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Author Topic: VCE English Language Question Thread  (Read 151532 times)  Share 

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EulerFan102

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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #135 on: March 19, 2018, 09:56:17 pm »
+4
Hey guys, just a quick question. What's the difference between the social purpose and the function of a text? Can they be overlapping or if not the same? What would some examples be if they are different?

Hey there, great questions!
So the function is what the author/speaker is directly trying to do with the text. They are creating the text and are doing so to fulfil this particular task. For instance, the function of the ABC News is to inform about the day's events, while the function of a stand-up comedian's routine is to entertain the audience. There are many other possible functions, such as persuading, honouring, commemorating, celebrating, instructing, gossiping and promising, to name a few.
On the other hand, social purpose is what the author/speaker is trying to do socially. Often (but not always) this is to do with decreasing or increasing social distance. For example, the stand-up comedian's routine is probably very informal, and so the social purposes may be to build rapport, encourage intimacy and support in-group membership. On the other hand, the ABC News broadcast is very formal, with possible social purposes of establishing expertise, reinforcing social distance and establishing credibility. VCAA kindly lists some of the common social purposes in the Study Design (link here, p.20-1), so definitely check that out.
I'd say that for the vast majority of texts you'll see, the function and social purpose will be different. I reckon it's pretty rare that they're exactly the same (and see the examples above for some examples of the function and social purpose being different).
Hope this helps  ;D

MissSmiley

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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #136 on: March 25, 2018, 11:10:16 am »
+1
Hi everyone! :)
Could I just ask,

1. When you are given an informal spoken text, do you analyse the discourse features as well? In this case do you have to talk about the cohesion and coherence strategies as well? Or can you just talk about one of them since you're going to talk about discourse features as well?

2. When you have multiple text types to analyse for an AC, (cartoons with text and then small comments relating to that issue), how do you structure your AC? Do you look at the collective social purposes of these texts? or any other way? I have no idea about this... do you have to talk about all the components in your intro?

3. How many words for an AC are realistically feasible in 60-65 mins? I do write pretty fast, but just if on the SAC day there's an utterly difficult text/s to write on, then I'd have to take into consideration the extra thinking time as well. But overall? any idea?
Also, how much would you be aiming to write for an AC in the exam? (AC in 40-45 mins?)

4. When writing about the context, can you say cohesion and coherence are used to ensure the text suits its situational and cultural context?
It's just that I write too much so I wanted to combine some things so I won't have to write two separate paras for coherence and cohesion and then context. That's just getting too many words right now so thought to combine. Can I do this?

Thanks guys! :)

Would love to read a response!!

« Last Edit: April 02, 2018, 10:23:17 am by MissSmiley »

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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #137 on: April 02, 2018, 10:41:22 am »
+1
Hi everyone! :)
Could I just ask,

1. When you are given an informal spoken text, do you analyse the discourse features as well? In this case do you have to talk about the cohesion and coherence strategies as well? Or can you just talk about one of them since you're going to talk about discourse features as well?

2. When you have multiple text types to analyse for an AC, (cartoons with text and then small comments relating to that issue), how do you structure your AC? Do you look at the collective social purposes of these texts? or any other way? I have no idea about this... do you have to talk about all the components in your intro?

3. How many words for an AC are realistically feasible in 60-65 mins? I do write pretty fast, but just if on the SAC day there's an utterly difficult text/s to write on, then I'd have to take into consideration the extra thinking time as well. But overall? any idea?
Also, how much would you be aiming to write for an AC in the exam? (AC in 40-45 mins?)

4. When writing about the context, can you say cohesion and coherence are used to ensure the text suits its situational and cultural context?
It's just that I write too much so I wanted to combine some things so I won't have to write two separate paras for coherence and cohesion and then context. That's just getting too many words right now so thought to combine. Can I do this?

Thanks guys! :)

Would love to read a response!!



1. In an informal spoken text, you would normally be focusing on turn-taking and topic management (holding the floor etc.). Coherence and cohesion strategies are generally not intentionally employed in these scenarios unless it is slightly formal, therefore you do not need to talk about it.  However, if your intuition tells you to talk about it, then I guess why not?

2. Generally the functions/social purposes of different text types within a single AC differ. I usually have a paragraph on social purpose and another paragraph on formality. In the social purpose paragraph, I would probably talk about one text type towards the start and link it to the main purposes of the first text type, then move on to the other text type, and link my analysis to whatever purposes that second text type has. Similar things I might to for my formality paragraph. Of course, this could depend on what text types you have been presented with.]

3. Aim for at least 600 words in 40-45 mins in the exam but you might fit more. Under the exam adrenaline and stress, you might write faster than usual. In the SACs, honestly 60-65 mins to write 600 words is alright as long as your quality is up there. You can write more words but just make sure the quality of your analysis does not suffer because of it.

