English Language Linguistic and Literature : Written text - Essay Example

This article has been written for the guardian newspaper; one of UK’s leading newspaper. The article is about a prince who wanted to marry but it wasnot easy to find a real princess until one came knocking at the palace door. The princess had a sleepless night‘I have scarcely closed my eyes the whole night through, I had something hard under me and am all over black and blue, it has hurt me so much’. This was the response of the real princess when she was asked how she had slept the previous night.

The queen mother had put three peas on her bed and on top of them put twenty mattresses and an additional twenty feather beds to test her and prove if she was a real princess or not. Only a real princess would be delicate enough to feel the three peas under such a pile (Andersen, 1995). The prince wanted to marry but he only wanted a real princess. When he failed to find a real princess after searching all over the kingdom, he went back to the palace disappointed and sad. His hopes of finding a real princess were revived when the princess knocked at the palace door one evening after heavy downpour and claimed that she was the real princess.

Convinced that he had found the real princess, the prince married the princess and the three peas were put in a museum where they would be viewed. Identify and critically comment on 3 of the changes you made to the original textIn any newspaper article, it is important to capture the attention of the reader because there are many articles to be read in a short time. To this end the first change to the story was made by making the first paragraph known as the lead interesting in order to grab the attention of the reader.

Another important aspect in the story is the use of discourse. Discourse analysis according to Stubbs (1983), allows the analysis of sentences and how they fit together in the formation of a discourse. Discourse can also be used to create power relations and as a form of social practice. In the story, the queen mother has the power to test whether the princess is real or not. The prince also has the power to choose the princess who becomes his wife. Foucault (2005) describes discourse as systems of thought made up of ideas, attitudes and courses of action.

Discourse has enabled the writing of the article in prose and the use of longer sentences. According to Bucholtz (2010) it is an institutionalized way of thinking. Descriptive discourse in the story will enable the reader develop an imagination of what is being discussed. Narration discourse has also been used as a means of communicating the story to the audience. In newspaper article this helps in giving the reader an ideological stance and in the establishment of shared values. The use of lexical repetitions, metaphors and right grammatical organization makes a good read.

The article has also made use of simple vocabulary to make it understandable to the readers. Another change is the use of a catchy headline to get the attention of the reader and provide a preview of the article content.ReferencesAndersen, H.C., (1995). The Princess and the Pea. Denmark: Demco Media.Bucholz, M., (2005). Identity and interaction: a sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse studies, 7(4-5), pp. 585-614.Foucault, M., (2005). The order of things. UK: Taylor and Francis Group.Stubbs, M., (1983). Discourse Analysis: The sociolinguistic analysis of natural language.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press.