In this criticism filled article, author Zach Kram uses everyday diction to build trust with his audience. In the very first sentence of the article, Kram says "Mets closer Juery Familia blew a save on Wednesday, allowing four runs while recording just one out in an eventual 6-5 loss to the Giants" (Line 1), which immediately makes Kram seem like a harsh, but knowledgeable critic, thus presenting himself as a more trustworthy individual. Kram also uses informal language such as "Probably" (Line 19) and "Whiffs" (Line 10) to make his argument more understandable and impactful to his audience. Making connections and bringing in history, Kram passionately critiques the Mets.
Kram skillfully uses a mediocre syntax to show that he has the ability to make sentences overly complicated, but makes the smart decision to ease up on the complicated structure. Having a mix between a simplistic and sophisticated syntax is very beneficial for Kram because he makes his article flow better by connecting words and phrases that would normally be separated with a simplistic syntax, but still makes the article easy to read. With the implementation of a mediocre syntax, Kram can draw in almost all types of readers, which is a huge benefit for his sake. Kram creates a very sarcastic tone by the variety of words and phrases he uses throughout the passage. The title, "Jeurys Familia Is Hurt, Because He's a Met", is an early indication of the sarcastic tone, because he makes fun of the Mets for having a tendency to have their players get injured. Later in the passage, Kram says "When the Mets' early-season narrative hasn't centered on a Harvey pajama investigation, it's flowed from injury to debilitating injury" (Lines 15-16), to further poke fun at the Mets. Although Kram may seem like he is openly insulting the Mets, he is making fun of them light heartedly, which makes the article more enjoyable to read for his audience. Kram's purpose for writing this article was to inform the baseball-loving community about the tragic, but oh so common, circumstance of the New York Mets. Aside from letting the community know about Familia, Kram did research about the fate of Familia, analyzing his injury, as well as his pitching statistics, which made this article very purposeful and important. Kram also appealed to logos multiple times throughout his article, referencing statistics multiple times within each paragraph, one example being "In five appearances in May spanning 61 pitches, he had induced just one swinging strike- from the slumping Dansby Swanson on May-..." (Lines 15-16). The appeals to logos make Kram's argument stronger and harder to argue with, since it is VERY hard to argue with straight facts. Not only does Kram use statistics to support his argument, he also used quotes from coaches and fellow baseball players to build his argument even more.
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In her article Blue Skies and Balloons: Miley Cyrus Cleans Up on "Malibu, Lindsay Zoladz uses flowery diction in order to boast her intellect while still informing her audience about Miley's recently released single. Zoladz uses advanced words such as "precocious" (Line 2) and complicated phrases such as "artistic metamorphosis" (Line 7) idiotically because she scares away any potential readers with this college level language. Zoladz viciously attacks Miley's music, saying "He's [Billy Rae Cyrus] given us several months of advance warning..." (Line 7) when talking about the lead-up to this album, showing her hatred towards it.
Another skill that Zoladz overbearingly uses is her complicated syntax. Throughout the entire piece, Zoladz uses all forms of punctuation you can think of. Commas, em dashes, quotation marks, parentheses, and finally dashes. The average reader for this sort of article would be fans of Miley Cyrus, which according to Business Insider are teenagers (with the exception of a few Disney loving adults here and there). Most teenagers, when they see this article, would think that they are reading a passage from a textbook and immediately click to another article, if not close the site completely. Zoladz uses a contemptuous tone throughout the article, and while it is very negative towards Miley Cyrus, it can be quite humorous at times. In Lines 15-17, Zoladz makes multiple stabs at Miley, saying "...with only two different hair colors and nary a speck of glitter in sight", and when Cyrus announced that "I haven't smoked weed in three weeks!", Zoladz commented, "Willie Nelson, somewhere, raised an eyebrow". Zoladz openly insults Miley, and this openness makes the article seem like one big "roast" session on Miley, which is super entertaining. The purpose for this article is to inform the public about Miley Cyrus's forthcoming album, which Zoladz is very critical about. Her overall goal from this article is to persuade her readers to despise Cyrus, and to share how skeptical she is of Miley's "new self". Her position is not THAT unheard of. The nation was shocked when Miley was on tour and was dressed as a topless unicorn wearing a strap-on, and to many people, that was the end of Miley Cyrus. She seemed crazy. To further strengthen her argument, Zoladz appeals to pathos, and takes the position of a concerned parent. In paragraph 5, Zoladz writes "[Malibu] (Miley's new song) definitely won't offend any of the people who shielded their children's eyes during Miley's last tour...". Anybody who has children, or even cares about a young children, will read this statement and immediately feel like Miley is a threat to their children, and deem her not appropriate for said children. Although Zoladz "Anti-Miley" argument is very strong, the mere nostalgia that many of her fans have of her makes the argument not as jarring. They know that Miley has done some pretty wild things in her past, but they are still (and will always) wait for their "Hannah Montana" Miley Cyrus to come back, and nothing can really change that. Wyatt Russell was Born to Be a Movie Star, written by Sam Schube, follows the transition of Wyatt Russell from former National Hockey League goalie to movie star. Schube uses romantic diction to present Russell as a caring and relatable person. Phrases such as "...became the proud owner of a garden" (line 1) and "has a languorous surfer's drawl" (line 10) make Russell seem like "one of the guys", and paint him as just another person, just like one of us.