4. I combine cohesion and coherence in my ACs. I don't have a paragraph on situational and cultural context as, like you said, you can talk about it in your existing paragraphs such as cohesion and coherence.  What you said is fine ;)
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MissSmiley

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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #138 on: April 02, 2018, 05:17:03 pm »
0
Hi all!

Just a question,
What's the difference between the deictic expression "there" and the adverbial "there"
Would you call "there" a deictic expression if it was only relevant to the context and if you wouldn't be able to understand it without knowing the context?
And then you'd call "there" an adverbial if it just sounds right? in plain english? without any need to understand context?

I'm thinking of an example (just if my difference sounds confusion),

"I saw her there."
Would you say the "there" is a deictic expression or an adverbial?

I think you'd need to know the context, as in where's the place that I'm talking about, etc, but then "there" is an adverbial of place as well...

How do you tell the difference?

Any examples would be awesome!! :)

Thanks a lot guys!

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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #139 on: April 03, 2018, 09:39:26 pm »
+1
Hi all!

Just a question,
What's the difference between the deictic expression "there" and the adverbial "there"
Would you call "there" a deictic expression if it was only relevant to the context and if you wouldn't be able to understand it without knowing the context?
And then you'd call "there" an adverbial if it just sounds right? in plain english? without any need to understand context?

I'm thinking of an example (just if my difference sounds confusion),

"I saw her there."
Would you say the "there" is a deictic expression or an adverbial?

I think you'd need to know the context, as in where's the place that I'm talking about, etc, but then "there" is an adverbial of place as well...

How do you tell the difference?

Any examples would be awesome!! :)

Thanks a lot guys!

A lot of words can have 2 terms to describe it and you can use either one... it just affects which paragraph it is in.
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MissSmiley

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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #140 on: April 03, 2018, 11:01:56 pm »
0
Thanks a lot exit!
I just had another question:

If the writer of an informal text writes "WTF???!!!"
should I call this an abbreviation for the swear word?
Would this be non-standard capitalisation as well?


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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #141 on: April 04, 2018, 04:16:56 pm »
+2
Thanks a lot exit!
I just had another question:

If the writer of an informal text writes "WTF???!!!"
should I call this an abbreviation for the swear word?
Would this be non-standard capitalisation as well?



it's an abbreviation for the entire phrase, not just the swear word. Writing swear words and other taboos when relevant is completely fine in the exam so I would just write out the full phrase unless this is something that you're uncomfortable with.

MissSmiley

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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #142 on: April 04, 2018, 05:13:14 pm »
0
it's an abbreviation for the entire phrase, not just the swear word. Writing swear words and other taboos when relevant is completely fine in the exam so I would just write out the full phrase unless this is something that you're uncomfortable with.
Thanks miniturtle!
So this is an informal feature, but could I also call it non-standard capitalisation?
Or is it that because the article this was in, was on an online blog (where it's accessible to anyone)? and so the writer chose to not swear?
Or does abbreviating the swearing phrase make it formal? although it's non-standard capitalisation of the interrogative "what the f**k?"
Thanks a lot! :)


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Joseph41

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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #143 on: April 04, 2018, 05:23:27 pm »
0
Thanks miniturtle!
So this is an informal feature, but could I also call it non-standard capitalisation?
Or is it that because the article this was in, was on an online blog (where it's accessible to anyone)? and so the writer chose to not swear?
Or does abbreviating the swearing phrase make it formal? although it's non-standard capitalisation of the interrogative "what the f**k?"
Thanks a lot! :)



In what sense would it be non-standard capitalisation?

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MissSmiley

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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #144 on: April 04, 2018, 05:36:13 pm »
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In what sense would it be non-standard capitalisation?
Oh sorry I must be overthinking it then...
I just thought that it wasn't like the whole article was capitalised and so this abbreviation stands out like a sudden destruction of the norm.
Also, only the first letter of the first word has to be capitalised in Standard English in any sentence or question right?
But this is capitalising every first letter of every word in the original question "What the f***?
You don't write:
What The F***? in standard English. (unless you wanted to use this question as a heading of an opinion piece or something)
Sorry once again if I'm overthinking it!

What would you call "WTF???!!!" as?
- informal abbreviation
- non-standard capitalisation and punctuation (because there's two different punctuation symbols - question and exclamation mark- one after the other?
- a combination of these or
- something else?  ;D ;D

Thanks Joseph41! :)

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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #145 on: April 05, 2018, 10:35:30 am »
0
Hi everyone!

I don't fully understand how end focus and front focus aid cohesion. Would someone please explain this?
For example, with end focus the reader/audience will focus on the new information if it's situated at the end. But how is this cohesive / how does it allow to make links between the text?

