The Dangerous Vacuum Cleaner and the Plain Style

Hillary Lahr

            The plain style began as a movement away from complicated jargon and incomprehensive reading material. Its purpose was to create clearer, less complex material that would be easily accessible to people of all ages and abilities. Today, we see the plain style used in brochures, magazine and news articles, rule lists and "how-to" guides. However, the plain style become the most important when it is pertaining to a persons safety. In the first section of every owner's manual is a list of warnings and safety precautions that should be taken to maintain the safety of the person or persons operation whatever item the manual pertains to. We will be looking at a owner's manual for a vacuum cleaner.

            Any manufacturers biggest concern when selling their product is making sure that in the event that a buyer receives an injury from their item, they need to be covered on every base so as not to get sued. This is the first and probably the most important reason for a section dedicated solely to safety. There are several things that need to be kept in mind when compiling a list of warnings. First of all, the list needs to be shorter and less complex. The sentences need to be simple and to the point, specifically, they need to be written in an active voice. This means that the person who is giving the action and the person who is receiving the action is clear to the reader. Secondly, the readability has to be high for a document like this, because a wide variety of people ranging in age and reading ability will be viewing this document. The particular owner's manual we will be viewing scored an 86.8 on the Fleisch-Kincaid Readability score, and had an average grade level of 4.5. In order to achieve the goals state above, The vacuum cleaner owner's manual uses parallelism, conduplicato, distinctio, metabasis and exemplum. We will look at all of these in depth throughout this paper.

            The most noticeable aspects of plain style in the text are those included in the structure. Parallelism occurs when similar ideas are seen in the same format. In the owner's manual, we see important information as bolded and typed in all capital letters. These statements were often short and simple, used mainly to grasp the attention of the reader. Examples would include phrases like: READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE USING THIS VACUUM CLEANER or they would simply be one word such as WARNING. By placing these words in similar formats, the reader would eventually learn to pause or take notice when words were written in this way. The second aspect of plain style that is evident within the structure is conduplicato. Conduplicato is the repetition of a key word or phrase from a preceding clause or sentence at or near the beginning of the next sentence. This is seen in the use of the words "Do not..." at the beginning of almost every warning in the list. This aids the reader in understanding that this sentence is to be considered as equally important to the sentence that precedes it.

            Clarity is another important part of the plain style. The information must be clearly communicated to the reader. The owner's manual does this by using the characteristics of distinctio, metabasis and exemplum. The first of these, distinctio, is accomplished by presenting the meanings of words to prevent ambiguity. For example, in one section of warnings, the manufacturers write, "To reduce the risk of electric shock, this appliance has a polarized plug (one blade is wider than the other.)" By first stating the term, that is, a polarized plug, and then providing the definition of the word, there is no chance of misconstruing the meaning of the warning. The second characteristic of the plain style that is used in the owner's manual is metabasis, or the stating of what has been said or what will follow. Before the warnings are listed, there is a sentence that explains what will follow in this section. It says, "When using an electrical appliance, basic precautions should always be followed, including the following:" by stating what will follow in the section, the reader is able to prepare in their minds the context of the situation, making the material easier to comprehend and to apply in real life situations. The final characteristic of plain style that is emphasized within the text is exemplum, or the providing of a specific and often concrete example. There are several examples of this within the text. "Do not pick up anything that is burning or smoking, such as cigarettes, matches or hot ashes." or, "Do not use to pick up flammable or combustible liquids such as gasoline..." or lastly, "Do not pick up items such as pieces of waste paper or cloth which look as though they may cause the hose to become blocked." The last of these examples conveys the idea of exemplum in the best way. If the sentence had stated simple that one should not pick up items that could block the hose, it would be much more difficult to decide what would or would not block the hose. By giving an example of something that is tangible or concrete, the reader is able to visualize what type of items could block the hose, and refrain from picking those items up.

