English- Grade 10

STUDENT’S NAME: ________________________GRADE/SECTION: ________________

TEACHER: _______________________________ DATE SUBMITTED: _______________

GETTING INTO THE LANGUAGE FEATURES OF AN ARGUMENTATIVE TEXT

I. LEARNING SKILLS
A. Most Essential Learning Competency
Identify key structural elements and language features of an argumentative
text

B. Objective/s
Identify the language features of an argumentative text:

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1. Modal Verbs

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2. Emotive Words
3. Evaluative Language
4. Conjunctions
5. Declarative Statements
6. Rhetorical Questions
7. Passive Voice

II. INTRODUCTORY CONCEPT

Argumentative text- is a type of writing that requires a writer to defend a stand or belief on
a topic using sound reasoning, persuasion, and evidence (facts and statistics).
In developing an argument, you are proving your readers that what you say regarding
your beliefs and positions is logically valid and acceptable. It also must appeal to reason,
ethics, and emotion.
Language Features of an Argumentative Text

1. Modal Verbs – They are used with other verbs to express ability, obligation, possibility
and so on. They express the writer’s attitude to the topic.
Example: can, could, should, must and might
Example of modals used in argumentative text:
People are encroaching on animals’ territory and soon animals will no longer have
the space they need. People must work now to protect animal habitats.

2. Emotive Words – are used when certain word choices are made to evoke an emotional
response. Emotive words often aim to persuade the reader or listener
to share the writer or speaker’s point of view, using language to
stimulate an emotional reaction.
Examples:
agony, blessed, harsh, magnificent, vulnerable

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 Marine mammals should not be captured because they died from pneumonia, ulcers,
and other stress- related diseases. Most of these helpless creatures suffer from boredom.
Dolphins in the wild can swim up to 40 to 100 miles per day but in pools they go around
swimming repetitive patterns. Due to boredom and limited space, many dolphins abuse
themselves; they often bang their heads against the tank and aquarium wall.

3. Evaluative Language – suggests the degree of approval or helps compare ideas.

Examples:
important, best, most, truth, largest, more popular
I urged people to take responsibility for this earth we share with other creatures
and which we hold in trust for our children. We can do it if we work together.

4. Conjunctions – link ideas in an argument. Create conditions and express cause and
effect.
Examples:
firstly, for that reason, for example, as a consequence, because of this,
in particular, therefore, finally

There are many reasons why people should not smoke. First, smoking is unhealthy,
it can cause lung cancer and it can lead to an early death. Furthermore, smoking is
expensive. A pack of cigarettes costs five dollars. You would spend 1500 dollars each year.

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Lastly, cigarettes smell bad. When people smoke, you can smell the cigarettes on their

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clothes all day. To sum up, people should not smoke because it is unhealthy, expensive,
and unattractive.

5. Declarative Statements – are simply statements that relay information. They state facts
or opinions and let the reader know something specific.

Examples:
The great inventors have been banished from Athens.
I am moving to a new house next week.

Throw out the bottles and boxes of drugs in your house. A new theory suggests that
medicine could be bad for your health, which would at least come as good news to
people who cannot afford to buy expensive medicines. However, it is a blow to the
medicine industry, and an even bigger blow to our confidence in the progress of
science. This new theory argues that healing is at our fingertips: we ca be healthy by
doing spiritual methods such as Reiki, Yoga, and Tai Chi.

6. Rhetorical Questions – are posed without the expectation of an answer. Clearly, readers
can answer the questions to you, but they might answer the questions themselves.

Examples:
Can you imagine that?
Is this a joke?
Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?
Why is this happening?

Can you imagine how much a single day can cost if you live in Shibuya,
Tokyo? People should live in the United States rather than Tokyo because the cost of living
in Tokyo is much higher than the United States. For instance, a simple outing to the movies

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would cost a couple 46 dollars, while the same pair of movie tickets would cost just 26.50
dollars in New York City which is often considered one of the most overpriced cities in the
United States.
7. Passive Voice – produces a sentence in which the subject receives an action. It is used
to deemphasize the actor or even conceal the actor’s identity. You may
also use the passive voice when you do not know who the actor is,
when the actor’s identity is not important, or when you want to
emphasize the action instead of the actor.
Examples:
The lesson has already been discussed.
New workers are hired by our company.
The video was posted online.
People should eat cake because it increases study performance.

