Text Message Analysis

What is the sender/message/receiver relationship?

How is this relationship impacted by stylistic decisions made by the sender?

Part 1: Vocabulary
Define the terms below.

Sender: Style:
Person who writes the message Choices in how you write the message.

Receiver: Analysis:
Person who reads the message To break down something to see the
underlying parts of it.
Message:
The text sent

Part 2: Examples
Get out your phones and spend some time looking for messages that seem to have made specific
rhetorical choices: punctuation, unusual typing or spelling styles, abbreviations, emojis, etc. Type
them in the left column, describe the choice in the middle column, and describe the effect on the
receiver’s perception or on the meaning of the text.

Text Stylistic Choice Effect on perception/meaning

If you could pick up the
giant dumpster you
made in my car, I’d
appreciate it
Giant dumpster is a big This makes the reader feel like the
exaggeration as to the writer is mad at them and he is also
message they are trying that it is urgent, just in the context
to communicate. of the conversation.

Are you sure, no This makes me feel like even though

Are you sure you are
my son
your fine.
you freakin Dumbhead
can we come get
question mark make this this is a pretty extensive
feel neutral even conversation going on or it could be
though it is pretty angry. a joke. This is investigatable being
neutral.
Lowercase y, wrong This makes me feel like the person is
“your” and the period. not fine. If somebody says this in a
conversation, the other person did
something wrong and it’s not
completely resolved.
Lowercase freakin, not It feels unofficial and probably like a
correctly spelled, joke; it doesn’t really feel angry.
lowercase u.
long U This feels like they’re waiting for you
and trying to get your attention.
yooouuuuu

Capitalized words, not Sounds playful and pleading. Not

real words really official.

Wessa Playsa
Part 3: Altering Stylistic Choices
Rewrite three text messages from Part 2 and revise them to alter the intended or perceived
meaning. Explain the change you made and the desired effect on the receivers perception or the
meaning of the text.

Original Text Revised Text Changes you made and the

desired effect on
perception/meaning
your fine. Your fine! This is an optimistic spin on
the “your fine.” This text
sounds like the conversation
is over and doesn’t really
need to go on. This is more
of a let’s move on and I
actually don’t care about
what goes on.

You are my son. This sounds more focused. If

this occurred in a
conversation, this statement
would sound more loving
“but I expect better of you”
Are you sure you are my than a doubting question
son about what the son’s doing.

If you could come pick up This makes it sound more

If you could pick up the giant
dumpster you made in my
car, I’d appreciate it.
the mess in my car I’d
appreciate it.
loving and less angry. The
exaggeration doesn’t sound
as bad to the person who is
writing the message
because they are just trying
to be polite and I’d
appreciate it. The comma
being left out also
contributes to the ease of
this text.
Part 4: Apply your learning
Analyze the text message below, following all instructions in the prompt.

Context: My friend asked if he could interview me for a paper he was writing but he never
responded about a day and time. I sent him a text asking if he still wanted to interview me a
few days later and this is what he sent back:

Write a paragraph in the box below in which you analyze the rhetorical choices made by
the “speaker” of this text message. Be sure to address what the speaker’s purpose is, and
consider how the audience (receiver) may interpret the message based on the speaker’s
choices. Be sure to have a topic sentence!

I notice from this paragraph that this person is uninterested and seems kind of
disconnected. I first of all notice that there are words followed by …. repeated throughout
the text. I also notice that there are some things left out in this text. I feel like the dots
make it feel like it is kind of unfocused. Either he is busy or not present. It sounds like he is
apologizing for a lot of the things he has been doing and is really apologetic. As for the
context of the text, him not interviewing her leads me to feel that he doesn’t really care
about what has happened and is moving on. The “thanks again for talking me” at the end
is different from the rest of the text. It seems like he wasn’t paying attention to who he
was texting or something when he wrote it.