort our values is one thing. Of equal concern, especially in a country like ours, is the fact that many of the graduation exercises that we see are actively encouraging poor people to spend money that they don’t have on frocks that won’t be worn again, or flowers and hairstyles that fade in a day, or rings that leave jewelers laughing, or suits that will deprive younger brothers of food, and on shoes to look as new and expensive as everybody else’s.
Pity the poor parent with two children graduating. Pity the one who has to stay at home. Pity the poorer parent who can’t go up to it all. Pity the child whose friends ask questions. And pity the child whose best friend is too poor.
You ask why so few children fail to turn up for graduation, in a poor country, in hard, hard times. I ask you in return why poor people continue to spend so much money on funerals and weddings; why land is sold to pay for coffins and nine-nights, and why debts destroy so many new marriages.
Blame the students who are caught up in the pride of the moment of recognition? Blame the parents who have to keep up with the Joneses, and can’t let down their imploring children? No. I say blame the schools for allowing it all.
Questions
9. What is the main intention of the writer in paragraph two (Lines 5-10) of this extract?
(A) To show how gullible the older people of Antilla are
(B) To give an idea of what graduation involves in the United States
(C) To define by example, what he (The author) means by ‘graduation’
(D) To give the reader a clear picture of what graduation is like in Britain
10. What is the writer’s feeling in the last sentence of the second paragraph: “Recently, a
grandmother …suit, gown and mortarboard, if you please!” (lines 7-10)
(A) Pride
(B) Anger
(C) Surprise
(D) Disapproval
11. The writer uses the words “…if you please!” (Line10) to imply that the
(A) reader is pleased to have this information
(B) writer has pleasing manners
(C) reader shares the writer’s viewpoint
(D) writer is critical of the practice mentioned
12. Which of the following BEST expresses the writer’s opinion of the graduation which he refers
to in the last sentence (lines11-13) of the third paragraph?
(A) He is not sure what opinion he has about it
(B) He feels that the people deserved the graduation ceremony
(C) He thinks it carries the idea of graduation too far.
(D) He is pleased that Antillans have not carried the idea of graduation to the extent which the
United States has.
13.What is the writer’s objection in paragraphs four and five (lines14-23) to Antilla’s adopting the
form of graduation as it is practiced in North America?
(A) It reduces the value placed on important achievements.
(B) It is an attempt to impose foreign values on a poor country.
(C) It makes poverty worse in a country that is already poor
(D) It has a disastrous effect on the country’s education system.
14. In line 21, “frocks”, “flowers”, “hairstyles” and “shoes”, are mentioned MAINLY to
(A) give a vivid picture of what graduation ceremonies are like
(B) show the reader that some people are not as poor as we think
(C) emphasize the extent to which money is wasted in graduation ceremonies
(D) convince the reader that graduation ceremonies are important to success.
**** Oct 26 -29 ****
Activity
Instructions: Choose the antonym for each of the words.
1. Which word is the opposite of alert?
a. attentive b. inattentive c. careful d. trivial
2. Which word is the opposite of cautious?
a. considerate b. noble c. proper d. reckless
3. Which word means the opposite of shameful?
a. honorable b. animated c. fickle d. modest
4. Which word means the opposite of vague?
a. hazy b. skilled c. definite d. tender
5. Which word means the opposite of vulnerable?
a. frantic b. feeble c. secure d. complicated
6 . Which word means the opposite of distress?
a. comfort b. reward c. trouble d. compromise
7. Which word means the opposite of unity?
a. discord b. stimulation c. consent d. neglect
Read the passage carefully, then answer the questions which follow:
I never knew her real name and it is quite likely that she did have one, though I never heard her called anything but Gold Teeth. She did, indeed, have gold teeth. She had sixteen of them. She had married early and she had married well, and shortly after her marriage she exchanged her perfectly sound teeth for gold ones, to announce to the world that her husband was a man of substance.
Even without her gold teeth my aunt would have been noticeable. She was short, scarcely five feet, and she was fat, horribly, monstrously fat. If you saw her in silhouette you would have found it difficult to know if she was facing you or whether she was looking sideways.
She ate little and prayed much. Her family being Hindu, and her husband being a pundit, she, too was an orthodox Hindu. Of Hinduism she knew little apart from the ceremonies and taboos, and that was enough for her. Gold Teeth saw God as a power, and religious ritual as a means of harnessing the power for great practical good, her good.
I fear I may have given the impression that Gold Teeth prayed because she wanted to be less fat. The fact was that Gold Teeth had no children and was almost forty. It was her childlessness, not her fat, that oppressed her, and she prayed for the curse to be removed. She was willing to try any means, any ritual, any prayer- in order to trap and channel the supernatural power.
And so it was that she began to indulge in surreptitious Christian practices. She was living at the time in a country village called Cunupia, in County Caroni. Here the Canadian Mission had long waged war against the Indian heathen, and saved many. But Gold Teeth stood firm. The minister of Cunupia expended his Presbyterian piety on her; so did the headmaster of the Mission school. But all in vain. At no time was Gold Teeth persuaded even to think about being converted. The idea horrified her. Her father had been, in his day, one of the best-known Hindu pundits, and even now her husband’s fame as a pundit, as a man who could read and write Sanskrit, had spread beyond Cunupia. She was in no doubt whatsoever, that Hindus were the best people in the world, and that Hinduism was a superior religion. She was willing to select, modify and incorporate alien eccentricities into her worship; but to abjure her own Faith- Never!
