VCE English Language Question Thread

[MissSmiley]

^^

Spoiler

I don't think lexical patterning = semantic patterning
What is a stylistic feature?

Thanks so much, TheAspiringDoc!
Yeah, you see we need to identify all this for our SA SAC. So we'll probably get like an informal conversation transcript and then asked something along the lines of:
"How is *something* reflected in the lexical and syntactic patterning of the text (transcript)?"
That's why it's hard to find this in conversation (discourse) than it is in an AC text.

According to the study design, it says:
"stylistic features in informal speech and writing, including phonological patterning, syntactic patterning, morphological patterning, and lexical choice and semantic patterning." (this is too broad though!!)

I'm trying to practice for this, but would love to hear other tips or examples of how to find parallelism and antithesis in convo (and also lexical patterning!

Thank you!!

[MissSmiley]

Hi EngLangers!

I have my Eng Lang SAC coming up this week, so would really appreciate some help!

Just wanted to ask whether conversion of word class and creative word formations are always features of an informal register?
For example, on one line, a text says "It's not your fault Game Changers" and then on the next line, the text said "Keep on changing the game."
Now this is obviously conversion of word class from noun Changers to verb 'changing.'
but then if I had to answer how this conversion of word class contributes to the register of the text, would I say that it contributes to the formality or informality?
I was really confused because the whole text is highly informal !! But at the same time, the verb 'changing' doesn't sound that informal. So what register should I write?

And what would be the main takeaway? It a text uses creative word formations and conversion of word class, is it always going to represent informality (despite being quite standard) or will it then show formality (when it's standard conversion like what's happend with 'changers' here) ?

Thanks so much guys !!

[MathsQuestIsBad]

Hi EngLangers!

I have my Eng Lang SAC coming up this week, so would really appreciate some help!

Just wanted to ask whether conversion of word class and creative word formations are always features of an informal register?
For example, on one line, a text says "It's not your fault Game Changers" and then on the next line, the text said "Keep on changing the game."
Now this is obviously conversion of word class from noun Changers to verb 'changing.'
but then if I had to answer how this conversion of word class contributes to the register of the text, would I say that it contributes to the formality or informality?
I was really confused because the whole text is highly informal !! But at the same time, the verb 'changing' doesn't sound that informal. So what register should I write?

And what would be the main takeaway? It a text uses creative word formations and conversion of word class, is it always going to represent informality (despite being quite standard) or will it then show formality (when it's standard conversion like what's happend with 'changers' here) ?

Thanks so much guys !!

Hi to my literal next door neighbour,

No, conversion of word class or creative word formations are not strictly features of informal register. Firstly, addressing the conversion of noun to verb 'changers to changing' would not contribute to register imo because both are used perfectly well in formal situations e.g. in TEDtalk. However, if it's asking specifically for how 'changers' to 'changing' contributes to register you can look at it syntactically. I think that the way it's addressing the audience as plural noun 'changers' in the first clause sort of elevates their relative power and status, and the verb 'changing' implies that as changers this is their job to continue. We can also extrapolate that to "keep on changing the game" implies positive change and this sort of structure makes me think it's adding to a more formal register. Although I don't know the situational context, it sounds like a presentation because of the plural noun, so I think that immediately implies a colder social distance.

Also back to creative word formations, the reason why I don't think it's only a feature of informal register is because creative word formations and creation of neologisms helps keep language adaptable to society. For example, coinages like 'email' is a blending of 'electronic mail' and we use 'email' for the sake of convenience even in formal situations. Hope that helped, neighbour!

[MissSmiley]

Hi to my literal next door neighbour,

No, conversion of word class or creative word formations are not strictly features of informal register. Firstly, addressing the conversion of noun to verb 'changers to changing' would not contribute to register imo because both are used perfectly well in formal situations e.g. in TEDtalk. However, if it's asking specifically for how 'changers' to 'changing' contributes to register you can look at it syntactically. I think that the way it's addressing the audience as plural noun 'changers' in the first clause sort of elevates their relative power and status, and the verb 'changing' implies that as changers this is their job to continue. We can also extrapolate that to "keep on changing the game" implies positive change and this sort of structure makes me think it's adding to a more formal register. Although I don't know the situational context, it sounds like a presentation because of the plural noun, so I think that immediately implies a colder social distance.

Also back to creative word formations, the reason why I don't think it's only a feature of informal register is because creative word formations and creation of neologisms helps keep language adaptable to society. For example, coinages like 'email' is a blending of 'electronic mail' and we use 'email' for the sake of convenience even in formal situations. Hope that helped, neighbour!

Thanks so much, neighbour!! 

