Lesson video

Hello everyone, it's lovely to see you here today.

My name's Dr.

Clayton, and I'm going to guide you through your learning journey today.

Today's lesson is called: Using modality in persuasive letter writing.

We're going to be looking at how we can use modal verbs with differing levels of modality to influence the tone of your writing and how persuasive it is.

So if you're ready, grab your pen or laptop, whatever you need to do with this lesson, and let's get started.

So by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to explain the purpose of modality and use it for effect in your own persuasive writing.

So we have four words today we're gonna focus on as our keywords.

They've been identified in bold throughout the learning material, and I tried to point them out to yourself so you can see them being used in context.

So our first keyword is modal verb, which are verbs that indicate likelihood, ability, permission, or obligation.

We're going to be looking at different modal verbs and how they suggest different levels of likelihood or obligation, and how that might influence how a reader responds to your writing.

Our second keyword is persuade, which means to convince someone to do something through reasoning or argument.

We're going to be thinking about how using modal verbs and the different levels of modality affect how convincing your argument is.

Our third keyword is compelled, which means having to do something because you're forced to or feel it's necessary.

Using modal verbs can be effective in making someone feel as if something is necessary.

For example, if you say that something must be done, it feels as if it's necessary.

And finally, our fourth keyword is obligation, which means an act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound, a duty or commitment.

Using modal verbs can create a sense of obligation and make the reader feel morally bound to carry out the proposal which you have suggested.

So I'll just give you a moment to write down those keywords and the definitions.

So pause the video, write them down now.

Fantastic, let's get started with the lesson.

So we have two learning cycles in our lesson today.

For our first learning cycle, we're gonna talk through some examples of different types of modal verbs, ones with low, medium, and high modality 'cause of what effect they have on the reader.

For our second learning cycle, we're going to think about how we can use modal verbs in our own letter writing in order to persuade the reader they should believe our argument and the proposal we've put forward.

So let's begin by defining modal verbs just to make sure we're clear on what they are before we start looking at different types of modal verbs.

So modal verbs are verbs that indicate likelihood, ability, permission, or obligation.

So for example, you might have words that just can or could, may or might, have to, will or would, ought to, must, should, need to, or shall.

Now, you might already notice from these examples that some modal verbs indicate a higher sense of likelihood than others.

Saying something might happen is different from saying something will happen, for example.

We're gonna spend some time in the next few minutes thinking about the effect of these different modal verbs on your writing.

So as I said, there are different degrees of modal verbs.

We might sort modal verbs into categories of modality.

Now, modality can serve with degrees of possibility or certainty, and these categories might be words with low modality, so words with a low degree of certainty, words with medium modality, so words with a medium degree of certainty, or words with high modality, so words with a high degree of certainty.

Now, we're gonna look at some examples from each of these categories to see how using them might create different effects for the reader.

So let's begin by looking at words with low modality, so words with a low degree of certainty.

Now, examples of words with low modality might be, may, possibly, perhaps, or partly.

So for example, offering free school meals may make a difference.

Now, what I'd like you to do is think about what do words with low modality indicate, so what effect might they have on your writing? Now, if we're in through someone else, you might talk about ideas with them.

If we're in this space, you might just think about ideas.

So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Some great ideas there.

Let's talk through some ideas of what you might have said.

Now, if we say something may make a difference or it may happen, it indicates uncertainty.

It's just only a possibility of something happening rather than a certainty of it happening.

Now, because of this uncertainty, it creates a low obligation to act on something.

Now, obligation's one of our key words.

It means an act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound, a duty or commitment.

So by using words with low modality, it creates a low sense of moral duty for someone to act on something.

Now, the combination of uncertainty and the low obligation makes your writing seem doubtful.

It doesn't make it seem convincing.

So now for a quick check for understanding.

Which of the following is a potential effect of using words with low modality in your writing? Is it A, conveys a sense of confidence, B, indicates a sense of uncertainty, C, makes your writing seem doubtful, or D, makes your writing seem confident? So pause the video, make your selection now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, as we said, words with low modality, such as may or might, indicate a low sense of certainty.

So the correct answers are B, they indicate a sense of uncertainty, and C, they make your writing seem doubtful.

So very well done if you got those right.

Now let's consider words with medium modality.

So words with a medium degree of certainty.

Now examples of words with medium modality might be, should, presumably, regularly or often.

So for example, offering free school meals should make a difference.

