Getting Our Future Back On The Rails – Slowly

How does the writer use written and visual language to attempt to persuade readers to share his point of view? The use of inclusive language and personal appeals positions the reader to share the writers viewpoint that a communal garden would be beneficial in not only the sense of convenience but also health, wealth and social.

Throughout the article the writer attempts to make the reader believe that a community garden would be a far more productive use of land instead of a skate park and he/she does this with an logical and passionate tone and throughout the article it evolves into a feeling of determination and importance, and this is achieved by the use of imagery and statistics which appeal to both the readers hearts and their wallets. Through repetition of the word community, the writer seeks to compel the reader into believing in the project of the communal garden.

The moderate use of repetition in this argument is just enough so that the reader clearly understands that this project is for the community but then not enough so that it drives away the gradual acceptance that the writer is hoping to accomplish. The reference to the Second World War creates a feeling of companionship and duty to growing our own food because during the time of the food shortage that’s what everyone had to do back then, and people don’t want to be put back into that position.

Referencing to the graph from the ‘NSW Environment Protection Authority’ lends credibility to the writers argument which influences the reader that the writer certainly knows what they’re talking about and that he/she isn’t the only one concerned about this topic. The concept of having more people that agree with the argument will sway more and more people into believing what is being read and eventually they will jump on board.

Statistics and graphs have to be used cautiously in any persuasive piece because if either the information is proven to be wrong it will cause widespread loss of interest and trust in the argument, also, statistics cannot just be thrown into a piece without any explanation from the author otherwise it will just cause confusion for the reader and it will defeat its own purpose, it is similar to using an irrelevant quote.

In this argument the use of the graph and the proper accreditation to the ‘NSW Environment Protection Authority’ shows the reader that the writer is trustworthy and the information that he/she is relaying is accurate. By addressing the readers informally as a community, the writer establishes a sense of intimacy not only with him/herself but almost as if with the entire audience that the article was addressed to. Inclusive language is language that does not belittle, exclude or stereotype people, instead it aims on bringing everyone together.

Inclusive language includes the reader by assuming that they all agree or disagree, it engages the reader and may gain sympathy or persuade the reader to either accept or reject the idea or topic of the article. Some examples of the inclusive language that was used in this article include the words community, our own, ourselves, ‘to you, the community’ and neighbours, these words are all synonyms of the word group.

In conclusion the writers main contention was to persuade all of the readers of this article to agree to the construction of a communal garden and he/she did this by using some powerful techniques the correct way in their article, these include but are not limited to inclusive language, repetition, statistics and imagery. The main audiences that will be convinced by this article are those that care about their community and also their own health and financial benefit but there will always be people that don’t agree with what you write and these people might include the ones that would be too lazy to get up and tend to a garden every day.