Argumentation

Part 2 of your exam asks you to analyse the way Liz Jones argues for her views in Text III, “Pokemon Go is one more excuse to gawp at your phone and ignore reality”, giving examples from the text.

Liz Jones’s article concerns the way Pokémon Go influences adults and its impact on society. In the text, the writer’s main argument is, as the title suggests, that the game makes people ignore reality.

To support her views, Liz Jones uses direct argumentation, rhetorical devices like irony and allusions, and forms of appeal like pathos, ethos, and …

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Direct argumentation

Direct argumentation means that the sender presents their views and argument openly and explicitly. In this case, Liz Jones states directly that she believes Pokémon Go has a negative impact on players, making them oblivious to the reality around them: “But I worry that we will all become si…

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Rhetorical devices

To argue for her views, Liz Jones uses several rhetorical devices meant to make the receivers view the issues related to Pokémon Go from her point of view. The main rhetorical devices used in the text are allusions, irony and sarcasm, and rhetorical questions.

Allusions are references to literary and art works or historical events that are comparable to or relevant for the issue a sender discusses.

In this case, Liz Jones alludes to the children’s books written by “Anna Sewell or A. A. Milne” (ll. 34-35) (such as Black Beauty or Winnie the Pooh) to suggest that children would benefit more from such books than they do from Pokémon Go.

Then, she associates the game of Pokémon Go with the famous movie The Matrix, to emphasise the idea that playing a virtual reality game has the pot…

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Forms of appeal

The writer appeals to the audience and argues for her views by using emotional language, references to shared values, and logical arguments.

Pathos refers to the use of emotional language. The writer uses it when she talks about people’s need to escape reality and feelings of excitement: “I can appreciate that seeing a tiny monster appear in your phone screen, revealing him to be under the table, is momentarily exciting” (ll. 29-32); “I understand the need to escape the current, grim reality, which is why fantasy epics such as Game of Thrones are so popular.” (ll. 54-57)

Furthermore, she makes readers have an emotional response to her view when she makes references to chil…