IB English A Lang & Lit Advertisement Questionbank

How does the advertisement use language and image to persuade the reader to donate?

In what ways does the advertisement construct the university as both academically excellent and socially inclusive, and how does it use language to appeal to different audiences simultaneously?

In what ways does the advertisement use language to construct an image of exclusivity and to position ownership of the car as an expression of identity?

How and to what effect does the advertisement use language and structure to persuade the reader to take a specific action?

The following advertisement is taken from actionfeed.org.uk, the website of ActionFeed UK, a charity working to combat hunger and food insecurity in crisis-affected regions worldwide.

  ¹ child in crisis: a child living in an area classified by the UN as experiencing acute food insecurity, typically meaning they are at risk of severe malnutrition without immediate intervention.

  ² administration: here referring to organisational running costs including staff salaries, office costs, and fundraising expenses.

  ³ emergency food relief: the immediate distribution of food or food vouchers to people facing acute hunger, typically in response to conflict, drought, or flood.

  ⁴ dependency: in development and aid contexts, a situation in which a community becomes reliant on external aid rather than developing its own capacity to meet its needs.

The following advertisement is taken from arden.ac.uk, the website of the University of Arden, and promotes the university's 2024 open day events.

  ¹ STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics; an abbreviation used to group these related academic disciplines.

  ² social mobility: the degree to which individuals from lower-income or working-class backgrounds are able to move into higher-income or professional roles through education.

  ³ graduate employment: the proportion of graduates who are in paid work within a defined period after completing their degree, used as a measure of the practical value of a course.

  ⁴ HESA: the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the official body for collecting and publishing data on higher education in the United Kingdom.

  ⁵ accommodation: here referring to university-owned or managed student housing, typically halls of residence, offered to first-year undergraduates.

The following advertisement appeared in a print and digital automotive magazine and is for Valerian, a British luxury car manufacturer based in Coventry, England.

¹ master craftspeople: skilled artisans with extensive specialist training in a particular craft, here referring to hand-assembly of mechanical and interior components.

² full-grain leather: the highest quality of leather, made from the outermost layer of the hide and retaining the natural grain; considered superior to corrected or split-grain leather.

³ motor cars: a formal term for automobiles, favoured in the language of heritage motoring brands to evoke tradition and craftsmanship.

⁴ clients: the term used here instead of "customers," implying a personal, ongoing service relationship rather than a commercial transaction.

The following advertisement is taken from nhs.uk, the official website of the National Health Service, and forms part of the UK Health Security Agency's national blood pressure awareness campaign, 2024.

¹ stroke: a serious medical event in which the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off, causing brain cells to die; symptoms include facial drooping, arm weakness, and speech difficulty.

² risk factor: a condition or behaviour that increases the likelihood of developing a disease or health problem.

³ artery walls: the muscular walls of the blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart; sustained high pressure can cause them to thicken, harden, and narrow.

⁴ manage their blood pressure: to keep blood pressure within a healthy range through a combination of lifestyle changes and prescribed medication.

⁵ NHS blood pressure check: a free, brief test carried out by a healthcare professional using a blood pressure cuff; no referral or appointment is required at most pharmacy locations.