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Quick questions on Language and journalism - Edexcel A-Level English Language
6short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What are the grammar of bias?Show answer
The crucial analytical claim is that grammar is not neutral. "Police shot a protester" foregrounds police agency; "A protester was shot" backgrounds it; "The shooting of a protester" (nominalisation) erases the agent altogether. The same event, three representations. Spotting which agents a text foregrounds and which it hides is the core skill of journalism analysis, and it distinguishes a sustained argument from a feature list.
What are one event, two outlets?Show answer
Given a tabloid and a broadsheet report of the same incident, the field is shared, so the analysis lives in representation. A strong paragraph isolates the variable: the tabloid's monosyllabic emotive lexis, short declaratives and direct address build proximity and a clear villain; the broadsheet's nominalisation ("the incident"), hypotactic syntax and hedged modality build detached authority and diffuse blame. Naming transitivity (who is the agent in each lead) and over-lexicalisation, and tying both to readership and ideology, turns a description into a sustained comparative argument.
What is synthetic personalisation in a campaign?Show answer
A newspaper editorial urging readers to "join us" and addressing "you, our loyal readers" manufactures an intimate relationship with a mass audience. A strong analytical paragraph names this as Fairclough's synthetic personalisation, explains that the personal address is simulated (one text, millions of readers) and argues that it recruits the reader into the outlet's stance and constructs a shared identity, which serves the paper's commercial and ideological purposes. The point is that the intimacy is strategic, not genuine.
What is q1?Show answer
Explain how nominalisation and passivisation can each hide the agent in a news report, with an example. [3 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
What is synthetic personalisation, and why do newspapers use it? [4 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Analyse how the writer of the news text represents the people or events involved. Refer to relevant concepts and to specific features. [16 marks]
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