Lesson video

Hello everyone.

It's Mr. Brown here with your English lesson for today and we are going to be identifying the features of a persuasive letter.

Let's get started.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can identify the features of a persuasive letter.

The keywords we'll use are persuasion, purpose, linguistic technique.

Okay, let's say those together.

My turn, then your turn.

Persuasion.

Purpose.

Here's a big one, ready? Linguistic technique.

Fabulous, well done.

So let's have a look at some definitions now.

Persuasion is the action or process of trying to change someone's mind or behaviour.

A purpose is the reason for something and the desired impact.

A linguistic technique is a language device used to have a desired impact on the reader.

The lesson outlined for today, we will start by understanding persuasive features and then move on to identifying persuasive features.

So what is persuasion and where do we see it? Now, persuasion, which is a noun, is the action or process of trying to change someone's mind or behaviour.

We see and hear persuasion all around us.

So on transport, when we're in public, there are posters constantly trying to persuade us, trying to change our behaviour, whether that's to make us go and see a show or watch a TV programme.

That's a behaviour they're trying to change.

On the TV and on the internet.

Lots of advertisements, things trying to again change our minds or behaviour.

Newspapers, radio and podcasts, these are all trying to influence us, persuade us.

Now in this lesson we'll be learning how to identify the features of a persuasive letter, so not an advertisement.

It's going to be a persuasive letter.

Have you ever written or received a letter before? If so, can you remember what the purpose was for writing that letter? What impact were you hoping to achieve? Talk to the person next to you and share if you've ever written or received a letter before.

And if so, why did you send that letter? What was the purpose? Off you go.

And welcome back.

Okay, so what is the purpose of a persuasive letter? Now remember, purpose is a noun.

It's the reason for something and the desired impact.

So why we do something, what is the purpose? And we have a purpose for everything.

For getting outta bed in the morning.

That's the purpose.

The purpose is to be able to start our day.

For brushing our teeth.

The purpose is to clean our teeth.

For eating and drinking.

Purpose is to be able to give ourselves energy, keep healthy.

The purpose of a persuasive letter is to change someone's mind or behaviour or convince them about something.

Now you might write a persuasive letter for the following reasons.

To explain.

So persuading someone to agree with you, you might want to explain something.

To sell.

These are letters that I often receive in my post persuading someone to buy something, so I'll receive letters persuading me to try and buy things.

To ask, persuading someone to do the thing you're asking.

So you might persuade someone to be able to do something.

You might write to them asking them to join a particular club or to go on a particular holiday.

To apologise.

And this may have been something that you've had to do before, persuading someone to accept your apology.

So perhaps you've done something wrong or something that you regret and you are writing to apologise for that action.

To make a change.

Persuading someone to do something differently.

So persuasive letters are mostly written in a formal way.

There are several features that can help us to recognise that we are reading a formal letter.

The layout has specific features.

For example, the senders address is written in the top right corner.

So if you open a letter and you can see that the sender's address, the sender is the person who sent the letter, the person who wrote the letter, the sender's address is written in the top right corner.

This should tell you, ah yes, this looks like a formal letter.

The date is written below the sender's address.

The recipient's address is written below the date and on the left side.

Let's check your understanding of those things.

Match each layout feature to the number on the letter template to show where they should be positioned.

So your job is to tell me A, sender's address.

Would that be in position one, position two, or position three? So we've got A sender's address, B recipient's address.

That's the person receiving the letter, the person who the letter is written to, and date.

One, two, three repositions on that letter.

Where should they go? Pause the video and have a go at this task now.

Welcome back.

Let's see if you managed to find the correct place for each of these layout features.

So A, sender's address well done if you said number one.

Number one is the sender's address.

B, the recipient's address is number three and that means C is number two.

So the sender's address goes on the top right side, it is at the top and it is aligned to the right.

The recipient's address is aligned to the left and the date goes below the sender's address.

Well done if you positioned those correctly.

A formal letter needs a greeting The recipient's full name including the title, so that's Mr. or Mrs or Ms., with the word dear in front.

So that's the greeting.

If you don't know the recipient's name, you can put Dear sir or madam.

If you don't know if it's a sir or madam, you can put dear sir slash madam.

Now remember to use a comma after the recipient's name, for example, dear Mr. Brown, and there's a comma at the end of my name.

Now a complimentary close is, for example, your sincerely if you know the person's name or yours faithfully, if you don't, and the name of the person who wrote the letter ends the letter.

Persuasive letters contain a variety of linguistic techniques to persuade the reader.

A linguistic technique is a language device used to have a desired impact on the reader, and these include a topic sentence, fronted adverbials, rhetorical questions, relative clauses, conditional clauses, presumption, flattery, evidence or proof, and veiled threats.

How do each of these linguistic techniques help to persuade the reader? Let's go through them one at a time and look at how they work to persuade the reader.

So a topic sentence, well this provides clarity by telling the reader what the letter is about.

So important.

This will come at the top of your letter and it will tell the reader what this letter is about.

Fronted adverbials, well they help text flow by providing sequencing and order to the points and paragraphs.

