Paper 1: guided textual analysis

Advertisements and appeals: persuasion in words and images

Questions for SL and HL. · The lesson

1 of 5
Paper 1 task 120 marks
  • IB English A: Language and Literature SL and HL
Spec and skills
  • Paper scope: Paper 1
  • Topic spec Paper 1
  • Paper 1 task
  • Language A: language and literature guide, first assessment 2021, Published February 2019, updated May 2023

Same journey. Different view.

Write a guided analysis of this advertisement. The guiding question points to one aspect; you may take another way in if you analyse the text as closely.

advertisement

[Photograph, left half of the page: a motorway at dusk, seen from a bridge. Six lanes of red brake lights run to the horizon. Everything is grey and orange, slightly blurred.]

[Photograph, right half of the page: a teenage girl with headphones round her neck leans against a train window, chin on her hand. Beyond the glass, a green valley, a lake and a line of hills in early sunlight. Her reflection faintly overlaps the view.]

Same journey. Different view.

Saltmoor to Kettlehead: three hours by car, three hours by train. Only one of them is yours.

In the car, the three hours belong to the road. You watch the bumper in front. You listen to the satnav tell you, again, to keep left. You arrive tired, a little cross and late for nothing in particular.

On the Saltmoor Line, the three hours belong to you. Read the book you keep meaning to finish. Sleep. Talk. Or do what Ellie did on the 7.40 and simply look: the Brennan Viaduct, the slate villages, the moment Tarrow Water appears and the whole carriage goes quiet.

I forgot to look at my phone. I didn't even notice until Kettlehead.

Ellie, 17, a regular on the 7.40

4 times less carbon per passenger than the same trip by car*

Vellanby Rail. Give the journey back.

Book a Valley Saver: under 26s travel from £12

*Vellanby Rail estimate, 2026, against an average car carrying one person. Valley Saver fares on selected off-peak trains only. Views not guaranteed in fog.

A full-page advertisement in a weekend magazine and on station posters. An original advertisement written for this course. Vellanby Rail, the Saltmoor Line, Saltmoor, Kettlehead, the Brennan Viaduct, Tarrow Water, Ellie are fictional.

Guiding question20 marks · 75 min

How does the advertisement use contrast, in its images and in its words, to persuade its audience?

0 words

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