Schube also uses very simplistic syntax, keeping the sentences short, and keeps the use of commas and em dashes to a minimum. Although this makes the article choppy at times, the simple syntax allows for a wider audience to read and understand the article, and not have readers exit out of the article because it was too complicated and meddlesome to read. This simple syntax also makes this article seem shorter, since it can be read a lot faster than a shorter article with sophisticated syntax. The tone of the piece is very conversational. Schube uses phrases like "He sounds a lot like the stoners and layabouts" (Lines 10-11) and "He'll futz with this one" to build trust between the reader and the audience, and make the article enjoyable to read. His conversational tone make Schube seem like a friend of Russell, and makes the article more entertaining to read. The purpose of this article is to give Russell's transition from a retired National Hockey League player to an international film star some attention, and learn how that transition happened. He hopes to inform the reader of Russell's situation, convince the reader that this is an amazing opportunity for Russell, and even give his upcoming (as well as older) movies the spotlight and encourage the reader to watch them. Schube appeals to pathos many times throughout the article to butter Russell up and make him look sensitive and caring. Phrases such as "The no. 1 thing on my mind right now, [is] my garden dying" (Line 14), and also used adjectives such as "Love" (Line 73) to show that Russell is a very caring and emotional person who just wants the best for his garden. Although Schube had a very strong argument, it could have been strengthened by including reviews for Russell's past movies, and ideally some quotes from his coworkers talking about how gifted of an actor he is. All-in-all though, Schube had a solid article, and influenced me to go watch some of Russell's movies. In this article, Juliet Litman uses formal diction to establish credibility of her being a smart and educated writer. Litman uses polysyllabic words like "malaise" (Line 5) , "inkling" and"prescient" (both on line 15), which make the passage a little harder to read, but overall make her argument stronger. Litman is emotionally attached to the piece due to her obvious interest in 'The Real Housewives of New York City', so much so that she is making connections from the show to real life. She also mentions character by their names, and references scenes and story lines from 'The Real Housewives of New York City' to strengthen her argument.
The author also uses simplistic syntax to make the article easier to read for her audience, and make it so a wider variety of people can read and understand it. Litman uses commas when she needs to, has semi-colons uncommonly throughout her article, and rarely uses em dashes. Most of the sentences are simple, reasonably short, and fairly easy to understand. Because of the simplistic syntax, the article can be vary choppy to read, which is not the best thing for an article to be. The choppiness also means that Litman does not elaborate on what she says, usually saying what she needs to say, then changing the topic. Litman has a weird mixture of tones. She is very conversational throughout some the article, using contractions commonly and even going as far as saying "sh*t", but in other parts of the article, she is formal and sophisticated. The blend on tones can be confusing at times, her making a sarcastic remark about one of the characters, then deeply analyzing another character using 20 syllable words in the very next sentence. The purpose of this article is to share how the author believes an actress on the reality TV show "The Real Housewives of New York City" mimics Donald Trump, and she does a really good job at persuading her audience. Her argument is very valid, and fans of the show would find her point of view very interesting (to say the least). She references the show multiple times, supports her arguments with quotes from other actors/actresses on the show, and even throws in outside research occasionally. Doing this makes her points more and more difficult to argue with, and if nobody can argue with you, you have a very strong claim. Litman has obviously read and analyzed Thank you for arguing. sIn the article The Music You Need to Listen to Right Now, the The Ringer Staff (called "The Staff" from now on) make their claims for the best music that everybody and their mother needs to hear. The staff uses passionate diction to show their ample interest in the topic. In the third paragraph, when talking about Charly Bliss, the staff describes her music as "...words [that] create an atmosphere of macabre and unruly girliness..." (Lines 13-14). The amount of interest and love that the staff puts into describing Bliss's songs almost forces you to listen to the them, and make you feel like you will be hated if you do not LOVE them.
