Language

Style of language

The language of Jose Antonio Vargas’s article, “ ‘Dreamers’ Put Their Trust in DACA. What Now?”, is generally simple and easy to understand. The style is mostly informal, as suggested by Vargas’s use of certain idioms such as “to figure out” (l. 8) or “gut check” (l. 13).

The article changes in style and becomes more formal only when Vargas quotes an official leaked document: “ ‘The Department of Homeland Security urges DACA recipients to use the time remaining on their work authorizations to prepare for and arrange their departure…’ ” (ll. 40-42).

Choice of words

The choice of words suggests Vargas wants to raise awareness about the situation of Dreamers by pointing out their hardship through words and phrases with a negative meaning: “shrouded in doubts” (l. 13), “illegally” (l. 15), “scariest stranger” (l. 18), “fear” (l. 19), “shifted dramatically” (l.20), “ignorance” (l. 36), “injustice” (l. 49), “complicated” (l. 55), “confused” (l. 54).

Only a few positive words, such as “thrilled” (l. 28) and “trust” (l. 35), are used in the text; they are used to describe potentially better options for immigrants.

The choice of pronouns shows that the text is written in the f...