The Persuasive Text

The purpose of a persuasive text is to change or alter the viewpoint of the reader for it to agree with the author’s perspective. The intention of this specific text is to persuade the reader to help end poverty today by joining ‘Make Poverty History’ and it uses persuasive language and techniques to do this – this essay will explain the effect on the reader and will focus on analysing persuasive language.

Pronouns are an effective persuasive language technique because they address the reader directly. Many pronouns are used throughout the text for example: “The changes we need aren’t monstrous or unimaginable.” “We want you to help us be the generation that did it.” By using pronouns such as ‘you, we, us’ etc the reader feels as though they are being directly addressed and that the charity wants their help personally, it also involves the reader in the text so that they can relate to the charity and realise they can do something about it. The pronoun ‘we’ is a collective verb, indicating that people that suffer from poverty and us are one collective thing, we are part of them and we should help them abolish poverty, because if we were in need they would help us. Another effective feature of pronouns is that they make the writing like spoken communication – thus making the reader able to relate to the text and author as using words like ‘you, we, I’ comes naturally to us and readers may find this language more understanding. ‘This technique is persuasive and effective because the reader is being involved and made to feel they have to do something about poverty.

Facts and statistics are used throughout the persuasive text. By saying: “ More than 400 UK organisations are involved in Make Poverty History, and Make Poverty History ...

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...ves the charity is reliable and must be big enough for people to buy products with the charity name on.

To conclude, the text uses many persuasive features and devices to effectively persuade people. For example, pronouns are used to directly address the reader and make them feel involved, and facts and statistics are used, which prove the charity and backs up the opinion strongly. Celebrity backing from Bono is also used, this may make people listen and respect the charity and Bono’s fans may also support the charity. Presentational devices are also used in aid of persuading the reader e.g. the picture of the pants, this provides humour and makes the reader want to read the article to find out why the pants are relevant. Therefore, the ‘Make Poverty History’ text is effective; this is because of the above reasons and makes the reader want to help abolish poverty.