            The main goal of the plain style is to achieve accessibility through a text, and this particular text seems to achieve that when you look at the strategies used as stated above. However, there are some ways in which the plain style was not used to its fullest extent. Although the manual does do a good job of communicating the subject matter clearly, there are still some ways in which it is lacking. The text does contain some ambiguous statements. For example, one of the warnings states, "Do not clean or store vacuum cleaner in places where there are high temperatures." Readers may wonder at what point the temperature becomes "high." For someone living in Hawaii, a high temperature may be different than someone living in Alaska. Another example is when the text states, "Close attention is necessary when used by or near children or infirmed persons." The same ambiguity is present here, mostly in the fact that the age of a child is relative. Even psychologists agree that the stages of life are impossible to label with perfection, so by simply stating "children," many different categorizations come to mind. I may consider a child to be someone age ten and younger, while another person may consider a child to be someone under the age of thirteen. Another way in which the text is lacking in the plain style is the lack of exemplum, or clear examples. One warning states, "Use care when cleaning on stairs." but the type of care that should be used is not stated. Perhaps if the text had given specific examples or ways to execute "care" properly when cleaning on stairs, the warning would have had a more concise meaning.

            In the end, the text does convey the plain style quite well. It is easy to read, clear and simple in its structure. An adult who has had years of education in literature could understand this easily, but a fourth grade student would not have trouble with the concepts presented either. The text makes it clear that one should read these warnings before operating the vacuum, so the context in which a person would be reading this would fit the instructions that are being given. The text achieves the goals it seeks and it is a perfect example of the plain style and the context in which it is necessary.

ALL QUOTATIONS AND EXAMPLES WERE TAKEN FROM THE FANTOM INSTRUCTION MANUAL: VACUUM CLEANER, AVAILABLE TO VIEW AT WWW.HEPARREST.NET/FANTOM_TWISTER.PDF

The Truth About Creative Style

The article “The Truth About Animal Shelters” was written by an unknown author, claiming to be a manager of a pet shelter. The article was originally posted on Craigslist, but has since made its way around every corner of the internet. It appears on numerous animal websites, both for and against pet shelters, and has over one thousand views on Facebook. The context of the article varies, depending on which website you view it from, however, the intended audience remains the same. The article is geared toward animal lovers and pet owners alike. The article uses creative style to create graphic images for the purpose of creating an emotional appeal intended to persuade people to avoid dropping their pet off at animal shelters. While creative style is used effectively to create an emotional appeal, the article is missing a solid call to action needed to form a lasting effect on the intended readers.


The article uses several rhetorical devices in order to create an emotional appeal. “Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals.” In this phrase, the author uses hyperbole to emphasize the point that shelters are not always the best place for your pet. “When it all ends, your pet’s corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back, with all of the other animals that were killed, waiting to be picked up like garbage.” Similarly this phrase uses both metaphor and simile to create a gruesome image in the reader’s mind. Although this author primarily uses creative style to drive home her point, plain style is also utilized in order to convey what that point actually is.


In the beginning of the piece, the author says, “I am posting this (and it is long) because I think our society needs a huge wake-up call.” The author then proceeds to describe the horrific conditions pets face at an animal shelter. It is made clear that the author wants the reader to take something away from the piece, but it isn’t until the end that the author tells the reader what the purpose of the piece is. “I just hope that maybe I changed one person’s mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog.” While this is a clear desire the author has regarding the reader’s reactions, it isn’t a particularly specific call to action.


Many of the readers, such as myself, already avoid breeding dogs, taking their pets to the shelter or buying dogs from a pet shop. Most persuasive essays have a call to action at the end of them, the more clear the call to action, the better. Its hard to get people to do anything, especially if it changes their lifestyle any, so a clear call to action is one of the best ways to get people to do what you want. This article has a rather weak call to action. “My point to all of this is DON’T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!” This could seem like a good call to action, its actually a call to inaction. Inaction is easy, but its also forgettable. By the time I am ready to get a dog of my own, I might already forget this article, despite its creative attempts to burn graphic images in my mind.


My main argument regarding the successful persuasion of the audience is that this article lacks a clear call to action. However, sometimes persuasive articles don’t need such a clear call to action. An argument could be made that this article wasn’t intended to change the behaviors of the readers, but instead intended to change their attitudes about pet shelters. The author writes, “I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.” This sentence seems so support a change in attitude as opposed to behaviors. It is possible that the article was intended to attempt to change the idea that animal shelters are to blame for the death of so many animals. The author might have wanted people to stop blaming the animal shelters and instead start blaming the people who abandon their pets. However, because that purpose seems ambiguous and is not clearly stated, it can also be deemed a failure of persuasion.