Now, what I'd like you to think about is what do words with medium modality indicate? What effect might they have on your writing? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone, some amazing folks there.

Let's talk through what you might have said.

Now, you might have thought that words with medium modality indicate a highest level of certainty and obligation to act on something.

Saying that something should make a difference or that someone should do something creates a higher sense of certainty and moral duty to act on something, because it conveys a chance that they will happen.

So we've looked at words with low or medium modality.

Now we're gonna look at words with high modality.

Now these are words that have a high degree of certainty.

So examples of words with high modality might be, must, decidedly, will, undeniably.

So for example, offering free school meals will make a difference.

So as with the words with low and medium modality, I'd like to think about what words with high modality indicate.

What effect might they have on your writing? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Let's talk through what you might have said.

Now, words such as must or will indicate certainty.

It's something that is certain to happen or make a difference, and therefore that creates a high sense of obligation or moral duty to act on something.

In your writing, it conveys a sense of confidence and intensity.

So now for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is sort the following words into categories of low, medium, and high modality.

So the words are necessary, apparently, have to, somewhat, slightly, and hopefully.

So which of the words suggests a low degree of certainty? Which was just a medium degree of certainty? And which was just a high degree of certainty? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Let's talk through the answers.

Now, the words somewhat and slightly have low modality.

They suggest there's a possibility of something happening, but it's not certain.

The words apparently and hopefully have medium modality.

They convey a higher sense of certainty, but it's not definitive.

Finally, necessary and have to have high degree of modality.

This just something is certain and definitive.

So very well done if you got this right.

So now that we define modal verbs, consider the different levels of modality.

Let's think about the use of persuasive writing.

So what I'd like you to do is sort of following sentences.

So sentence one, offering free school meals may make a difference.

Now this sentence is low modality.

Offering free school meals should make a difference.

A sentence with medium modality.

Or offering free school meals will make a difference.

A sentence with high modality.

What I'd like you to do is consider which of the modal verbs, someone's with low, medium, or high modality, do you think would be the most effective in persuasive writing and why? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Some great ideas there.

Now, I'd like to share with you what one of our old people, Sophia, said.

So Sophia said, "I think modal verbs with a high modality "would be the most persuasive "because there's just confidence in the argument "and they convey obligation onto the reader." So words with high modality are the most convincing to people.

They're the most effective in creating a sense of moral duty in the reader, to make them want to take action in favour of your argument.

So, now for another quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is tell me whether the following statement is true or false.

So is it true or false? The most effective modal verbs in persuasive writing are verbs with low modality.

Pause the video, make your selection now.

Now the correct answer is false.

Now I'd like to tell me why it's false.

So why are low modal verbs not the most effective in persuasive writing? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

You might have said, "Words with low modality "imply a sense of uncertainty and low obligation.

"Words with high modality offer more persuasive "because they convey confidence "and a sense of obligation onto the reader." So very well done if you got that right.

Amazing work so far, everyone, for the first task of the lesson.

So what I'd like you to do is read the snippet from Sophia's letter to her teacher about homework.

So Sophia said, "Assigning homework to students "may lead to unnecessary stress "and might cause them to feel anxious.

"Presumably, having to do work at home "reduces the amount of time that students have "to engage in extracurricular activities "or simply to relax." Maybe you can consider capping homework to one piece per fortnight.

Hopefully you can see how it would be beneficial.

Then I'd like to answer the following questions.

So number one, where are Sophia's modal verbs in her argument? Number two, what degree of modality are the modal verbs? And number three, what effect do the modal verbs have on Sophia's argument? So pause the video, take a few minutes to read through the snippet from Sophia's writing and then answer the questions.

Welcome back everyone, some amazing work there.

Now, let's deconstruct the modal verb in Sophia's snippet.

Now just a reminder that Sophia wrote, "Assigning homework to students "may lead to unnecessary stress "and might cause them to feel anxious.

"Presumably, having to do work at home "reduces the amount of time that students have "to engage in extracurricular activities "or simply to relax." Maybe you could consider capping homework to one piece per fortnight.

Hopefully you can see how it would be beneficial.

Now, the words may, might, maybe and could are words with low modality as they convey a low sense of certainty and obligation.

Then, we have the words presumably and hopefully which are words with medium modality since they convey a medium chance that something will happen or make a difference.

So now let's talk through the effect of Sophia's use of modal verbs.

So what I'd like you to do is consider Izzy's ideas and think about how well they align with your ideas.

