The English language has developed in a way that makes the language ugly and imprecise. “Politics and the English Language” written by George Orwell in 1946, illustrates the fact that most people living in the United States generally write very badly and that they have to improve their writing skills. He argues that meaningless words are being used and that people are being lazy when they write. Orwell’s essay is a lesson on how people can improve their writing in a better way than they are now. He examines the connection between the degradation of language and the political orthodoxies. Looking into the first section of the Apology, I will compare these two texts.
Orwell states in the essay that it is clear that the failure of a language must have political and economic causes. This effect can sadly become a cause by reinforcing the original cause and then produce the same effect in a strengthened form. Orwell uses an example of a man drinking to make he feel better, but that the drinking makes him fail even more than he did before. The same effect is happening to the English language in today’s society. It becomes ugly because people living in the United States have foolish thoughts and the slackness of our language makes it simpler for them to have thoughts that are foolish. The language is a box
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“Politics and the English Language” written by George Orwell in 1946, illustrates the fact that most people living in the United States generally write very badly and that they have to improve their writing skills. He argues that meaningless words are being used and that people are being lazy when they write. Orwell’s essay is a lesson on how people can improve their writing in a better way than they are now. He examines the connection between the degradation of language and the political orthodoxies. Looking into the first section of the Apology, I will compare these two
Using strong and forceful words like ‘sin’, ‘forbidden’, and ‘inhuman’, the author takes a firm stance in the passage. This word choice ensures that there is no question of which side Orwell supports. Therefore, it enhances his point by augmenting his blunt tone. This type of word choice is most effective when explaining facts since
Orwell's sureness and strength in his article acts as evidence of weapons and their effects, because it helps confirm his claim as something that will for sure happen. This allows the audience to trust Orwell's claim, and his good development creates a very substantial article. Orwell also uses ethos by connecting himself with society by using informal language stating, "We were once told". Orwell is affirming that he and his audience were manipulated by the state. He is putting himself on the audience’s level, which makes the audience feel like they can relate to him.
When works of literature deal with social and political issues, they use different means to portray a message. The dystopian novel 1984 by George Orwell, explores political issues while presenting the reader with a warning of dangers as a result of totalitarianism government. In contrast, the utopian novel, Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn presents the reader with political issues such as abuse of power within a totalitarianism through a juvenalian satirical tone. While both Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn and 1984 by George Orwell focus on political issues by utilizing powerful literary elements to depict the author’s message, 1984 develops a more effective portrayal of the message through the use of powerful diction, development of significant characters,
“Language is power… Language can be used as a means of changing reality.” -Adrienne Rich. In 1984, George Orwell persuades the main character, Winston Smith, by using the other characters to help convince him to agree to the beauty of destroying language. Orwell effectively persuades Winston by using rhetorical appeals and devices.
Grammatically incorrect language is compared to Genghis Khan as it has “destroyed” the English language; “pillaging our punctuation; savaging our sentences;” and “raping our vocabulary” ( Humphrys 16). By applying the analogy of improper grammar and the Mongolian emperor, the writer effectively portrays the crudeness of texting that quell proper English. The loss of proper English led to the adaption of past grammatical rules, “changing the way we communicate, which means, that we no longer have time to reach for the hyphen key” (A.
(Orwell 226-227). The serene and relaxed wording establishes the calm tone. Orwell’s use of diction guides the audience into the world that he creates. On the other hand, Bradbury creates implied depictions of his characters. Overall, the purpose Orwell’s choice in detailed writing is to construct the moods of his
In “Does Coming to College Mean Becoming Someone New?”, Kevin Davis argues that when going to college students face the choice of becoming someone new to fit into the discourse community of their chosen degree or select a new one more aligned with their style and values. Using his personal experience, Davis demonstrates his unsuccessful attempt to join the English discourse community. Consequently, Davis “felt like an outsider” (80) when starting his studies as an English major, a degree, he felt, would fit well with his “love of reading and writing” (80). The all-in commitment to becoming someone new to join, Davis clarifies is reason he never became a member of the English major community, and decided he would go into business instead. After a while, in the business sphere, he returned to the academic world and found a discourse community that he felt accepted him as he was the discourse community known as rhetoricians.
This narrative piece is an effective expository technique that describes the narrator’s thoughts and tone. Orwell uses oxymoron such as “grinning corpse” and paradox phrases such as “the story always sounds clear enough at a distance, but the nearer you get to the scene of events the vaguer it becomes”. Another paradox statement is shown in “I perceived this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys”. Orwell’s decisions were briskly altered as he was deciding on whether to kill the elephant or not. His mind altered from “I ought not to shoot him” to “I had got to do it” and also to “But I did not want to shoot the elephant”.
With the use of these strategies, Orwell is able to give more meaning to his essay to help the reader understand, furthermore, his writing. The most successful strategy that Orwell uses throughout his whole essay is diction. By the use of diction, Orwell is able to persuade his readers more about why he writes. In his essay he first started off by saying, “From a very early age, perhaps the age of five and six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer.
By limiting the vocabulary, Newspeak is essentially “unintelligible” and hence controls the people’s understanding of the real world. Orwell emphasises that language is of utmost importance as it structures and limits the ideas individuals are capable of formulating and expressing. In 1984, language is used as a ‘mind control tool’. The party slogan, “war is peace, freedom is
Aldous Huxley strongly advocates this idea as he writes from the perspective of an English citizen during an unsettling and conflicting time in history. The essay “Words and Behavior” proposes that language interconnects with war and the politics that shape our views and history. Simultaneously, Huxley states the malignant power a word’s connotation holds when it comes to formulating our perspective on governmental affairs. The essay starts off describing
Throughout Ellis Parker Butler’s essay “On Spelling,” Butler argues that American English spelling conventions of that time period need to be reformed. While most argue for change to more “correct” spelling, Butler believes that reforms should be made in order to omit unneeded letters, such as the “ugh” in although. The argument itself is developed mainly through bombastic and cocky statements, analogies made cross-discipline, and references made comparing the two different “solutions” put forth, one being Serena’s and the other being Butler’s himself. These three techniques combine to form an overall superficial argument with little logical backing.
1.0 INTRODUCTION Chilton and Schaffner (2002:2) mention that political activity does not exist without the use of language and language constitute a great proportion of the political activities held. The relationship between language and politics stems from the fact that language can be thought of as a resource which is drawn up on to achieve socio-political goals. For the current assignment my partner and I are doing, we choose five inaugural speeches from five different presidents of America. Inaugural speech is the first speech made by a President at a ceremony which is also called the inauguration.
Along with this, Orwell openly portrays his anger revolving around the destruction of the English Language. In prior writings, Orwell displays his disgust at the evolution of language and his unhappiness in the migration of shorter, unexaggerated sentences to the lengthy wording of simple phrases. In Orwell's writing titled “Politics and the English Language,” he states “no modern writer of the kind I am discussing- no one capable of using phrases like “objective consideration of contemporary phenomena”- would ever tabulate his thoughts in that precise and detailed way,” a passage which thoroughly depicts Orwells contempt of modern writers. By incorporating Old English language into his writings, Orwell subtly displays his unrest with the modernization of our language.
There has been an assumption that academic writing is getting to be less formal as it is expected by many institutions. The informality in written work has become a standard thing in most public domains. With close observation, writers have literary shifted from the normal standards of writing and styles of writing that are impersonal. However, the assumption has not been examined in the recent past. In this paper, the issue is explored, and a trial is made in ascertaining whether less formality is being associated with academic writing.