Another technique that the staff use really well in this article is their syntax. Even though the staff uses a very simplistic syntax which makes the article a little choppy at times, the choppiness for this type of piece works really well. Since this article is a list of songs and a description of them/why you NEED to listen to them, anything more than a simplistic syntax would throw the whole balance off. Having a sophisticated syntax with em dashes everywhere and (at least) 3 commas in each sentence would make the article overly complicated and turn off any potential readers. The lyrical tone of this article is shown in almost every paragraph throughout the article. In the fourth paragraph, Rich Homie Quan's writing style in his song 'Back to the Basics' is analyzed. "He stretches vowels out flat; he hollows them out and deepens them to better carry his feelings. He bends around the corners of the production, and speeds over its bumps". The entire phrase seems like a section from a corny love movie, or sounds like when somebody over analyzes something that does not need or require analyzing. The purpose of the article is to try and convince the reader to listen (and love) the music that the staff is recommending. The reader feels inclined to at least give the music the staff recommends a listen to because of the way they describe it. The staff gives each of the songs a paragraph of explanation for why you NEED to listen to that specific song, and their arguments are very powerful. The purpose for this article is needed. For as long as I can remember recommending music to my friends, everybody is too stubborn and scared to try something new. This stubbornness leads to those people getting caught in a cycle of listening to the same music over and over again, which will hopefully be broken once they read the reviews for these songs. The staff appeals to pathos in their argument to further convince the reader to listen to the music that they recommended. When talking about Stormyz's 'Gang Signs & Prayer', the staff says that the song "...showcases a gentler Stormyz, one who echoes his mother's wishes in turning to God (and gospel) for redemption". This description gives the song an entire new meaning, and makes the song seem like a story of Stormyz and his life. Overall, the staff's argument is very strong. They use personal experience, as well as appeals to pathos to convince the reader to listen to the music. Although their argument was already strong, the use of outside ratings of the songs would have been a helpful addition to the argument. In this article, author Micah Peters uses informal diction, using pronouns such as "you" (line 1) and using profanities through his article, which make Peters seem more credible and honest. He also uses the adjective "dumb" multiple times in the third paragraph, weakening his argument because he sounds uneducated. Peters seems to have a very strong emotional attachment to the topic, making his argument more impactful to his audience.
A skill that Peters could work on later in his writing career is his syntax. In this article, the sentences are very short, nothing is really expanded upon or explained, and he uses commas carelessly, making his argument gradually weaker as the article progresses. Peters attempts to use syntax to appeal to a wider audience, however, his simplistic syntax turns away any potential readers he say have due to the choppiness and lack of knowledge about the topic. The tone of the article is very optimistic. He references the first 'Guardians of the Galaxy' movie multiple times while describing the new movie, and says ""The Chain" are probably going to be perfect. Don't believe me? Here's the latest trailer". His tone of voice in that phrase is very optimistic, and he seems to be anxiously waiting for the new movie to be released. The purpose for this article is to evoke anticipation for the 'Guardians of the Galaxy 2' movie being released in the summer, which is very meaningful for Marvel fans who did not know about a sequel, or did know about the sequel, but did not know the full details about it. Peters uses personal experience and knowledge about past Marvel movies, as well as the 'Guardian of the Galaxy' franchise to hype up the forthcoming movie. Overall, His confusing syntax and informal diction combine to make his argument very weak. In "The Founder of WorldStarHipHop Was a Visionary", author Victor Luckerson uses simple, monosyllabic words to establish a piece that everybody reading can understand and interpret for themselves. Along with using monosyllabic words, Luckerson also uses humor to appeal to a wider audience aside from the ones on TheRinger already, such as "...a mix of crowdsourced street fights, police dashcam footage, meme explainers, and strippers..."(Luckerson 2-3). Describing the site like this not only gives an accurate representation of the site, but also provides comic relief to the situation of the founder passing away.
The three word sentence "He was 43." (10) is a form of syntax used by the author to bring attention to the information in the sentence. The sentence also appeals to pathos because 43 is such a young age to die, and with the majority of the target audience for the website being around that age, it makes the readers feel a connection to O'Denat (the person who died). Luckerson uses words such as "evolved" (14) and "propelled" (16) to establish a motivational tone. Using evolved and propelled when telling the story of how WorldStarHipHop came to be makes the entire story more uplifting and impactful to the audience because it shows how the site literally skyrocketed in popularity and was became famous. The goal of the piece was too, obvious, inform the reader that the founder of WorldStarHipHop has passed. However, Luckerson also goes one step further and explains the backstory behind the site that not many people know, a story of dreams and hardships. Although many of us see WorldStarHipHop as a site that we go too for a laugh, we fail to realize that it has a long and difficult background, and if artists such as 50 Cent or Q did not appear on it, we may not have the site that we all know and love. |
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May 2017
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