Hyperbole

819 Words4 Pages
USING LANGUAGE TO PERSUADE ‘When deception goes well beyond a joke’ is an article written by Steven Gerrard, published in ‘The Age’ on December 11 2012. In a dismissive tone, Gerrard slams the 2Day FM hosts for doing a prank which went well ahead of its desired comedy and took an innocent person’s life, and has also suggested that anyone in power or position of public speaking should look into its consequences before doing so. The use of emotive language colours the entire piece. The writer begins with ‘deception’, ‘joke’ in the headline. Writer puts a deception and a joke tag on the prank call made by the hosts of 2DayFM. This shows his disgust towards the prank call and how ferocious he feels about the prank. He labels the nurse as the…show more content…
Writer has expressed his anger using colourful and ‘over the top’ language. He is displeased with the hosts because they completely ignored the ‘ramification’ of their ‘conduits’. Writer feels as though hosts were very immature and irresponsible towards this prank and did not think or consider the effect it would have on the people who were targeted. Hyperbole, makes a dramatic impact on the reader. He wants readers to realise that this matter is more serious than what hosts thought it would be. Repetition has also been used in this article. Writer has explained why the radio stations do such as due to them getting ‘more’ listeners, advertisers and higher profits. He uses the word ‘more’ to grab readers attention towards the selfishness of radio station to put their bonuses before someone’s self respect. This will create a strong opinion in reader’s mind as to how someone can be so self centred and put someone’s life in danger. Overall this article is an effective and sustained attack and advice on people with public speaking positions to follow the old saying- “Think before you speak”. Gerrard’s persuasive techniques like appeal to morality, appeal to logic and figurative language highlight how serious this issue is and what a big mistake the radio station 2Day FM have
Open Document