Read the three texts printed on the following pages. These texts are linked by the subject matter, which is rivers.

Text A is a part of a conversation.
Text B is a poem by Stevie Smith entitled The River God.
Text C is an extract from an autobiography by Rory McGrath.

Compare Texts A, B and C, showing how the writers or speakers express their feelings about the rivers and their surroundings through their descriptions.

The three texts all share the similar theme of rivers, all sharing mixed feeling on the topic of rivers, but mostly positive feelings towards them. Although all of the texts have certain aspects that they have in common with each other, as all texts have taken different approaches from each other for example, text A is a spoken account between two people on the subject of rivers, text B is a poem to display the power of rivers, and text C is an extract that describes the writers personal experience on the river Cam, and it was created to entertain with the main focus being on bird watching.

Texts A, B and C all share in common the use of positive adjectives throughout the texts in order to display how they feel about rivers, and they use these adjectives to display how they feel, for example text A uses the adjective ‘beautiful’ when describing the river and how it looks, this also stress’ the view of the writer more through the emphasis that is used on this utterance. In text B we can see a similar use of the adjectives when talking about the river when the same adjective ‘beautiful’ is used to describe the river again, as it pre modifies the ‘deep river bed’ trying to emphasize the true beauty of the river. In text C we see the river not being described in much detail as it only uses the adjective ‘brown’ what is a very basic adjective and does not describe the river in elaborate/interesting detail, in contrast to the adjectives used to describe the birds such as ‘spectacular’ an ‘electric-blue flash’ and ‘unreal’ displaying the writers priorities as the river is not him main concern unlike text A and B where it is the main focus.

In text A it uses many spoken features such as fillers such as ‘we::::ll’ and ‘er::::m” to show how the individual is thinking what to start with when describing the rivers and is trying to articulate his thoughts, as it is apparent that the speaker is passionate about the matter and doesn’t know where to begin. Text A does not appear to be as decisive in their speech as text’s B and C, as text A is spontaneous speech, making the speaker not very prepared in there speech hence all of the fillers. It also it shows the formality of this from the ellipsis ‘suppose’ to demonstrate how he is using the informal register to put his views across to the listener, and is telling it rapidly to get everything he needs to say out. This informality is only found in text A, as text B and C this isn’t the case, as in texts B and C they show it through the use of the pre-modification of the adjectives ‘golden sleepy head’ and ‘beautiful white faces’ displaying the controlled formality that they possess in text B. The same follows through in text C where it uses descriptions such as ‘turquoise brilliance’, and these adjective’s on both texts highlight a very complex approach that the writer has taken, which makes both texts B and C appear much more emotive and passionate, as it adds a lot more detail, especially in text C through things like the use of the dynamic verb ‘snakes’ to give personify the river, giving imagery of the river itself and beauty of it.

In text C the extract concludes with a powerful end focus when describing the Kingfisher that he has just seen, and uses tripling to describe it with the adjectives ‘unmistakable. Spectacular. Unique’ these adjectives all have very positive connotations which are found throughout the extract when describing the experience on the river, for example, ‘sometimes you see it and shake your head and say, with a sigh, ‘wow!’’ the use of the exclamative “wow!” highlights the sheer beauty of the river as it is an astonishing sight. This is also found in texts B were they also use the repetition of the positive adjective ‘beautiful’ to describe the river and all of the things surrounding it, however this is short lived as there is a very sinister undertone to this poem that is implemented throughout e.g. the use of the declarative ‘If she wishes to go I will not forgive her’ the verb ‘forgive’ is very powerful because of the fact that anyone has free will to travel anywhere they please, and the use of this verb suggests that there is a sinister level of control and aggression here the poem in a very dark way, juxtaposing with the previous imagery. The contrasts that are shown throughout text B between the positive and the negative connotations are not shown in texts A and C, as they maintain a similar theme and tone throughout.

All texts seem to portray their experience on the river in a very positive light, all sharing the stance that is a beautiful place to be, through the use of the positive lexis such as the adverb ‘lovely’ in text A. However this does not follow through fully into text be, were there seems to veer off to a darker view and say things such as ‘so I brought her down here’ the dynamic very ‘brought’ mixed with the preposition ‘down’ creates a different tone to texts A and C as they are positive throughout, and although this is being conveyed in a positive way, the action that is taking place is wicked way. As in the likes of text A it uses things such as an end clipped verb ‘fishin’ and the elision of ‘wassa word’ creating a very light hearted and informal tone. This is supported by the high frequency lexis such as the determiner ‘few’ and the adjective ‘beautiful’ to create a very relaxed and informal conversation.

Text B is written in a way that it creates an unknown factor of what the topic is through a build up of declaratives and interrogatives, as the reader is not aware of the topic of conversation. This cant been seen from the interrogative ‘This beautiful lady, or will she go away’ having no real direction of what the topic of the poem is, slowly building up suspense by hinting to the reader what the meaning is through phrases such as ‘beautiful white face lies there’ giving a imagery of death, but not actually stating the actual scenario. There is a similar style in text C, as we see the writer talk in detail about rivers but not address the actual purpose of his visit, as he builds up the main point of the story what in this case was the sighing of the Kingfisher “there it is again” again not referring to the actual by alluding it and keeping it a mystery. However this is not the case in text A where the speaker is attempting to recollect his knowledge of rivers, and just uses multiple declaratives telling the supportive listener their knowledge, such as ‘Fleet’s a lovely stretch of water’ putting emphasis on the name of the river and not having any build up to the points like the other two texts, showing to the reader that there is no end result or climax to this extract as he is just statin his views.

The use of the pronouns also differ greatly between texts, as in text A it has the normal use of the pronouns, as they continually refer to the river as ‘it’, and this follows through into text C where it also uses the pronoun ‘It’. However this does not occur in text be were we see the repetition of the possessive pronoun ‘my’ throughout, this makes the river seem more sinister than initially found, as he is claiming possession of other people.

Both text A and C have very laidback and a neutral view on the river, as although they describe the scenery as beautiful, they still use things such as the adverb ‘lethargically’ in text C and another adverb ‘lazily’ when describing the river, as it is not very exiting and fast paced and some may say dull, you see even text C make a witty remark about the river by saying ‘no water rafting here, lads’ with the connotations on the activity of white water rafting being fast paced and fun, this suggests that this is the opposite and the writer is poking fun of this fact. Although this does not follow into text B where it juxtaposes the previous viewpoint, as it suggests that the river is a epic sight and it powerful, using the adjective ‘tall’ to describe it giving connotations of great power and epicenes.

In conclusion we can see clear links between all of the texts, as they all follow the same theme of rivers although there are slight differences in all of their views and beliefs, and this is highlighted throughout, as texts A and C seem to be complimentary of the rivers and see them just as a nice aesthetic, however text B sees the river as the opposite holding different views and opinions throughout, highlighting the clear differences in the text.