---
---I •
g
'CMST 2E03 Final Exam - April 2010 Pager' 1 -,N
am
e:
S
tudent
#:hI.
;SM. ICMST 2E03
Day Cl
ass
Dur
ation: 3 hours
Dr. Magda Stroinska
McMaster University Final Exam
April 2010
T
otal
150THIS
EXAMINATION INCLUDES 9 QUESTIONS AND
12 PAGES. YOU ARE
RESP
O
NSIBLE
F
OR ENSURING THAT YO
UR COPY OF TH
E
PAPER IS
C
OMP
L
ETE.
BRIN
G
ANY D
I
S
C
REPANCY TO THE A
TT
ENTION OF YO
UR
INVIGILAT
O
R. PLEAS
E
WRITE
AL
L YOUR RESPONSES ON THIS EXAM COPY.
1. Complex economic problems are difficult to describe in simple terms. The foUowing excerpt from the CBC website uses a number ofmetaphors.
a. Please underline or highlight all expressions that you consider metaphoric. ~)
Should Canada fear housing bubble trouble?
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 10,2010; By Tom McFeat, eBe News
These days, it doesn't take much to steer conversation toward the current state of the Canadian
housing market. To put it mildly, it's been on fire.
The most recent MLS data show that the average resale home in Canada sold for $337,410 in
December - up 19 per cent from a year earlier. Sales were up a stunning 72 per cent. Bidding
wars are in full swing in Toronto and Vancouver, with anecdotal reports of some properties drawing
20 offers or more.
Economists agree that the current environment of record low mortgage rates is driving the current
buying frenzy. A closed variable-rate mortgage goes for just 225 per cent at the major banks
even Jess from some smaller lenders - and a five-year fixed mortgage can be had for less than
four per cent.
3
t/CMST 2E03 Final Exam - April 20 10 Page 2 ..So the question then becomes how hard the landing will be once mortgage rates begin to rise. And
everyone agrees they will rise. The only point of contention is when and how fast.
You only have to look at the recent collapse south of the border to see just how brutal a housing
bubble burst can be. A huge wave of U.S. foreclosures played a key role in the global financial
meltdown and the average American home price plunged by a third from 2007 to 2009 (Canadian
prices fell only nine per cent from peak to trough and have since rebounded). Could the same thing
happen here?
In Canada, many economists, mortgage professionals, housing industry watchers and central bank
advisers have been busy wading into the debate over whether we are about to echo the American
collapse in prices.
b. Please choose four metaphors used in the text and discuss them using tenninology and concepts covered in class. What specific effects do they produce in the reader? Use the concept of "cognitive frames" in your answer. <--J6)
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
c. W hat is a metaphor? Explain in your own words how metaphors function and how they affect our perception of complex phenomena?
L-!2)
J • g . L'CMST 2E03 Final Exam - April 2010 Pag\:· 3 •
2. Here is an actual e-mail (with the student's name and address changed) sent to a professor in the Department of Linguistics and Languages by a student. Please name and explain five communication strategies that are surprising about this request and could be highly irritating to the professor? You
can use all that you have learned about communication in this course. ( /5 points)
On Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:01 :53 -0500 Mary B <[email protected]> wrote:
I am coming to your office at 10:30. Please be there so we can discuss the issue at hand. I will call you at 3 this afternoon if you can't make it to your office at that time.
, . . 'CMST 2E03 Final Exam - April 2010 Pa~· 4 .,. 3. Describe your idiolect using the table below. Please be specific. < - / 5 points)
Type of language Criterion Characteristic features variety
LL g I 'CMST 2E03 Final Exam - April 20 10 Pag 5 •
4.
Please look carefully at the two pictures above. One is the poster for the 2008 Batman fIlm The Dark
Knight; the other is a spoof ad (i.e. it is meant as a parody) for McDorulld's.
a. Please analyze the pictures, noting two types of intertextual refi rences used in the spoof ad: i) visual and il) verbal. <-14)
_ • • li/CMST 2E03 Final Exam - April 2010 Pa~" 6 ••
b. The movie Shrek (I, II and III) invites the audience to constantly make connections between the events and characters in it and events and individuals we know from elsewhere, in particular from other fields of the entertainment industry. Please explain in your own words how you understand the Dotion of intertextuality and its significance within modern popular culture using two of your own examples of intertextual references from any of the Shrek movies. What is the effect of intertextuality in that movie?
