Written language and power homework

One way that power is asserted in this text is through the use of imperatives, such as "write a letter today". This gives the text power because it is telling the reader what to do and giving them no other option. This makes the reader want to oblige because they don't have anything to fall back on and do instead. 

One technique the text uses to assert power is through the use of persona pronouns, as shown in the text by using the word "you" to directly address the reader as opposed to generalising to the audience. This gives the effect of being quite intimidating by singling out whoever reads it, ad as a result the reader is more likely to do what they are saying to do. 

The text also uses the word "we" which makes the reader feel part of a team an that the author of the text is with them not just giving out instructions, so to be a team player they would feel like they should do what they are being asked of them and not let people down. 

Another way the text asserts power is by using modal verbs such as "must" which tells the reader there is no other option other than to do what the text is telling them to do. Graphology such as putting the word "must" in bold in the sentence "you must quote both" helps to back up the point more and make more of an impact, in turn giving it more power because its harder to miss than the rest of the writing, because it jumps out at the radar. 

Another modal verb featured in this text is the word "will" which emphasises to the reader that if they write the letter it will definitely help, so they should do it because theres no chance of failure.

There is a lexical field of supermarkets gives power because using words such as "superstore" and "Sainsbury's" shows the reader that the author knows what they are talking about and so they have authority because the reader cant question their knowledge, or they my not know as much themselves.