Register and audience in the persuasive writing task
The written examination includes a persuasive task: students write a 250-300 word Hindi piece for a school magazine arguing that students should learn a second Indian language. Karan drafts an opening with heavy English loanwords (opportunity, skill set, global platform), several exclamation marks, and direct commands to the reader. He also uses very formal literary Hindi in the third paragraph, quoting a couplet. His teacher says the piece reads as if two different writers produced it.
1. Identify the register problem in Karan's draft and explain how to make the piece consistent for its audience.
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The piece shifts between two registers: a chatty, English-heavy opening aimed at peers, and a literary, formal paragraph with a couplet. Neither is wrong in itself, but the mismatch disrupts the voice and makes the argument harder to follow. The audience is a school magazine, so a semi-formal, accessible Hindi that addresses students directly is appropriate.
Fixes: reduce unnecessary English loanwords where a common Hindi equivalent exists, but keep established terms that Hindi speakers routinely use rather than forcing awkward purisms. Limit exclamation marks to at most one. Replace the quoted couplet with a plain example, or introduce it deliberately as a quotation with a sentence explaining its relevance, so it serves the argument instead of interrupting it. Commands are acceptable in persuasive writing but should vary with inclusive forms (we should, it is necessary that) to avoid a hectoring tone.
2. Karan wants to add a counter-argument. Advise him on where to place it and how to phrase it in Hindi without weakening his position.
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A counter-argument belongs after his main reasons and before the conclusion, so the reader has already met his case and can see the objection being handled. Placing it first would give it too much weight; omitting it makes the piece one-sided.
Phrasing: introduce it with a concessive frame (some people say that..., it is true that...), state the objection fairly in one or two sentences, then respond with a qualification rather than a dismissal. For example, he can concede that the timetable is already full, then argue for a short optional module. Concessive and contrastive connectors in Hindi are useful here, and the response should return to his central claim so the piece ends on his position. This structure demonstrates evaluation as well as persuasion.