So the question was, what effect do the modal verbs have on Sophia's argument? And Izzy said, "By using modal verbs "with low and medium modality, "Sophia seems unsure and uncertain about her argument, "which makes it less persuasive.

"Furthermore, by using the modal verbs maybe and hopefully, "Sophia isn't conveying a strong sense of obligation "onto their teacher to take action.

"Therefore, they're unlikely to feel persuaded "by her argument or compelled to take action.

"So it's not like to convince their teacher "and they aren't like to feel "as if they should do something about it." So, pause the video, consider how well Izzy's ideas align with your ideas.

Welcome back, everyone.

So now we're gonna take what we've learned about modal verbs and how they might be used in persuasive writing and put them into practise in your own writing.

Amazing work so far, everyone.

For the second learning cycle, we're going to consider how we can use modal verbs to improve the persuasiveness of Sophia's writing.

Then you're gonna have a go at writing your own persuasive letter using modality.

So, we're gonna start off by practising how we can use words with medium and high modality in persuasive writing.

So just a reminder, words with medium modality, so for example, should, indicate a medium level of obligation and certainty.

They create a medium sense of a moral duty for the reader to act on, and they suggest it's likely, but not certain that something will happen or make a difference.

Then we have words with high modality, so for example, must, and they indicate a high level of obligation and certainty.

So they create a strong sense of moral duty for the reader, and they show something's definitive and it certainly will happen or make a difference.

So, before you have a go at writing your own persuasive letter using modal verbs, we're going to practise using them by thinking about how we can revise Sophia's answer to make it more persuasive, so make it more likely to convince someone to agree with her.

Now, just a reminder that Sophia's answer currently says, "Assigning homework to students "may lead to unnecessary stress "and might cause them to feel anxious.

"Presumably, having to do work at home "reduces the amount of time that students have "to engage in extracurricular activities "or simply to relax.

"Maybe you could consider capping homework "to one piece per fortnight.

"Hopefully you can see how it'd be beneficial." So at the moment, Sophia's using low and medium modality words.

Now, in order to revise Sophia's answer, you might consider removing the verbs with low modality, replacing the verbs with medium or high modality, so pause the video, consider how we might revise Sophia's answer.

Welcome back, everyone, some great work there.

Now, there are many ways you could have revised Sophia's answer.

I'm gonna talk through just one of the ways you might have changed it.

So you might have changed it to, "Assigning homework to students "undeniably leads to unnecessary stress "and causes them to feel anxious.

"Unquestionably, having to do work at home "reduces the amount of time that students have "to engage in extracurricular activities "or simply to relax.

"You should consider capping homework "to one piece per fortnight.

"You must see how it'd be beneficial." So here, we've changed "may" to "undeniably," which has changed from word with low modality to word with high modality and therefore makes it more definitive to the reader.

We've taken out the word "might" to assert that it does make them feel anxious.

We've changed "presumably" to "undeniably," which is again switching to word with high modality.

We've changed "maybe you could" to "should," which is switching from word with low modality to word with medium modality.

Finally, we've changed "hopefully" to "must," so we're ending on a word with high modality.

So here, now the majority of the words we're using are those with high modality and that conveys confidence to Sophia's argument creates a strong sense of moral duty for the reader to do that they need to do something to change the situation.

Now, while the majority of words in our revised version were words with high modality, we did also choose words with medium modality when we said, "You should consider capping homework to one piece per fortnight." Now, we could have chosen a word with high modality instead, so we could have said, "You have to consider capping homework to one piece per fortnight." So what I'd like you to think about is why do you think a word with medium modality might be more effective here? Imagine we'd only use words with high modality, so words with must or need.

How might that affect the tone? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone, some great ideas there.

Let's talk through what you might have said.

Now, while words with high modality are more persuasive, if you only use those type of words, the tone can come across quite aggressive.

Imagine someone is always telling you you must do something.

It can cause you to become quite defensive and therefore resist what the person's telling you to do.

If you add in a couple of words with medium modality, the tone becomes less aggressive.

You're also leaving space for the reader to make the right decision.

You're appealing to them as a human being rather than telling them they have to do something, and that can often be very persuasive.

So, let's think about how you might decide whether a medium or high modality word is more appropriate.

Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Let's talk through what you might have said.

Now, you might have thought you could read back over your work considering what reaction you would have to it and think about whether you'd feel obliged to help or whether you'd feel defensive.

