Summary Of Why Are We Behaving Like Water Wally's All Over Again
Analytical Essay 'Why are we behaving like water Wally's all over again?'
The article 'Why are we behaving like Water Wally's all over again' is an article written by Shane Green for The Age newspaper. It was published on the 26th of January 2013 and its main contention is to warn us about what will happen if we continue to waste water on a daily basis. It was written to notify us that apart from waiting for it to rain, we are doing almost nothing to save ourselves from getting back into a drought. We have a desalination plant but the Brumby government refuses to switch it on. This article was written to persuade us to share the authors views on this subject, and by using particular language techniques, he has managed to do so. Techniques such as rhetorical questions, inclusive language and evidence were all used to persuade us. …show more content…
Rhetorical questions are a great way to persuade someone to believe in your contention, as they cause doubt in the mind of the reader and makes the reader want to read on.
The author uses rhetorical questions from the very start; with the title and first sentence encompassing them. When the author asks whether 'it will ever be like the plentiful old days when water was a friend? Do others feel the same?' It makes the reader feel the need to read the rest of the article to discover the answer to that question, or at least, what the author thinks of the question. Rhetorical questions conclude statements that the author is trying to convey, such as 'Could it be so long that the water has forgotten to
flow?'
Similarly the author employs the use of inclusive language to engage the reader.
By using words such as 'we' and 'our' the author aims to include the reader in the article and therefore makes it their problem to. When using these inclusive words, the author is demonstrating to the reader that this also affects them, therefore the readers are more likely to want to take action and to agree with the contention put forward by the author. In the very last column, there a various examples of inclusive language used as a final attempt to gain our support with the problem of saving water. The statement 'We are using more and more water, with average daily consumption in recent weeks more than 220 litres per person' is a perfect example of this technique as it not only includes us as being part of the problem, but also by using evidence which makes people more likely to believe it because it contains statistics, and you can not really argue with facts.
Evidence is possibly the most persuasive technique as it gives credit to the article, and the author is made to look like he knows what he is talking about, and has done extensive research into the topic. By using statistics and evidence, the author reassures you that he has a point as you can tell that it has been well researched. The use of evidence is also used to inform us of important statistics of which the author thinks is of great importance, statistics such as 'Water storages are sitting at close to 80%' are used because most people want to know how high or low our water storages are to make sure we are not in a drought anymore, and to be able to use more water, knowing that we have enough stored away in our dams. By using evidence from sources such as experts and doctors, the article is given a more professional feel because the readers acknowledge that the author has gone to great lengths to speak to professionals to get the facts about a particular issue. 'Dr Paul Harrison has looked at the effectiveness of the Brumby government's Target 155 campaign...' This statement indicates that a professional also shares the same view as the author, and covets you to also share this view.
The articles purpose was to inform us about our water usage and to inform us of what would happen if we were to continue to use water in the staggering way that we have been lately. By using language techniques such as rhetorical questions, evidence and inclusive language, Shane Green, writer for The Age, persuaded us to believe in his contention that we are doing nothing but hoping for rain to save us from droughts when we have an ever-ready desalination plant just waiting to be used. All these techniques were used to give us an idea of what we should answer the next time someone asks us 'Why are we behaving like water Wallys all over again?'
The article 'Why are we behaving like Water Wally's all over again' is an article written by Shane Green for The Age newspaper. It was published on the 26th of January 2013 and its main contention is to warn us about what will happen if we continue to waste water on a daily basis. It was written to notify us that apart from waiting for it to rain, we are doing almost nothing to save ourselves from getting back into a drought. We have a desalination plant but the Brumby government refuses to switch it on. This article was written to persuade us to share the authors views on this subject, and by using particular language techniques, he has managed to do so. Techniques such as rhetorical questions, inclusive language and evidence were all used to persuade us. …show more content…
Rhetorical questions are a great way to persuade someone to believe in your contention, as they cause doubt in the mind of the reader and makes the reader want to read on.
The author uses rhetorical questions from the very start; with the title and first sentence encompassing them. When the author asks whether 'it will ever be like the plentiful old days when water was a friend? Do others feel the same?' It makes the reader feel the need to read the rest of the article to discover the answer to that question, or at least, what the author thinks of the question. Rhetorical questions conclude statements that the author is trying to convey, such as 'Could it be so long that the water has forgotten to
flow?'
Similarly the author employs the use of inclusive language to engage the reader.
By using words such as 'we' and 'our' the author aims to include the reader in the article and therefore makes it their problem to. When using these inclusive words, the author is demonstrating to the reader that this also affects them, therefore the readers are more likely to want to take action and to agree with the contention put forward by the author. In the very last column, there a various examples of inclusive language used as a final attempt to gain our support with the problem of saving water. The statement 'We are using more and more water, with average daily consumption in recent weeks more than 220 litres per person' is a perfect example of this technique as it not only includes us as being part of the problem, but also by using evidence which makes people more likely to believe it because it contains statistics, and you can not really argue with facts.
Evidence is possibly the most persuasive technique as it gives credit to the article, and the author is made to look like he knows what he is talking about, and has done extensive research into the topic. By using statistics and evidence, the author reassures you that he has a point as you can tell that it has been well researched. The use of evidence is also used to inform us of important statistics of which the author thinks is of great importance, statistics such as 'Water storages are sitting at close to 80%' are used because most people want to know how high or low our water storages are to make sure we are not in a drought anymore, and to be able to use more water, knowing that we have enough stored away in our dams. By using evidence from sources such as experts and doctors, the article is given a more professional feel because the readers acknowledge that the author has gone to great lengths to speak to professionals to get the facts about a particular issue. 'Dr Paul Harrison has looked at the effectiveness of the Brumby government's Target 155 campaign...' This statement indicates that a professional also shares the same view as the author, and covets you to also share this view.
The articles purpose was to inform us about our water usage and to inform us of what would happen if we were to continue to use water in the staggering way that we have been lately. By using language techniques such as rhetorical questions, evidence and inclusive language, Shane Green, writer for The Age, persuaded us to believe in his contention that we are doing nothing but hoping for rain to save us from droughts when we have an ever-ready desalination plant just waiting to be used. All these techniques were used to give us an idea of what we should answer the next time someone asks us 'Why are we behaving like water Wallys all over again?'