There are different types of persuasion, emotional appeal being only one of them. Sometimes persuasive arguments utilize statistics and facts to support their argument. Other times, like this article, only use emotional appeal in the form of graphic images and horror stories to support their argument. However, the best persuasive arguments utilize both facts and emotional appeal. Although this article lacked in facts and statistics, this is a very compelling article, especially for any animal lover. On the surface, it seems that its job is done: scare people away from dropping their animals off at a shelter. But it does nothing to persuade people from adopting an animal from the shelter, in fact, it makes me not want to step foot into a shelter. The creative styles used were effective in creating gruesome images, but they also served to make people feel guilty about dropping their pet off at a shelter. Guilt tends to lead to anger, and if the guilt is strong enough, the mind will push these awful images deep down, until they are forgotten. I see two ways of improving this article. The first is use plain style to voice a clear, solid call to action. The second is to use more creative style to beef up the benefits of adopting a pet from animal shelter, leaving the reader will positive feelings about shelters and a clear way to help.


By: Pearl C.

A Fitting Oxymoron: A Creative Style Critique

There are apparently three different types of people in the world: those who love big cities, those who hate them, and then those who find the beauty within the chaos. Mary Karr, an American poet was born and raised in Texas. She had a difficult life, dealing with a failed marriage, alcoholism, and drug-abuse. She ultimately turned her life around, not only writing this poem, but writing numerous critically acclaimed novels as well as a trilogy of memoirs (The Liar’s Club, Cherry, and Lit). This accomplishment alone makes one curious about her outlook on life. A Texas-grown woman, Mary never had the chance to fall in love with a big city, but through her writing in the Perfect Mess she really seems to be within that group of people that finds beauty out of desperate situations, hence her ability to rise above her own personal faults in life.

Perfect Mess is a poem based in New York City.  Instead of highlighting the elegance the city does enthrall, it instead focuses on ordinary scenes, but portrays them in the way that makes them seem favorable to the eye.  Movies and television often give big cities a light that makes tourists believe the cities to be overwhelmingly beautiful.  From my personal experiences, I would have to agree with Karr’s portrayal, not the interpretation given off in films.   I have traveled to Paris, France, twice, and although I am in love with the city, it was not exactly what I had anticipated.  All the architecture, the buildings, monuments, bridges, they were all beautiful, but amongst all the historical beauty were homeless people everywhere, dog poop on the streets, and garbage floating about freely.  The whole feeling of Paris was somewhat dirty.  I was surprised by this, because in films, Paris is often depicted to be the city of love, such a romantic place.  Try kissing someone on a bridge while you step in dog feces.  Although this seems disturbing, and kind of disappointing, I took it for what it was.  I took in Paris for its good and its bad, and simply thought “Well this is it”.  Not that this takes away anything from one the greatest cities in the world, but puts gives it a more realistic expectation.  Within this analysis and creative critique I will focus solely on how Karr takes New York City for what it is and creatively uses rhetorical devices to put the pretty back into the ugly.

First, we have to compare the different angles of New York City.  If we jump into the mind of a tourist we may think of the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, the Empire State Building, and Time’s Square.  The tourist attractions are often very cleanly, and extremely stunning.  The lens of a tourist is often the same lens we view through when watching films or television, like I stated prior.  When drawing a picture of NYC, directors often focus on these same attractions: giving an aerial pan of Central Park, the skyline, Ellis Island and the infamous woman statue, or the hustle and bustle of well-dressed bystanders making their way through the busy Times Square.  But, as a resident or a frequenter of this particular city, we would tend to bypass these tourist destinations for the sole sake of time and repetition.  So, as we forgo the beauty within the famous sights, we find ourselves amongst the everyday, true marvels of NYC.

When dwelling into the poem we find ourselves amongst many different, yet ordinary scenes: piano movers hauling a grand piano, ballet dancers smoking cigarettes outside a casting call, old women, and subway rats.  Karr even uses Hell’s Kitchen within this poem, which is a part of Manhattan known for its gritty reputation, warehouses, and overall non-pleasing aesthetics.  The focused scenes, in conjunction with creative rhetorical devices, cause readers to ponder these regularly unpleasant scenes as possibly agreeable.

Take for instance the scene of Hell’s Kitchen.  To any tourist or visitor of NYC, this probably is not first on the list of things to see, yet it becomes painted into a beautiful spectacle through Karr’s use of exemplum.  “…in one instant every black umbrella in Hell’s Kitchen opened on cue, everyone still moving. It was a scene from an unwritten opera, the sails of some vast armada”.  This exemplum exemplifies the splendor found in a stark place.  There is often a strong use of similes, “…the sky bulging black as a bad water balloon and in one pinprick instant it burst.   A downpour like a fire hose.”  The similes offer comparative properties that cause a sense of relativity to the audience.

