• Cognitive dimension: Positive, achievable social and economical improvements are shown in order to convince people that government is caring about population and struggling to overcome the difficulties.
• Political: The speech seeks to maintain Blair’s government at power and persuade people to keep supporting the political party.
• Social: Citizens want to see that government is striving to improve life conditions and caring about economic and social stability. They need to know this in order to be convinced that Blair is the right person to be Prime Minister.
Function: Persuasive ( Persuade citizens of the positive impact of Blair’s future decisions. / Promotional ( Promote the political party and its measures. / Give information about the situation of the country.
Wider impact: Social awareness about the actual political situation in Britain under Blair’s government. Global & political issues: economy, education, terrorism, global poverty, climate change…
How
Grammar (linguistic features): It begins with a rethorical question, since he does not expect an answer, he is actually going to respond himself in the following paragraphs.
Repetition of the same structure (beginning of each point): it is to + verb. Parallel structure.
Repetition of the personal pronoun “we” referring to Britain as a whole nation to make citizens feel close to government and decisions. Repetition of “Britain” as a key word within the speech. It shows that government’s main concern is people, the citizens of the country.
The Essay on Political, Economic, And Social Development
During the settling of the New World, the European colonists underwent many situations that caused the desire for independence to arise. From that point forward the colonists cultivated ideas regarding their dreams and how they were going to achieve their dream. After the Revolutionary War, the colonists were ready for the better life that they hoped for, but they were sadly mistaken. Instead the ...
Use of impersonal sentences beginning with “it is to” and “it is why”.
Reference: In each point, the pronoun “it” refers to the agenda mentioned in the first sentence (the political measures and decisions).
Fifth paragraph: “It is to set the goal of eradicating child poverty and march steadily over time to achieving it as we have begun to do”. It refers back to: the goal of eradicating child poverty.
Related words: Britain, our country, our people.
Cohesion: connectives and conjunctions; so that, but, and, because, albeit…
Vocabulary: Mainly formal (profound, elite, standards, abrogation, albeit) but there are also informal elements, such as phrasal verbs (carry through).
Sentences: Long, complex sentences prevail. Coordinate, active sentences linked by a comma or by the conjunction and.
Verbs: Intensive verbs describing the subject (is) and extensive verbs.
Sounds: Repetition of “it is”. Alliteration.
Acronym: NHS, which means National Health Service.
3 part list: “whatever their class, colour or creed.
Paralinguistic elements:
Genre: Exposition of Blair’s political agenda; the measures and solutions taken by British government and argumentation of what needs to be done.
Text structure: Information – persuasion.
No significant intertextual relationships within the speech. Reference to the National Health System.
