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: A person who states something, Style: The format of using language
usually a message.

Receiver: A person who, as the name Analysis: Detailed examination of the

implies, recieves a message. elements of structure.

Message: Format info is sent through Rhetoric: The practice of writing persuasive
(verbal, written, recorded) - left for or effective speaking through writing
recipient. compositional sentences.

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

“I’m omw down to bring They abbreviated the
you $” words “On My Way” to
make writing their
sentence easier. They
also chose to use the
dollar sign instead of
saying money for the
same purpose as the
abbreviation listed
above.
“ANSWER YOUR TEXTS They used
(2 angry face emojis)” capitalization for the
entirety of each word,
not to mention the
addition of angry face
emojis.
“also jesus f#^&in Unlike the previous
school is like 90 the example, they only used
grease idk why its so lowercase letters in the
These choices that they had made
caused the message to be
perceived as a rather fast
alternative to writing the sentence
down. It can be seen as a way to
deliver the message quickly to
promote urgency.
Capitalization is commonly used as
a way to either emphasize text or,
as seen in this message, to display
anger, similar to the emojis.
The lack of capitalization is used to
remove any sense of urgency at all,
creating small talk. Also, the use of
 hot in here” message. They also foul language is to make the sender
swore. seem “cool”.
“It’s a final. No makeup.” In this text, they use The use of punctuation in this
punctualization, as well message is to create a more serious
as only capitalizing the and professional tone to the
first letter of the message.
starting word.
*image of flat tire* “:)” The only bit of typed- The smiley-face in this message is a
out text in this message rather brief way to express
is a smiley-face. sarcasm, as it would produce irony
due to the rather unfortunate event
of a flat tire happening.
“Did you even see his This message uses The use of large words and
phenomenal acting skills large words and sentences are used to display a
in the critically sentences. sense of professionalism, although it
acclaimed film fails in doing so, as it makes the
‘Yesterday’???” person look slightly dumb while
doing so.

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 receiver's perception or the
meaning of the text.

Original Text Revised Text Changes you made and the

“I’m omw down to bring you “I am on my way to the
$” school to provide you with
your money so you can buy
tickets for the Winter
Formal, taking place this
Saturday.”
desired effect on
perception/meaning
One change that I made to
this text message out of
many was to elongate the
sentence so it is more
understandable at first
glance. Another change that
I made was that I provided a
reason why they were
bringing money.

“sorry i was sleeping ;v;” “Sorry that I missed your
previous messages, I was
sleeping.”
A change that I made to this
text message was that I
added the reason why they
were sorry. Another change
that I made was that I
capitalized all incorrect
lowercases.
 *image of flat tire* “:)” *image of flat tire* “It seems The most noticeable
that my car has a flat tire.
Lucky me!”
change that I made was
instead of an emote, I
changed their reply to the
image into a sentence that
described the photo. I also
added the “Lucky me!” to
reintroduce the irony found
in the first version of this
message.

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!

When reading this, the receiver of the message normally would feel sympathetic
towards the sender, and those feelings are had because of the message’s remorseful
tone. The sender also mixes professionality and a sense of casualness by using a lack of
capitalization yet rather prominent punctualization. Another feeling that this combination
creates is a sense of desperation, as ellipses are commonly used as a way to interpret
that the user doesn’t know what to say after using it, and the singular capitalization is
used as a way to say that the message is a large statement instead of smaller sentences.
However, in some cases these messages are written only to receive the sympathetic
reaction that most receivers have when viewing messages similar to the one above. Such
an idea can be inferred after viewing the suspicious amount of demoralizing things that
the sender uses about themselves.