Cake has been proven to increase concentration. A study found that children who
just eat one piece of cake per day have 30% better concentration than children who have no
cake. An increase in concentration can allow students to cope with increased class
demands, especially in more difficult classes, such as Math which requires concentration to
solve complex problems.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HywMVTvNGc

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III. ACTIVITIES

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A. Practice Tasks
Practice Task 1: Identify Me!
Read the sentences below. Identify the kind of language features used in each sentence.
Choose from the following choices. Write your answer on your answer sheet.

emotive words, conjunctions Passive voice Modal Rhetorical

verbs Questions

declarative statements Evaluative language

_______________ 1. Next, fear is good as it is a powerful motivator.

________________ 2. I will be leaving this city next week.
________________3. The report has been delivered.
________________4. Can people survive without love?
________________5. I urged people to be responsible for every act he does. We are the
stewards of this earth.

Practice Task 2: Guess What?

Study the argumentative text below. Identify the language feature/s used in the underlined
words or expressions. Choose from the words inside the box.

Emotive words, conjunctions Passive voice Modal Rhetorical

verbs Questions

Declarative statements Evaluative language

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 (1) Can you imagine living without money in this day and age? (2) Is it even possible
to survive without money in today’s materialistic and cash-driven world? It has been said that
money makes the world go round. (3) Hence, it is no wonder that money has become the
central focus of many people’s lives. (4) Everyone seems to be working tirelessly for money.
Even students are studying hard so that they can get a well-paid job and earn lots of money
in future. (5) Although I think money cannot, it buys happiness. It is something that we
cannot live without.
It is clear that money cannot buy happiness as many people who work hard every
day for money are often very unhappy. (6) Most of them do not even have time to spend
their hard-earned money due to heavy workload or long working hours. They have no time or
energy for leisure activities and needless to say, their family and friends (7) hardly get to see
them too. This (8) can make them feel lonely and depressed. (9) Thus, working hard for
money does not bring happiness instead (10) misery in this case.

Excerpt from Money Can’t Buy Happiness https://www.collegeessay.org/blog/argumentative-essay-

examples/argumentative-essay-for-o-level.pdf

1. _____________________
2. _____________________
3. _____________________
4. _____________________
5._____________________
6. _____________________
7. _____________________
8. _____________________
9. _____________________
10. _____________________

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Practice Task 3 Looking for the One!

Read the text below and look for words that speak about the language features in an
argumentative text. Identify lines and tell the language feature/s used by the author.

Fear is the bad feeling that one has when he is in danger or when a particular thing
frightens him. A German proverb goes, “Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.” This is
absolutely true as fear will often cause people to imagine the worst and act irrationally, in
that case can fear be any good? Personally, I think a small amount of fear is good and even
necessary as it not only acts as a form of control and deterrence but also serves to motivate
oneself. Nonetheless, being overly fearful is bad as it will severely hamper man’s progress.
In this essay, I will discuss how fear can be a double- edged sword, bringing both
advantages and disadvantages to man.

Excerpt from “Fear is good.” https://www.collegeessay.org/blog/argumentative-essay-examples/5-

paragraph-argumentative-essay-example.pdf

B. Assessment: Read the argumentative essay below. Determine words or

expressions used by the author that make his point of view or stand on the issue more valid
and reasonable. Identify the language features used for each word or expression you
identified.

The Internet does more harm than good. What is your view?

To the majority of teenagers and working adults, the internet has been regarded as
one of the most innovative achievements of humankind. Since the invention of the internet,
its pervasive and life-altering influences can be felt in many aspects of people’s daily lives.
While mostly beneficial in areas such as communication, trade and research, the Internet
has also caused a proliferation of vices such as pornography and hacking. Despite the

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 negativity associated with the internet, I strongly believe that the internet does better than
harm.
Communication all over the world has been considerably improved, thanks to the
Internet.
With the widespread availability of messengers and social networks like Yahoo and
Facebook, people can easily communicate irrespective of their geographic locations. Gone
are the days when international communication meant a delay of several days to months.
Today, interaction through the internet is not only much cheaper and more convenient than
traditional modes of communication; it also has the option to allow face to face interaction
such as through the use of Skype. Now, family members and businesses can not only have
instantaneous communication, they can also have the added personal touch even if they are
in different continents or in any remote part of the world.
The Internet is one of the key contributors to global free trade. When the
transnational corporations want to open business in the other countries, they first have to
contact partners in those countries before officially making a deal. In such a case, the
Internet certainly does a great job. Furthermore, the Internet is instrumental in reducing
operation costs for businesses where employees can be easily hired from developing
countries and work remotely from their native land. For example, many transnational
companies set up centers in countries like the Philippines or India where workers are
cheaper to employ. The same benefits are applied to people’s daily lives. With the
omnipresence of online shops, many people are able to save their precious time shopping.

