TEXT ONE
Starting the analysis of this article with the headline, what attracts reader’s attention the most is the word
“pledge”. It refers to a promise made by the Conservative party about a part of the new points-based
system concerning immigration. As we can see in the subtitle, Conservatives made the promise of reducing
immigration to convince people that under a Labour government immigration would rise.
Another element who immediately catch reader’s attention is the image collocated under the subtitle. The
image depicts the home secretary Priti Patel in a close shot, probably taken after the meeting about
Conservative Brexit deal. Her gaze is not directed to the camera, so the viewer is invited to watch not in a
way that encourages a personal relation but as an observer. It isn’t possible to analyse her pose because
the shot is too close instead her looking down can give a sense of her vulnerability.
Looking at lexical choices, we can see how the author has employed terms referred to the semantic area of
politics as demonstrate words such as “immigration”, “party”, “vote”, “policy”, “government”, “prime
minister”. It can be noticed that in the text are used more frequently two quoting verbs: the neutral
structuring verb “to say” and the metapropositional verb “to claim”. The verb “to say” is used to introduce
a sentence without explicitly evaluating it; on the contrary the verb “to claim” is used by the author to mark
his interpretation of the speaker, making him appear more assertive in what he is saying.
The presence of overlexicalization is given by the repeated use of the word “immigration” through the text
accompanied with the verb “reduce” and the word “lower”, which suggest that is a problematic topic and
reveal the negative connotation Conservatives attribute to immigration. The use of the personal pronoun
“we” shows that all party members share the same idea, which for them should be the most shared idea as
demonstrate the following positive words such as “open”, “flexible” “skilled people”. These terms are used
to soft their negative view of immigration making them seem “open” to those skilled immigrants that
shows they want to be integrated. (Suppression ???)
We can also notice that the author made use of collectivisation, nomination and functionalisation. The term
“Conservatives” is an example of collectivisation because it refers not to one member of the party but to
the whole. “Priti Patel” is an example of nomination which serve to make sound more personal the
sentence and, followed by the terms “the home secretary”, highlight her role and connote legitimacy.
For what concern a transitivity analysis, looking at the clauses, we can notice that there is a prevalence of
verbal processes. A verbal process, indeed, is expressed through the verb “to say” and typically consists of
three participants: the sayer, the receiver and the verbiage. In this case in most clauses the sayer is the
home secretary Priti Patel, the receiver is the reader who has the faculty to vote, and the verbiage is the
promise to cut overall immigration. Finally, even if this article may seem neutral, it probably won’t be like
this because the author seems to agree with the idea behind the text that sees immigration as something
to be reduced, something to contain.
TEXT FOUR
This is an article clearly directed to men, as suggest the name of the magazine “Men’s health”, specialized
in giving advices about fitness and health specially to men. The first thing that captures reader’s attention is
the headline, followed by the image. In the headline we can see immediately that the author wants to
establish a close relation with the reader as it can be noticed by looking at the personal pronoun “You”
written in capital letter and repeated through the text. The verb “need” express the author’s belief that