For example, fronted adverbials can be formal, formal fronted adverbials, like furthermore and however, and they can be divided into two groups, the and and the but section and we'll look at and hand and but hand and how we do those in future lessons.

You can also have fronted adverbials of cause, for example, consequently and therefore.

Rhetorical questions, well they engage the reader and provoke thought.

For example, how do you think parents will afford this? We're not expecting the person who's reading the letter to respond out loud obviously, but in their head they might start thinking about the answer to that question, which will engage them and provoke thoughts.

Relative clauses, well they provide further information and detail.

Conditional clauses, they present a hypothetical situation to either avoid or strive for.

For example, if we do not make this change, many people will suffer.

Ah, presumption.

Now presumption, it presumes that something is true or will happen.

For example, I'm sure you'll agree that this is the best option.

I'm presuming that the person reading the letter will agree.

Flattery.

Now flattery appeals to the reader by complimenting them.

So saying something nice, for example, I am sure that someone as intelligent as you will realise why this is so crucial.

I'm saying how intelligent they are.

I'm complimenting them.

I'm using flattery.

Evidence and proof.

Well that provides something factual and true that supports an argument.

Veiled threats.

Well, they provide a threat that isn't directly stated, but is implied, supporting persuasion.

For example, I hope that I will not have to take this matter into my own hands.

So I'm saying I hope I don't have to do this perhaps negative thing that might happen if you don't respond in the way that I want you to.

Okay, let's check our understanding, which of these is not a linguistic feature of a persuasive letter? Is it A, a topic sentence, B, figurative language, or C flattery? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Let's see if you found the right answer.

So which of these is not a linguistic feature? Well, let's flip it and talk about which ones are linguistic features.

So we know A, a topic sentence is a linguistic feature of a persuasive letter.

It tells the reader what the letter is all about.

We know C, flattery is a linguistic feature of a persuasive letter.

It compliments the reader to be able to persuade them to do something which means that B, figurative language is not a linguistic feature.

Figurative language, such as metaphors, similes, personification.

They are absolutely essential linguistic features but not of persuasive letters.

Well done if you said B.

Time for a task.

Match the linguistic feature to the example.

So we have flattery, presumption, veiled threat, and evidence and proof and you've got four examples.

So which one is flattery? Which example is an example of presumption? Let's read the examples.

First one we have is, I'm sure you'll agree that this is the only way.

Is that flattery, is that presumption? Is this a veiled threat or evidence and proof? The next one, I know that someone as clever and wise as you will make the right decision.

Then we have, in my previous job this was a problem for 90% of the workforce.

And finally, I hope I will not have to take this matter further.

Okay, match the linguistic feature to the example.

Pause the video and have a go at this task now.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's see if you match these correctly.

Flattery, let's see which one was flattery.

Well done if you said flattery.

I know that someone as clever and wise as you will make the right decision.

Saying that someone is clever and wise, well they are compliments.

We are using flattery to try and persuade the reader.

Presumption.

I'm sure you'll agree that this is the only way.

A veiled threat.

I hope I will not have to take this matter further.

So you are threatening that you may have to take this matter further.

And finally, evidence and proof.

In my previous job this was a problem for 90% of the workforce.

Well done if you've matched those correctly.

Let's move on to identifying persuasive features.

Let's look at an example of a persuasive letter so we can identify the different persuasive features.

This example is a persuasive letter written to the prime minister trying to persuade them to make school uniform compulsory for all schools in the United Kingdom.

Now here is the start of my letter and you can see, what did we say? The top right side was going to be the sender's address.

Now I'm writing this letter and I work for the Oak National Academy.

So that is my address.

Oak National Academy 1 Scott Place, 2 Hardman Street, Manchester and then there's a postcode M3 3AA.

And you can see that each line of that address is aligned to the right, which means it's pushed over to the right side.

They all end aligned to that right side of the page.

Then I have the date and that is not my birthday, it's not my favourite day of the year.

It's not the day that we start school, it's the day that the letter was written.

So the day you write the letter is the date that you'll use on that right side below the sender's address.

Then we have the recipient's address and of course the prime minister, the leader of the United Kingdom lives at 10 Downing Street in London.

And then we write Dear Prime Minister, and you can see I've got capital letters for Prime Minister because it's a proper noun, there's a comma after the person's name.

I know their title, I don't need to use their name.

I can just say, Dear Prime Minister.

My name is Mr. Brown and I am a teacher at Oak National Academy.

I have noticed that there are many schools across the country that do not require their pupils to wear a uniform.

Consequently, I am writing to ask you to make school uniform compulsory, as I believe this will have a hugely positive impact on children throughout the United Kingdom.

Onto my next paragraph.

Firstly, I believe having a uniform for all schools would be a good idea because it would be much cheaper for parents and carers as they wouldn't have to buy lots of different clothes.

I'm sure that someone as intelligent as you can understand, that buying one or two sets of uniform is vastly cheaper than having to buy a child lots of different clothes.

Furthermore, uniform could also be passed down to younger siblings to wear.

The money that families save on this, now this is the same paragraph, I've just split it across two pages so we can see.

