Improving your opinion article
I can use new knowledge to improve my own writing.
Improving your opinion article
I can use new knowledge to improve my own writing.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Rhetorical questions need to be ‘targeted’ - personalised to the situation or moment, and used with an aim in mind.
- Using emotive language in rhetorical questions can be a very effective way of making them more targeted and purposeful.
- Direct address can be used to motivate and empower the reader to make changes or speak up.
- Repeating ‘you’ too many times can be quite accusatory, which can actually make your reader resistant to your message.
- Try being more subtle with direct address- speak to an imagined reader by name or address readers collectively.
Common misconception
Students think that using lots of the pronoun 'you' is an effective use of direct address. They tend to do this a lot in rhetorical questions.
Using 'you' too many times can create an accusatory tone that can actually make the reader defensive. Sometimes, it can be better to approach direct address more subtly, by speaking to an imagined reader or addressing the readers collectively.
Keywords
Subtle - not too obvious or noticeable.
Accusatory - indicating that a person has done something wrong.
Personalised - designed to meet individual or specific requirements.
Empower - to encourage and support a person’s ability to do something.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).
Video
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