Thank you very much! :)

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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #146 on: April 05, 2018, 10:53:32 am »
+3
Hi everyone!

I don't fully understand how end focus and front focus aid cohesion. Would someone please explain this?
For example, with end focus the reader/audience will focus on the new information if it's situated at the end. But how is this cohesive / how does it allow to make links between the text?

Thank you very much! :)


Front focus can aid cohesion by ensuring the most salient information is emphasised at the start of a sentence, making the meaning of the sentence more clear. End focus aids cohesion because generally it is easier to read a sentence that goes old information to new information rather than vice versa. Also, long phrases should be given end focus as a long phrase at the start of the sentence is confusing as the reader does not know the context of the long phrase (or maybe some other reason, dependent on text) This is just a guideline
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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #147 on: April 10, 2018, 11:30:10 pm »
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Hi everyone!

It would be really great if someone could reply, because I have my AC SAC on the first day of term!

1. Could you please give some examples of consistency (coherence)?
Is it like using the same font, or only particular things are italicised in an article?
Also, for example if it was a blog post, can you say
"The logical ordering of comments below the blog post is consistent to the situational context of an online blog where commentators can reply to the main post at the end of the page."
Or is this too basic?
I just can't think of when to use consistency.

2. Also, I don't know the difference between field and domain. Are they the same thing?

3. Is it really necessary to go deep into the Standard Australian English features in an informal AC? Definitely putting them in means that you're meeting one of our criteria: "sophisticated understanding of the concepts of Standard and non-standard English as they relate to informal language usage"
But should you focus on formality too much? Or would you suggest mentioning a few features in the social purpose para (if they fit there) and then a couple in the coherence/ cohesion para?

Thank you very much!

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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #148 on: April 11, 2018, 02:27:26 pm »
+5
Hi everyone!

It would be really great if someone could reply, because I have my AC SAC on the first day of term!

1. Could you please give some examples of consistency (coherence)?
Is it like using the same font, or only particular things are italicised in an article?
Also, for example if it was a blog post, can you say
"The logical ordering of comments below the blog post is consistent to the situational context of an online blog where commentators can reply to the main post at the end of the page."
Or is this too basic?
I just can't think of when to use consistency.

2. Also, I don't know the difference between field and domain. Are they the same thing?

3. Is it really necessary to go deep into the Standard Australian English features in an informal AC? Definitely putting them in means that you're meeting one of our criteria: "sophisticated understanding of the concepts of Standard and non-standard English as they relate to informal language usage"
But should you focus on formality too much? Or would you suggest mentioning a few features in the social purpose para (if they fit there) and then a couple in the coherence/ cohesion para?

Thank you very much!

Hello!

1. Consistency is almost like the repeated use of something in order to serve a particular purpose, which is most often constructing coherence. For example, 'The consistent use of the initialism "VCE", such as in "VCE Biology Units 3/4" (Line 3), throughout  an article about exam tips reinforces the fact that the text is relevant to senior Victorian students. This helps readers navigate through the self-help article and build an overall understanding of it, contributing to its coherence'. As far as I'm aware, consistency can also be used in term of a semantic field (e.g. consistent use of lexical items under the semantic field of Mexican food). Just remember that if a certain linguistic choice only appears once or is only present in one part of a text, that's not consistency - it must appear across the text.

Logical ordering and consistency are two different things. Logical ordering refers to a clear structure (e.g. intro then body para then conclusion) while consistency refers to the constant use of a language choice.

2. I remember being taught that domain is broader than field, but it can vary between teachers. So ask your teacher to confirm :)

3. In informal texts, non-SAE is a lot more pertinent, so focus more on that. You could also mention how SAE is still present to allow interlocutors to form logical links in a conversation, etc., but you don't need to talk a lot about this. Again, confirm with your teacher (maybe write a practice SAE/non-SAE paragraph on an informal text and ask them to have a look at it?). For me, I always focused on formality in my register paragraph which comes last in my ACs. If relevant, you can mention it in other paragraphs too - it depends on the text and how significant certain features appear to be.
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Re: VCE English Language Question Thread
« Reply #149 on: April 17, 2018, 09:18:42 pm »
0
Hello!

Just had a few questions about active and passive voice:

1. Is an infinitive always going to be active voice?

2. Is a present participle/gerund always an active verb?
e.g. 'the boat carrying 36,000 tonnes of wheat sailed..."
Is 'carrying' the gerund? if so, is a gerund always a sign of active voice?

3. If you had the verb phrase "were not told," (this is passive), but can you include the 'not' is in passive or do you need to say "were...told" is in the passive? So do you need to avoid saying the 'not'?

Thank you! :)

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I'm selling a huge electronic copy of  VCE English essays and resources document (with essays that have teacher feedback and marks) for $10. Feel free to PM me for details!