EnglishFreePrintable

Persuasive Language Metalanguage

A free english worksheet ready for your classroom. Open in Kuraplan to grab the print-ready PDF, customize it for your students, or generate a fresh version in seconds.

Download now

Name:Date:

Persuasive Language Metalanguage

Read each example carefully. Use the metalanguage terms in the matching activity when you analyse persuasive language.

Recognising persuasive metalanguage

Metalanguage is language used to describe how language works. Writers use persuasive techniques to influence what readers think, feel or do.

1.Match each persuasive metalanguage term with its definition.

Emotive vocabulary
Repetition
Inclusive pronouns
Rhetorical question
Complex sentence

Repeating a word or phrase to add emphasis
A sentence containing a main clause and at least one subordinate clause
A question asked to prompt thought rather than receive an answer
Language chosen to stir strong feelings
Words such as “we”, “us” and “our” that bring the audience together

2.Name the persuasive technique used in this sentence: “Shouldn’t we give every cyclist a safer way home?”

3.Name the persuasive technique used in this sentence: “We can repair it, we can reuse it, we can keep it rolling.”

4.Name all the persuasive techniques used in this sentence: “Our street, our ride, our responsibility.”

5.Name the persuasive technique used in this sentence: “A heartbreaking number of bikes are abandoned when a simple repair could save them.”

Analyse a persuasive text

Read this message about a bike repair shop’s community repair sessions.

Why throw away a bike when one careful repair could bring it back to life? At our community repair sessions, you can learn simple maintenance skills while a mechanic helps you check your brakes and tyres. We believe that every bike deserves another chance, because fixing what we already own saves money and reduces waste. Bring your bike, bring your questions, and bring a friend. Together, we can make our neighbourhood safer, one well-maintained bike at a time.

6.From the repair-session message, copy one rhetorical question and one example of emotive vocabulary.

7.Copy one inclusive pronoun from the repair-session message and explain who it includes.

8.Copy one complex sentence from the repair-session message. Identify its main clause and one subordinate clause.

9.Choose two techniques from the repair-session message. For each one, name the technique, quote an example and explain how it might influence the audience.

10.Write a persuasive sentence encouraging people to attend a bike repair session. Include at least two techniques from this worksheet, then label them.