One thing that I found appealing about this poem is the use of personification.  I think this is very fitting within a poem about a city, especially New York, because we often use personifying titles in everyday speak, for example—the city that never sleeps.  Karr puts a twist on this popular nickname giving the city even more human characteristics: “the city feeds on beauty, starves for it, breeds it.”  As well as, “for a few heartbeats, the whole city stalled, paused, a heart thump, then it all went staccato,” and “I heard a tenor exhale pure longing down the brick canyons, the steaming moon opened its mouth to drink from on high”.

Two of the most memorable passages from this poetic piece are that of the ballet dancers and the piano movers.  “I passed next the crowd of pastel ballerinas huddled under the corner awning, in line for an open call—stork limbed, ankles zigzagged with ribbon, a few passing a lit cigarette around”, and “Today I loved the unprecedented gall of the piano movers, shoving a roped-up baby grand up Ninth Avenue before a thunderstorm.  They were a grim and hefty pair, cynical as any day laborers”.  Within the description of these dancers and piano movers we see uses of appositives, asyndeton, and expletives.  I feel as if the use of these rhetorical devices offers a sense of realism of these subjects.  They really come to life, and I get a great sense of imagery.  This could not be accomplished simply by saying, “The ballerinas dressed in pink, shared a cigarette”, or “The piano movers angrily hiked a piano up into a New York City apartment”.

Through the brief analysis of particular rhetorical devices we find that even the foulest of places hold attractiveness, and sometimes it only takes language to bring them out.  Karr does a great job exemplifying specific scenes within New York City that wouldn’t perpetually cause tourists to stop and take pictures, yet with rhetorical devices we find that New York City may be the most fitting oxymoron of all: a perfect mess.  

Hannah K.

Free Weezy

            Lil Wayne, also known as Weezy, JR (Jay R Uh), Best Rapper Alive, Tunechi, President Carter, Birdman Jr., etc. Like many rappers Wayne has developed a number of nicknames over his long career, and the list will continue to grow as long as he remains relevant in the rap game. Wayne has had a remarkable career since the age of nine, which includes numerous Billboard Hot100 singles (recently passing Elvis Presley as the male with the most entries at 109), successful mix tapes, multiple platinum albums, and a Grammy award for best album of the year in 2008. Wayne’s credentials speak for themselves, but there is one song in particular that caught my attention in terms of the use of creative style. The song title is “6 foot 7 foot,” which was the first single recorded after Lil Wayne’s release from prison on an eight month sentence for gun possession. Wayne immediately asserted his power and shot back onto the scene, which is evident in the lyrics of the song. I believe Lil Wayne emphasizes this power to compensate for the low in life he just experienced.

            Numerous creative styles were used in Wayne’s song, and they are evident right out of the gate.  Using explitive, chiasmus, apostrophe, and assonance immediately in just the first line, “Excuse my charisma, vodka with a spritzer swagger down pat, call my sh*t Patricia.” The use of all of these creative styles in just the first line puts an immediate spotlight on an artist who hasn’t been able to put out new material for eight months. The use of alcohol too connects with both the idea that he has regained the freedom to drink, and he’s about to speak his mind regardless of the consequences. The statement initiates a message of power emphasized throughout the song, a type of power presented in much of rap music, but in this song it is done particularly well because of the lyrical creativity.

            Lil Wayne continues to impose a sense of power in the lyrics, “ Young Money militia, and I am the commissioner you don’t want to start Weezy, ‘cause the F is for Finisher.” Auxesis, hyperbole, and consonance are all used in these lyrics to assert power and dominance not only through referring to himself in the third person through one of his many nicknames, but also maintaining poetic justice of rhyme in the art of rap. Lil Wayne uses allusion throughout the single referring to himself as commissioner and later saying, “I do it like a king do.” All positions of great power, and referring to the notion that he is indeed on top after being put in a prison, which is associated to being the lowest of the low universally. Unless of course we are discussing the rap game, which in many cases is contrary to most because prison time can add to an artists rep or prestige because they are then viewed as street credible in the eyes of other rappers, and listeners in some cases.

