Description
Rhetorical Situation
Mike's:
- response to call for papers, time/date probably limited
- simple school e-mail layout
- "...first book started before started teaching..." sounds like possible former student/teacher association
- subject in form of reply: quick, perhaps crunched for time
Matt's:
- quick reply, within half an hour, may have been waiting for message
- seems to have time for more lengthy reply
- "...out sometime for a brew..." informal, suggests friendship association outside of school/professional association
- subject in form of reply: quick, perhaps crunched for time
Header Elements
Both:
Genre:
Mike's:
- single name introduction, seperate from body of message
- first sentence sounds like continued greetings
- non capitalized signature of name followed by automatic signature of contact information
Matt's:
- "Hi, Mike--" informal greeting, only seperated from body of text by dashes, continued with sentence
- no signature of any sort
Lexicon
Mike's:
- jargon use: wiki
- clear, concise, informal language; not flowery
- abbreviation: SCSU (Saint Cloud State University)
Matt's:
- informal
- upbeat with exclaimation points
- abbreviations: AC (Air Conditioning); MN (Minnesota)
- jargon use: rhet/comp (rhetorical composition?)
Sentences
Mike's:
- begins with informal, common fragment greeting
- mix of simple and compound sentences
- active voice
- length typical of conversational talk
Matt's:
- begins with fragments
- short, informal, concise sentences
- active voice
- typical length
Punctuation
Mike's:
- typical, correct use of punctuation
- dash instead of formal commas in greeting and signature
Matt's:
- comma after "Hi" awkward or unneeded
- fragments with commas here and there
- overall correct and proper punctuation
- two dashes to set apart greeting instead of beginning a new paragraph
- exclaimation points give excited and informal feel
Editing
Both:
- feel like natural conversation, no need to edit or reread
Paralinguistics
Mike's:
None
Matt's:
- smiley, sign of informality and familiarity with reader
Length
Mike's:
- less than 60 words
- 6 sentences
- 3 paragraphs
Matt's:
- around 150 words
- 14 sentences
- 2 paragraphs
Embedding
Mike's:
- Original message provides background for us (for the project) and reminder to recipient of original message and explains why Mike is writing to Matt
Matt's:
None
Paragraphs
Mike's:
- short, quick, to the point
Matt's:
- first paragraph longer than second, more in depth
Organization
Mike's:
- begins with reply to original message, then moves into personal info
Matt's:
- begins with reply to personal inquarry, then references to call info/original intent
Typing Adaptations
Both:
- used exclaimations for emphasis
Matt:
- used quotation marks to quote phrase from Mike's letter
Analysis
Even from a first glance, the fact that Re: is in the subject line draws on simplicity: the simplest and quickest way to respond to a message is to hit the Reply button.
The paragraphs and sentences alike in the message are short and informal. This further proves some people’s theories that e-mail tends to be a simpler, less thought out process than the former form of paper-and-pen letter writing. Yet Mike’s message is in somewhat more of a formal format than Matt’s, as he makes the salutation separate from the rest of the body, and includes a sign off and signature. Matt includes none of these properties that are common of pen-and-paper writing. Though Matt’s message is more lengthy, it does not necessarily include more formal information. In fact, the length mostly contains casual speech-like sentences and varied punctuation.
- Note: The rest of this is a feeble attempt at a rewrite... I tend to write notes on paper first and when I awoke this morning with a book on my face I also found that my dog had decided to use my notes as a chew toy. They didn't survive.
The language of the letters themselves also add to the informality. "Significant Financial setback" is the longest multi-syllabic phrase in the two letters combined. Yet they don't get quite as informal as many researchers say e-mail has become. There's no "yea," "nope," "gonna," or "l8er" in either piece.
Interpretation
Perhaps the fact that these pieces are informal yet do not contain todays messaging jargon suggests that both readers/composers are of an older generation than the one currently dominating the internet. Matt does, however, use a smiley. But then again so does my 54 year old stepmother (albiet they are often missing noses and harder to follow).