Do you think it'd be beneficial to soften the tone through the addition of a word with medium modality? It's always a judgement call, but just imagine you're being told the words.

Would you feel as if someone's trying to force you to do something or would you feel compelled to help? So, now for a quick check for understanding.

Which of the following sentences contains modal verbs that are the most persuasive? Is it A, allow pupils to begin the school day later will perhaps increase pupil well-being.

B, allow pupils to begin the school day later will decidedly increase pupil well-being.

Or C, allow pupils to begin the school day later will presumably increase pupil well-being.

So, pause the video, make your selection now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, allowing pupils to begin the school day later will decidedly increase pupil well-being.

It's using words with high modality.

And as we said, those words are the most persuasive.

So, very well done if you got that right.

So, for our final task, we're going to write a persuasive letter where you're gonna write a letter to your headteacher to persuade them to commit to better quality uniforms. So, we're just gonna spend a few minutes thinking about how you might approach the task.

So, what I'd like you to think about is how might better quality uniforms benefit pupils? What obligations do you think the headteacher should have to their pupils? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Let's talk through what you might have said.

So, in terms of the benefit to pupils, a better quality uniform will be more comfortable for pupils to wear.

Better quality fabrics feel better against the skin and they're better allowing the skin to cope with hot or cold temperatures.

Better quality uniforms are also more likely to last longer, which is better value for money.

We have all the clothes that start to wear down and become thinner and thinner very quickly and it's such a waste of money.

If they last longer, there's also more potential for parents to use them as hand-me-downs for younger siblings, for younger children in general, which is good for the environment and good for people financially.

In terms of the obligations of their master, you might have said, they were due to make pupils feel comfortable and part of that is making sure they feel comfortable in what they're wearing.

They also were due to implement change that would benefit pupils quickly.

So, now for a quick check for understanding.

Which sentence containing modal verbs is the most effective in conveying a sense of obligation? Is it A, you should consider implementing better quality uniforms as soon as possible? Or B, perhaps you might consider implementing better quality uniforms when it's convenient and cost-effective to do so? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, sentence A contains a word of medium modality with should and sentence B contains a word of low modality with perhaps a might.

So therefore, sentence A is more persuasive as words of medium modality convey a greater sense of obligation.

So very well done if you got that right.

Fantastic work, everyone.

We're at the final task of the lesson where I'd like you to write a formal letter to your teacher to persuade them to commit to better quality uniforms. So remember to, use modal verbs of medium and high modality as appropriate to use the form of a formal letter.

So just a reminder, then the formal letter form, the sentence address goes in the top right-hand corner with the date underneath.

The recipient's address goes on the left-hand side with a salutation or greeting underneath.

Then the sign-off goes at the end of the letter.

Now, to help you with the task, here's some potential sentence starters.

So you might say, unquestionably, the introduction of better quality uniforms will.

You should always place the well-being of your pupils.

Pupils' comfort is integral.

And here are some words with high modality.

You might say, decidedly, required, evident, extremely, convinced.

And there's words with medium modality.

So you have should, can, need, frequently, often.

As we said, words with high modality are more persuasive.

However, it's often beneficial to add in a word or two of medium modality to make sure the tone doesn't become too aggressive.

So, pause the video, write your persuasive letter now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Some fantastic work there.

Now, what I'd like you to do is share your work with a peer.

I'd like you to peer assess by asking the following questions.

So, have they used modal verbs? Have they used words with high modality to add a sense of certainty and obligation to their writing? Have they used words with medium modality? Do you think they're appropriate? Do you feel persuaded by the argument? And have they used the correct letter form? So, pause the video, take a few moments to peer assess each other's work.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, I know it can be intimidating sometimes to share your work with someone else, but it's such an important part of the writing process, especially with persuasive writing.

So, writing to have an effect on someone else.

So, you want to make sure the way you're crafting your writing is having the effect you want it to.

So, sharing your work with someone else and getting feedback is a great habit to get into.

You all did amazingly well today, everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered.

Modal verbs are verbs that indicate likelihood, ability, permission, or obligation.

We might sort modal verbs into categories of low, medium, and high modality.

Words with low modality may convey a sense of uncertainty to your writing.

Words with high modality can be the most persuasive since they convey confidence and obligation.

We might also use words with medium modality in persuasive writing to make the tone less aggressive.

I really hope you enjoyed the lesson, everyone.

Hopefully, you can take those ideas into any persuasive writing you do in the future.

I hope to see you for another lesson soon.

Goodbye.