            Wayne continues to market the idea of being above the rest and separates himself from others even more when he states:

No matter who’s buying, I’m a celebration
black and white diamonds, f*ck segregation 
f*ck that sh*t, my money up, you n*ggas just Honey Nut
Young Money running shit and you n-ggas just runner-ups 
I don’t feel I done enough, so I’ma keep on doing this shit
 Lil Tunechi or Young Tunafish.

I found it interesting that he uses imagery to describe people in the form of diamonds. The concept of segregation is interesting because he contradicts the ideas presented before that he is different from all other and yet he supports the idea of equality. He goes back to the concept of separation when he uses a derogatory term, and insults what I believe to be the competition or “haters” by calling them runner-ups and comparing them to off brand cereal. These lines are used to make distinction between him and the rest. The use of antithesis is essential to Wayne expressing the differential to others in multiple forms of saying the same thing.

            “I beat the beat up, call it self defense
swear man, I be seeing through these n-ggas like sequins 
n-ggas think they He-Men, pow, pow, the end 
talking to myself because I am my own consultant
 married to the money, f*ck the world, that’s adultery 
you full of sh*t, you close your mouth and let yo ass talk 
Young Money eating, all you haters do is add salt
 stop playing, bitch, I got this game on deadbolt 
mind so sharp, I f*ck around and cut my head off.”  So much creative style being used in these verses, but one that sticks out in the beginning is the anthimeria with the word beat, which is used both in a noun and verb form in this sentence to also display a diacope.  There is the use of expletive as well when talking about money and his haters almost to throw it in their faces. Prozeugma is at work as well to emphasize the point by joining similar ideas. Finally, anthimeria is used with the phrase sharp because it displays to meanings and creates imagery to show signs of intelligence through metaphoric imagery.

            In the world of rap money is a sign of power because most of the artists discuss how they’ve came from nothing, so money is of more value. For example, Lil Wayne says, ”Young Money, Cash Money
paper chasing, tell that paper, ‘Look, I’m right behind ya’
bitch, real G’s move in silence like lasagna.”  Wayne utilizes the names of his record labels and relates to the concept of paper chasing, which is a cliché used by rappers for getting money.  Then Wayne states that real G’s or gangsters don’t brag or talk about their money. Wayne uses the word lasagna because the g in the word is actually silent in the English language. Later Weezy contradicts his money talk and says, “yeah, with a swag you would kill for 
money too strong, pockets on bodybuilder.”  Personifying pockets using a metaphor of pockets getting large, which relates to having lots of money. I’m not really sure if he’s trying to distance himself from being a gangster because of the prison experience or if he’s making money references to make fun of the idea that he can go to prison and still be on top of the world after?

            The complexity of this song is astounding because Wayne is separating himself in terms of power and being atop the rap game through creative style. The lyrics are almost used to compensate for his life low of going to prison. Though Wayne has previously affiliated himself as street credible in terms of living in poverty, he still gained more credibility in the rap game by going to prison. The hype gained from his incarceration, helped establish his awaited return. Wayne was featured in some songs during the imprisonment, but the lack of a full-fledged hit single or album was missing.

This song’s tempo embodies an explosion or ticking time bomb that was ready to happen. Wayne reestablishes his spot as the best, and his lyrics reflect that even if he did hit a bottom in the eyes of society he is still a powerful character in the world. He uses creative style and subjects of power such as money, ability to get women, and powerful figures to assert himself lyrically to the top. The music video for the single was based off the movie Inception, which is perfect because Wayne’s return was unreal, and makes fans think “Is this real life or am I dreaming right now?” Ironically, Wayne’s situation is comparable to the unbelievable twist in the movie Inception.

Lil Wayne is on top of his game, and it was clear in the hit 6 foot 7 foot. Wayne’s creativity is explosive in this song because of the time away from rap, which lead to his hype and pent up thought process. Not to mention, people’s need for instant gratification in this day and age. Wayne’s wait is what gives the artist part of their power and I think we saw that once people gravitated toward this song. The fact that it couldn’t be aired on the radio and developed such popularity is astounding. For rap, a free Weezy is better for music. 

-Scott Schell

Hidden in Plain Sight

“CONTEST” is the United Kingdom’s Strategy for Countering Terrorism. The main body of the article is 187 pages long, however there is a summary of the article that is about 18 pages long. This article will focus on the plain style found in the summary of the article and the reasons behind the use of plain style. Both the full article and the summary are available on the United Kingdom’s government website and easily found with a search engine. This is the third revision of CONTEST and was written in July 2011 in preparation for the London Olympic Games. Because of the simple way its written and the bullet point summary, I believe the summary of the article is meant for the general public. However, not everyone is going to read this article or even know it exists. At first glance, the intended audience seems to be anyone who might be concerned with the defense of the UK. However, after digging deeper into the article, it occurred to me that the actual intended audience might be political in nature.  