1. What particular feature made Gold Teeth noticeaable?
A. her silhouette
B. her name
C. her religion
D. her physical built
2. She was “an orthodox Hindu” means that
A. she held the accepted views of Hindu religion
B. she was critical of her Hindu religion
C. she never bothered too much about the teachings of Hindu religion
D. she used her religion to suit her purposes.
3. “Taboos” are
A. restrictions
B. rites
C. festivals
D. prayers
4. Gold Teeth replaced her natural teeth with gold ones because
A. she wanted shining teeth
B. gold is long- lasting
C. she thought it was a sign of wealth
D. at an early age it was a fashion to wear gold
5. “Her husband was a man of substance”. He was
A. free and open
B. a jeweler
C. of great renown
D. wealthy
6. The Canadian Mission had a long waged war against the Indian heathen. Here the writer refers
to
A. a conflict between the Canadian Mission and the Hindu
B. the attempt of the Canadian missionaries to convert heathens to Christianity
C. a long and bitter war between the Canadian Mission and the heathen
D. the vain attempt of the Canadian Mission to influence Gold Teeth to change her religion
7. Which of the following statements is not true?
A. Gold Teeth was not convinced by the attempts of ministers to convert her.
B. She felt Hinduism was a superior religion
C. She was critical of other religions
D. In spite of her religious background she did not know very much about her religion.
8. The writer’s tone can best be described as
A. critical
B. abusive
C. humorous
D. indignant
Airport - Julia Sander
Sunset’s warm colours
Paint the sky
As the glowing ball of the sun
Slips down
Signalling the advent of night.
The departing plane gathers speed,
Its human cargo
Invisible behind its faceless windows,
Then launching itself into the air
It climbs steeply and flies away
Into the setting sun,
Escaping the bonds
Tying it to Earth
Laying a rope of white smoke
In its wake.
Soon it is a distant bird,
Borne on the air to new lands.
Night has fallen now
And those who are left behind
Trudge wearily through the gloom
Heading for home
Their shoulders hunched
Their hearts full of those who have gone.
1. From which perspective is the persona writing?
a. a passenger travelling by plane
b. a person at the airport seeing off someone close to her
c. someone waiting at the airport for a friend to arrive
d. someone waiting at the airport to board a flight
2. The lines ‘Sunset’s warm colours/ Paint the sky’ (lines 1–2) are an example of
a. simile b. metaphor c. personification d. alliteration
3. The phrase ‘its faceless windows’ (line 8) implies that
a. no one is looking out of the windows of the plane.
b. no one can be seen inside the plane.
c. it is dark inside the plane.
d. there are no passengers in the plane.
4. ‘A rope of white smoke’ (line 14) is an example of
a. personification c. simile
b. metaphor d. onomatopoeia
5. The body language of ‘those who are left behind’ (lines 20 and 22) suggests that they feel
a. exhausted b. depressed c. devastated d. indifferent
6. Which adjective best conveys the mood of the last stanza?
a. restless b. frustrated c. sympathetic d. melancholy
Topic: Persuasive Writing (CSEC English Language Specimen Paper Two)
Content
You are on a committee planning the celebrations to mark the anniversary of your
school. You have heard that some of your classmates plan to boycott the
celebrations, and you have been asked to make a speech to persuade them to take
part. Write out your speech.
OR
Write an article for your school magazine about three major problems in your school
and state how you would solve each one.
Summary & Written Response Review
Step 1: Choose a topic:
(i) How social media is impacting mental health among teens
(ii) School for tired teens
Step 2: Create your outline
1. What was the main idea
2. List at least 3 supporting details
Step 3: Write either:
(i) a summary (120 words)
(ii) a speech in response to the video you chose. (do you agree/ disagree) - 120 -150 words
What is the Descriptive Essay?
Descriptive writing seeks to make sensory details vividly present to the reader
in many kinds of writing. Sensory details are details of smell, taste, texture, sight, and sound.
Elements of Descriptive Writing
- Figurative language (e.g) "his laughter bounced off the wall like a canon being fired on a silent night."
- Sensory details
- Precise language - specific words and phrases that you can use to help the reader understand your description of something
- A dominant impression - develop a central theme
- Careful organization - arrange your statements in chronological, spatial, and significant order
Answer one question in this section.
Your answer in this section should be approximately 400 to 450 words in length.
You MUST write in Standard English. However, dialect may be used in conversation.
As the astronauts landed they saw before them an unimaginable sight.
Describe what the astronauts saw.
(35 marks)
Tamara fell off to sleep with the events of the day still fresh in her mind. She slipped quickly into dreamland.
Describe Tamara's dream.
(35 marks)
Today was the day that we were going to play against SMS High School. This would decide once and for all who was the better team.
Describe the scene just before the match started including the attitudes of both teams and those of the spectators.
(35 marks)
When the sun came up they came slowly out of the cave. The walls of rock to the right and the left were not high but they focussed their eyes straight ahead first.
Describe what they saw.
(35 marks)
We set out on the hike to Cassareep and we did not bargain for the terrible weather.
Describe the places along the route and the ways in which the weather affected the hike.
(35 marks)
November 17, 2023
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