Applying the problem-solution pattern to a radio commercial


Abstract


In this paper we present an analysis of a radio commercial from the perspective of the clause-relational model as especially developed in Hoey (1979, 1983, 2001). Our attention will thus focus on the larger patterns which regularly occur in texts, and in particular on one of the most common and important patterns: the Problem-Solution pattern, which occurs in a wide range of types of written and spoken discourse. A brief description of the Problem-Solution pattern therefore precedes our analysis and our discussion of the utility of the model in describing the organization of our piece of discourse, and of some of the difficulties encountered in the application of the model to it.


DOI Code: 10.1285/i22390359v33p25

Keywords: discourse analysis; Problem-Solution pattern; clause relations; advertising.

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