For anyone reading the article for the first time, I suspect they would find what I found: confidence. The whole summary is written with an active, confident voice. Many of the sentences start with “we will” and make strong statements about what “we” will do. “We also intend to do more to address the highest impact terrorist risks set out in the National Risk Assessment.” This statement seems to reflect the tone of the entire summary.

However, as I read it, I still found myself confused. I didn’t quite know some subjects that the summary addressed and I often found myself asking more questions than were being answered. This led me to the conclusion that while this report is intended to be clear, it also assumes that you know something about terrorism in the UK before you start reading. This article would be easy for someone who kept up on daily news, but for someone who tends to ignore world events, this article was dense. Not only that, but many statements gave me the impression that they were thrown in for political purposes. One such phrase, “Nor will we fund or work with extremist groups; we will carefully evaluate the credibility of those we support.” Seems like the perfect phrase for a journalist to put in his/her article.

The plain style in this case is being used purposefully. “CONTEST will reflect our fundamental values and, in particular, our commitment not only to protect the people of this country and our interests overseas but to do so in away that is consistent with and indeed advances our commitment to human rights and the rule of law.” While this statement verges on the official style, it comes off as direct and no nonsense. Another example of this confident tone is, “Our strategy will be proportionate to the risks we face and only engage in activity which is necessary to address those risks.” These phrases, while being very quotable, also have the weight of authority behind them.

Many other phrases in the summary seem to leave something left unsaid. “Success in counter-terrorism depends on international collaboration. We will support key allies in building their capacity to investigate and prosecute terrorists overseas.” This phrase, on the surface, seems to mean that the UK is willing to work with other countries to combat terrorist, but critically thinking, this phrase remains unclear. It begs the question: what aren’t they saying? And while it is understandable that certain plans be left unsaid for security reasons, I can’t help but wonder about what is left unsaid in order to keep the citizens happy with the government. If this summary is indeed catering to the media and politicians interested in the defensive measures of the UK, it is unsurprising that things remain unsaid. If the UK just announced that their new plan involved torturing people for information, politicians opposing such methods would tear the defense plan apart. The same goes for any media outlet. Likely, the media and politicians will tear this apart anyway, putting every phrase under the microscope, and it is understandable why things must be stated in a delicate manner. It is okay to imply that the country is torturing people, but it is not okay to actually come out and say it.

Two main arguments can be made against my argument. The first is that perhaps the person who wrote this summary was not catering to any one particular group of people and instead made things as clear as possible using plain style. This is entirely possible. The summary is available in four languages, as is the main text. However, if they wanted everyone to understand and read the defense measures, perhaps they should provide a reference section so that everyone knows the subjects presented in the article. The second argument is that perhaps it is not a bad thing that this text was written for the media and politicians. After all, they are the ones qualified to make sense of this dense piece of writing and translate what it might mean for the citizens of the UK. It makes sense that only a few people read the summary and then give the people interested an even shorter summary of its context. While this article is written in plain style, it is not the plainest it could be, and certainly not entirely clear. Journalists however, are adept at using plain style and could easily make sense of the information presented in both the summary and the main article.

Overall this article was confident and informational. It laid out everything in a clear, concise sentences. In the very beginning of the article, it lays out why the article was written and how the information would be presented. “Our counter-terrorism strategy will continue to be organised around four workstreams, each comprising a number of key objectives…” Then it goes on to list the key objects, then the objectives within the objectives, the reasons why the objectives are needed, and what success would look like if those objectives are completed. While it is easy enough for anyone to read, assuming you keep up with world news a little, the main intended audience is the media and politicians who might have questions regarding the security of the UK. Although it may be necessary to feed the media information, as they are the ones feeding the everyday citizens, many phrases are plain and easy to understand, but vague. The plain language used in this article is so easy to understand that perhaps you won’t look to hard at it.  Its a camouflage of information used to hide the true methods that are used to ensure the defense of the UK.  It makes a critical reader wonder what other texts are written in plain style in order to hide the truth behind cleverly understandable information. 

By Pearl C.  

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/97994/contest-summary.pdf