Definitely makes sense!

Would love to hear more thoughts or interpretations from others of my question!

[Joseph41]

Hi EngLangers!

I have my Eng Lang SAC coming up this week, so would really appreciate some help!

Just wanted to ask whether conversion of word class and creative word formations are always features of an informal register?
For example, on one line, a text says "It's not your fault Game Changers" and then on the next line, the text said "Keep on changing the game."
Now this is obviously conversion of word class from noun Changers to verb 'changing.'
but then if I had to answer how this conversion of word class contributes to the register of the text, would I say that it contributes to the formality or informality?
I was really confused because the whole text is highly informal !! But at the same time, the verb 'changing' doesn't sound that informal. So what register should I write?

And what would be the main takeaway? It a text uses creative word formations and conversion of word class, is it always going to represent informality (despite being quite standard) or will it then show formality (when it's standard conversion like what's happend with 'changers' here) ?

Thanks so much guys !!

Hard to comment without seeing the full text IMO, but a general response from my perspective:

I don't think word class conversation necessarily constitutes informal language, no. My initial thought was something like the lexeme action. I don't know its etymology, but I would guess it started its life as a noun. Recently, however, it's been used as a verb, as in, "I will action that task". I even hear it around the ATAR Notes office quite often!

To me, that's not informal language - in fact, it seems quite formal to me (perhaps an example of bureaucratese?). This is obviously a very small sample size, but no, I don't think conversion always renders the text informal.

[MissSmiley]

Thanks so much Joseph41 !! ^^^

Just a couple of small questions,
1. What are examples of lexical patterning?
(other than repetition?)

2. Say a host is interviewing an Olympic champion, talking about her achievements and challenges, would one of the social purposes be supporting in group membership (of tv viewers who are interested in sports or particularly the Olympics?)
and especially when the sporting jargon is not known or understood by everyone?

Thanks everyone!
I have my SAC tomorrow, so would really appreciate some help!

[-_-zzz]

Does anyone know what some features of a formal register are? And how do they show that the register is formal?

Cheers

[MissSmiley]

Does anyone know what some features of a formal register are? And how do they show that the register is formal?

Cheers

This is straight from the Study Design, so I'm basically just copy-pasting!!

Students understand that formal language, in all modes, tends to be less ambiguous, more cohesive, and is more likely to make explicit aspects of the presumed context. They examine formal texts, exploring how writers and speakers are more likely to consider how their audience might interpret their message, packaging it appropriately with attention to the art of rhetoric, including the use of figurative language. Students learn that formal written texts are more likely to have been edited while formal spoken texts may have been rehearsed. They examine such formal written texts as legal documents, bureaucratic policy and procedures, official documents, informational prose, and literature. They also examine formal language in spoken texts such as speeches, lectures, oaths, liturgies, performances, and monologues. Formal speech has many of the organisational and stylistic features of written language, but also draws on paralinguistic features such as gesture and eye contact and prosodic cues such as pitch, stress and intonation. Students investigate the range of ways formal language can be used to perform various social purposes. They investigate how formal language can be used to meet and challenge others’ face needs, both positive and negative. Formal language choices, particularly politeness strategies, can also reinforce social distance and relationship hierarchies, or build rapport. Similarly, varieties such as jargon can reinforce the user’s authority and expertise or promote in-group solidarity. Students examine texts in which speakers and writers use formal language to celebrate and commemorate, and they explore how formal language can be used to clarify, manipulate or obfuscate, particularly in public language – the language of politics, media, the law and bureaucracy. Students learn that formal language enables users to carefully negotiate social taboos through the employment of euphemisms, non-discriminatory language, and political correctness. They explore how variations in style reveal much about the intentions and values of speakers or writers, as well as the situational and social contexts in which formal texts are created.

• the use of formal language for various social purposes, including:
 – maintaining and challenging positive and negative face needs
 – reinforcing social distance and authority
 – establishing expertise
 – promoting social harmony, negotiating social taboos and building rapport
 – clarifying, manipulating or obfuscating

This just shows how the Study Design's your best friend!

[TheAspiringDoc]

Does mispronouncing someone's name affront their positive or negative face needs? I'm quite confused because my teacher's definition doesn't really fit with the study design definition .. 

[MissSmiley]

Does mispronouncing someone's name affront their positive or negative face needs? I'm quite confused because my teacher's definition doesn't really fit with the study design definition .. 

I'd say it's threatening positive face. Because you want everyone to know you as a person, you know, preferably with correct pronunciation of your name!
I thought of this because using vocatives affirms positive face, so mispronouncing the vocative (this would mean that there's basically the lack of that vocative, just because it's not perfect anymore), would be threatening positive face.
Would that be a fair interpretation?
Such a good question though!!
Thank you!!