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Instead, they have more time to do other important things such as helping their children to

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do homework or having a short visit to their parents’ house.
On the other hand, objectors to the internet argue that it spoils the trying generation
by spreading pornography and violence, which is considered rampant nowadays. There is
no doubt that pornographic websites and violence videos are ubiquitous online, but whether
the young are spoiled by it depends on the young themselves. Owing to the continual
warning of using the Internet on many cyber education programs, the youth are supposed to
know about all the boon and bane effect of surfing webs. Thus, once they have heightened
awareness, there is likelihood that they will not be attacked by cyber hackers. Moreover,
there is a variety of information for their research online. Instead of spending hours flipping
over hundreds of books in the libraries, one may easily obtain necessary documentation
within a second of mouse click.
Similar to any other technological inventions, the Internet has both pros and cons;
nonetheless, its benefits far outweigh its harms. With recent upgrading Internet security
software and substantial improvements on its use, I am firmly convinced that the Internet is
more a blessing than a curse.

Source: https://www.collegeessay.org/blog/argumentative-essay-examples/argumentative-essay-
example-for-o-level.pdf

Using the text above, complete the table below.

Modal Verbs Emotive Conjunctions Passive Rhetorical Evaluative Declarative

Words Voice Questions language Statements

IV. ANSWER KEY

Practice Task 1: Identify Me!
1. Conjunction
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 2. Modal verb
3. Passive Voice
4. Rhetorical Questions
5. Evaluative language
Practice Task 2 Guess What?
1. Rhetorical Question
2. Rhetorical Question
3. Conjunction
4. Declarative Sentence
5. Conjunction
6. Evaluative language
7. Emotive Word
8. Modal Verb
9. Conjunction
10. Emotive Word
Practice Task 3 Looking for the One! Answers vary
Sample answers
1. Nonetheless - conjunction 2.Overly fearful – emotive words 3.Will – modal verb
4. Not only…but also – conjunction
Assessment: Answers vary. Sample expected answers
Modal Emotive Conjunctions Passive Rhetorical Evaluative Declarative

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Verbs Words Voice Questions language Statements

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can most Furthermore The same firmly The Internet is
Thus benefits are convinced one of the key
applied to contributors to the
people’s global free trade
daily lives
will Spoils On the other The youth strongly With the
hand are believe widespread
supposed to availability of
blessing moreover know about messengers and
than a all the boon social networks
curse and bane like Yahoo and
effect of Facebook, people
surfing can easily
webs. communicate
irrespective of
their geographic
locations
may pervasiv nonetheless Communica For example,
e and tion all over many
life- the world transnational
altering has been companies set up
influence considerabl all centres in
s y improved, countries like
thanks to Philippines or
the Internet. India where
workers are
cheaper to
employ.

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V. REFLECTION/COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

VI. REFERENCES

Asuncion, T.Q (2021, January 23). English 10 Quarter 2 Week 2: Key Structural Elements and
Language Features of an Argumentative Text. YouTube. Retrieved June 9, 2021 from
https://youtube.com/watch?=6HyMVTvNGc&feature=share
https://www.collegeessay.org/blog/argumentative-essay-examples/argumentative-essay-for-olevel.pdf
https://www.collegeessay.org/blog/argumentative-essay-examples/5-paragraph-argumentative-essay-
example.pdf
https://www.collegeessay.org/blog/argumentative-essay-examples/argumentative-essay-example-for-
o-level.pdf

Congratulations! You have completed your learning adventure!

Good luck on your next learning journey!

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ASSURANCE
Prepared by:

FRELLE B. BELO, T-III

San Jose National High School (Malilipot), Albay Division

Quality Assured by:

NIDA O. BERNALDEZ, EPS-English, Legazpi City Division

MAI ANNE D. RONDOLA, EPS-English, Albay Division

APHRODITE A. BECHAYDA, T-III

SANCHO M. BOLAÑOS JR., T-II

RELIALYN B. MALATE, T-I

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