The money that families save on this could be spent on books to help their child improve their reading or it could be spent on buying healthier fresh food.

I'm sure you'll agree that this makes sense.

At schools that do not have a uniform, some children wear the latest football kits.

Shockingly these kits can cost up to 100 pounds, with the shirt alone costing 60 pounds! How can parents and carers afford this? Having a child is expensive and there are far better things for a child's guardian to spend their money on.

Okay, that's the end of that paragraph.

My next point is that having a uniform or stop competition between pupils, because they will all be wearing the same thing.

Having the latest fashionable clothing can be very important to children.

Therefore, choosing an outfit for schools every day can be a stressful experience for pupils who are not required to wear a uniform.

If a child is not wearing uniform, it could also lead to them being teased for their clothing.

Now this is the same paragraph continued.

On non-uniform days at school I have worked at some children choose to come in wearing their uniform, as they are anxious about not having fashionable clothes to wear.

However, you do have the power to change this situation.

Not having to worry about what to wear to school each day would be a substantial weight lifted and would improve the mental health of thousands of children in our country.

And now my concluding paragraph.

I thank you in advance and I sincerely hope that your swift action will mean that I do not have to take this matter any further.

I strongly urge you to make the right decision and immediately make school uniform compulsory.

There are thousands of children across the country who are depending on you.

Yours sincerely, Mr. Brown, and that is my persuasive letter.

The persuasive features we are identifying in our letter are a topic sentence, fronted adverbials.

So that's formal fronted adverbials and fronted adverbials of cause.

Rhetorical questions, presumption, flattery, evidence and proof, and veiled threats.

Your job now is to identify the following persuasive features in the extract from the letter below.

So I'd like you to try and find a topic sentence that's a sentence that provides clarity by telling the reader what the letter is about and a fronted adverbial of cause.

So that helps text flow by providing sequencing and order to the points and information.

Now this is my introduction paragraph.

It's only a few sentences long so you haven't got too much to read through to be able to find these persuasive features.

Pause the video and find a topic sentence and a fronted adverbial of cause in the introduction paragraph that you see on the screen now.

Welcome everyone.

Let's see how you got on.

So we were looking for a topic sentence, that's a sentence which will provide clarity by telling the reader what the letter was about.

Well, well done if you said it was that sentence, the sentence that started, consequently, I am writing to ask you to make school uniform compulsory as I believe this will have a hugely positive impact on the children throughout the United Kingdom.

So I'm telling the person reading the letter, the recipient, exactly why I'm writing to them, and that is my topic sentence.

We then wanted to find a fronted adverbial of cause, well done if you said consequently.

Consequently is the fronted adverbial of cause.

Consequently, I am writing to ask you.

So it builds on the sentence before.

I have noticed there are many schools across the country that do not require their pupils to wear a uniform and because of that sentence, consequently, I'm writing to ask you to make school uniform compulsory and that's how a consequently works.

Time for a practise task.

Reread the persuasive letter in the additional materials.

Find an example and underline each of the persuasive features.

So fronted adverbials, we're looking for those, conditional clauses, rhetorical question, presumption, flattery, evidence and proof and a veiled threat.

Your job is to find these persuasive features and underline them in the letter.

Pause the video and have a go at this task now.

And welcome back.

Let's see how you got on.

So the first thing you were looking for was a rhetorical question.

Did you find it? Well, well done if you said there.

So at the end of that paragraph we've got how can parents and carers afford this? That's a rhetorical question.

Presumption.

Well, that was, I'm sure you'll agree that this makes sense.

Well done if you found that.

Flattery.

Well, that was there when we said, I'm sure that someone as intelligent as you can understand and then you explain.

Well done for finding that example.

Now, evidence and proof or that would be at schools at do not have a uniform, some children wear the latest football kits.

Shockingly, these kits can cost up to 100 pounds, with a shirt alone costing 60 pounds.

That is evidence and proof.

I've had to research that to find those figures out, but they can't be argued with because they've been researched.

They are a great example of evidence and proof.

How about a conditional clause? Well, there it is.

If, if a child is not wearing a uniform, it can also lead to them being teased for their clothing.

That's a conditional clause.

An if sentence.

Fronted adverbial of clause, well, that's there, as you can see, we've got it.

Consequently again, yeah, consequently choosing an outfit for school every day.

That's a fronted adverbial of cause and a formal fronted adverbial.

Well that will be however, however, you do have the power to change the situation.

Well done if you found all of those different features.

The last one is veiled threat and it's in the conclusion, can you spot it anywhere? There it is.

I sincerely hope that your swift action will mean that I do not have to take this matter any further.

I'm not saying what will happen if I take this matter any further.

I'm just saying I hope I will not have to.

That's a veiled threat.

Let's summarise the learning that we've done today.

Persuasion is the action or process of trying to change someone's mind or behaviour.

Persuasive letters are mostly written in a formal way.

The features of a formal letter include specific layout and a formal greeting.

The linguistic techniques used in persuasive letters include a topic sentence, presumption, rhetorical questions, flattery and veiled threats.

Well done, brilliant work today.

I will see you again very soon.