[MissSmiley]

Hi everyone!

Could I just ask, what would you write under 'conventions'? (conventions that contribute to a text's coherence). All of this is if I'm writing an analytical commentary analysing an informal text.

and then what's the difference between conventions and formatting?

Also, what are the most common types of texts that you could get for informal AC?
Other than article, blog, website page, a long invitation?
Would you get a messaging or online chat record? Or would that classify as discourse hence not being appropriate for an AC?

Thanks so much for helping me out guys!!

[Mr West]

Hey everyone,

*this is 1/2 related*

can anyone explain the types of phrases (noun, verb etc) and how to identify them in a sentence

Thanks

[DBA-144]

Hey everyone,

*this is 1/2 related*

can anyone explain the types of phrases (noun, verb etc) and how to identify them in a sentence

Thanks

 

Not good at this buuuut here goes

In a sentence we have a noun, verb, advejtive, adverb, preposition, conjunction and i think that is it.

Noun is a thing, like table, leg and it can be abstract, like love or hate.
Verb is doing word, like catching, etc. Mostly end in ing.
Pretty sure that all sentences have 1 of these.
Adjective describes something, it describes a  noun, like big, large, tall, etc.
Adverbs describe verbs, like he ran QUICKLY or he speaks SLOWLY.
Conjunctions are joining words, like and, because.
Eg. Consider these 2 sentences. I  played soccer. I am tired. i played for too long.
You can combine these like this.

I am tired BECAUSE i played soccer for too long.

Preposition is position word, like up left right, etc.

Sorry if my explanations are poor, but i dont actually do eng lang 

Hope this helped tho.

[Joseph41]

Hey everyone,

*this is 1/2 related*

can anyone explain the types of phrases (noun, verb etc) and how to identify them in a sentence

Thanks

So, this is related to the subsystem of syntax - basically, the ways in which we arrange words and phrases to make sentences that make sense.

On a basic level, a "phrase" is a unit of several words that act together in a sentence. But importantly, they're not really sentences on their own - that is, they can't act independently. For example, take the noun phrase, "the man with the funny hat". This is a complete linguistic unit, but it's certainly not a sentence (a sentence has certain characteristics, which aren't satisfied by this noun phrase alone).

There are lots of different types of phrases in English. You might be familiar with word classes/parts of speech, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives and so on. There are usually equivalent phrase types for each of these parts of speech. For example, a noun phrase, a verb phrase, and adjective phrase and so on.

A quick example of a couple of the more common phrase types:

Noun phrase:
"the old and very wrinkled grandmother"

Verb phrase:
"was running"

My advice for parsing (breaking down a text into its different sections, such as phrases), is to look for the head of the phrase. For example, in that noun phrase above, grandmother is the noun. Everything else ("the old and very wrinkled") is just modifying that noun, so it collectively forms a noun phrase.

I'm not very good with syntax - it's one of my least preferred subsystems. But I think good practice would be taking a slab of text, such as the one I've included below. Try to highlight, say, all of the noun phrases initially. You can do it in this thread, and then we can discuss if you have any questions or anything is unclear.

We asked a random selection of our tutors one simple question: “What’s your best VCE advice?” We wanted just one simple piece of advice each – just to get to the good stuff. This is part one of what they said! This is our second instalment of the VCE megaguide. You can read Part 1 here.

VCE MegaGuide | Tutor #1
Shifting from passive note taking techniques to more active processes definitely improved my understanding and my grades.

“It would have to be saving time whilst studying. That means studying smarter – not necessarily longer. It’s easy to fall into the trap of passively copying out slabs of information from your textbook, websites, and notes from your teacher – I know this because I used to do it. And although it may feel like you’re hard at work (your hand is sore, you’ve spent an hour or two slouched over your textbook etc.), this is not very efficient at all. This isn’t to say note taking is bad. In fact, you should definitely be creating summaries for your subjects. But this should be an active process.

This means make your own diagrams, charts, tables. Use your own words – an easy way to ensure this is to not look at your resources the entire time that you are making your notes. I also find that writing out notes on topics, or sections of certain topics, that I already know about in great detail is a massive waste of time – I tend to use the note taking process as a way of trying to understand things that still don’t seem clear to me.

Lastly, you could also try creating your notes by making your own questions and then answering these questions in your own words. In my experience, shifting from passive note taking techniques to more active processes definitely improved my understanding and my grades, as well as saving me a great deal of time which is such a precious resource during VCE.”

From this article.

[forbiddensoulxx]

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?