Paper 1 Question 1

Question 1

1.  

Dear French President,                                                                         Apr 20, 2022

You have been informed about the recent fire that broke out at the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. This fire spread in a matter of minutes across social media. Have you been informed about the fire in the largest rainforest on the planet? This fire has only been brought to social media attention after a few weeks.

The backlash started as people are wondering why the fire at Notre Dame was more popular than what is happening in the Amazon. ‘#PrayforAmazons’ has been trending along with many tweets saying how the Amazon is the basis of our future and we are letting it burn away.

The Amazon is the largest forest and is what is continuing our future. Protecting the Amazon would protect millions of trees and species. More than 20 percent of the world’s oxygen is in the Amazon. These fires take away a fifth of the world's oxygen source by burning down the trees and polluting the air. 

Using money donated to the Notre-Dame cathedral to help out the Amazon would help in any way possible. Bringing back one of the main sources of oxygen would help everyone's future.

Sincerely, Virginia Lowe

2.  

The form of the news report includes shorter paragraphs and a heading. The paragraphs in the news report are mostly one to two sentences long. However, there are many short paragraphs throughout the structure of the writing. The news report also includes ‘fast facts’ listed in bullet point form. The heading used is, ‘Amazon Rainforest Fast Facts’, this section gives important information to the reader.

My writing is in the form of a letter. Starting with addressing who the audience is by saying, ‘Dear French President’, in the beginning. Then in the first paragraph, I include the introduction to the problem I want to address with the French President. The next few paragraphs give an overall of what is important in the letter. Finally, I end the letter with a concluding statement or a ‘goodbye’ and say, ‘Sincerely, Virginia Lowe’. The structure of my paragraphs is similar to the newspaper as they are short. However, the paragraphs in the letter include one to three sentences. There are also only a few paragraphs as in the news report there are at least fifteen short paragraphs.

The main difference between the two writings, letters and news reports, is the language used. In the news report, the author used plenty of logos. Logos are used in an argument that appeals to an audience’s sense of logic or reason. In this case, the author uses a lot of qualitative information to support the importance of the Amazon rainforest. For instance, one of the key points the author brings up is, ‘...Amazon…producing 20 percent of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere.’ This shows significance to the reader as 20 percent is a big portion of the oxygen we breathe. The author continues to use qualitative data as he says, ‘249,000 tweets’, ‘73,000 forest fires’, and in the fast facts sections the author includes countless qualitative data of acreage, people, species, trees, and so on.

Another language style used in the news report is metaphors or similes and rhetorical questions. For example, the Amazon rainforest is compared ‘as the planet’s lungs’. This gives the reader again that sense of importance. Lungs are what allow humans to breathe so without the rainforest the planet cannot survive. The news report uses one simple rhetorical question, which is, “Why?” This question introduced the reader to the main point of this news report. It also draws emphasis and makes the reader think about certain topics being discussed.

In the letter, logos was used once with the same example that was quoted earlier. The language used is more informational and straightforward. It doesn’t engage the reader as much as the news report with the amount of qualitative information, metaphors or similes, and rhetorical questions. However, at the beginning of the letter, the usage of rhetorical questions is used to engage the French President. For instance, I ask if the President has ‘been informed about the fire in the largest rainforest.’