<-/5)
5. a. Please read the text below and underline referring expressions used in it to describe Colonel Russell Williams. <-/2)
The secret life of Colonel Russell Williams
If police are correct, he was a cold-blooded planner who in hours could transform from commander to monster
by Martin Patriquin et al. Maclean's Magazine; Tuesday, February 16, 2010
In the early 1990s, years before Col. Russell Williams was an accused double murderer, he was a
young, eager lieutenant stationed at the Canadian Forces flying school in Portage la Prairie, Man.
A rookie instructor in the old CT-134 Musketeers, Williams was an obvious standout, quiet but
intense. "He was super," says Greg McQuaid, a retired major who was chief flight instructor at the
time. "He was smart, hard-working and skilled. He could be 50 focused that sometimes it was like
he could look right through you."
Like countless others who crossed paths with Col. Williams. McQuaid is now wondering whether
his old friend's trademark focus was a sign of something much more sinister. But like everyone
else, he just can't reconcile what police now believe: that Russ Williams, the man in charge of CFB
Trenton, Canada's largest and most important air base, was also a serial predator who raped and
killed innocent women. The truth-if police are correct-is that Williams was a man with two
lab 3 2 'CMST 2E03 Final Exam - April 20 I 0 PalJD 7 •
distinct faces, a meticulous, cold-blooded planner who could transform from officer to monster and
back again in a matter of hours.
Since his arrest on Feb. 7, Williams has yet to offer any explanation for a turn of events that has
not only shocked the entire country. How could a man with such an impeccable record harbour
such a heinous secret? Everyone who worked with Williams praised his leadership, loyalty and
intelligence. Nobody had any inkling of a double life. Williams, like all air force officers, also
underwent an annual performance review. Again, Williams passed with flying colours, and in July
2009 he was rewarded with a coveted posting: the top man at CFB Trenton.
b. Based on your experience with media discourse (Assignments 2 and 3), please explain how referring expressions can be used to shape the reader'sIlistener's attitudes and opinions. Use examples from tbe text to illustrate your points. , , - / 4 points)
6. In the following text (adapted from the CNews website) the author makes a statement regarding the language used by teens for instant messaging and its effects on teen literacy and career prospects. Wbat do you tbink? In your explanation use concepts relating to slang and standard language that you have learned in this course and try to use your own examples to iUustrate your points. L-/4)
Students failing because of Twitter, texting
By Susanna Kelley, THE CANADIAN PRESS, February 1, 2010
Cell phone texting and social networking on Internet sites are degrading writing skills, say even experts in the field.
"I think so too," says Joel Postman, author of "SociaiCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate," who has taught Fortune 500 companies how to use social networking.
The Internet norm of ignoring punctuation and capitalization as well as using emoticons may be
acceptable in an email to friends and family, but it can have a deadly effect on one's career jf used at work.
1 • ill .t'CMST 2E03 Final Exam - April 20 I 0 Paglr 8 •
"It would say to me ... 'well. this person doesn't think very clearly, and they're not very good at
analyzing complex subjects. and they're not very good at expressing themselves, or at worse, they can't spell, they can't punctuate,' " he says. "These folks are going to short-change themselves, and right or wrong, they're looked down upon in traditional corporations," notes Postman.
7. Botb Deborab Tannen and Jobn Gray say the sexes often speak virtually different languages. She
caUs it "report talk" vs. "rapport talk." He calls it Martian and Venusian. Based on tbe material
covered in class, please explain how you understand this difference and how you think it might impact
communication in general or in the work place. ( /3)
8. Tbe (ollowing is a letter from the Toronto Humane Society sent to·Dr. Stroinska. It is addressed to Dr. Stroinska's dog, Sniklefritz. Imagine that you are working for the Society and were given tbe task of
evaluating the existing letter format for the upcoming fund raising campaign. Please read the following letter and identify and evaluate at least three different ways the letter is persuading the reader to give
financial support to the THS. Finish witb your recommendation: is this a good fundraising letter or not.
Justify your decision. ( 16)
Page 9 zL . g .l'CMST 2E03 Final Exam - April 2010
TORONTO HUMANE SOCIETY
r
"
~
-t
'::>(i <.J\ (.d!Jt\.£ Wcv..ltl(.t.
n.l:J~~\.&
u u \w£~£.?
i
Dear Sniklefrirz and Friends, iv._I(..•
t_H~.
---1
1
" •
I still shudder when I think of how I was treated. For [wo years, I was neglected. Nobody took the time to rub my belly or tell me what a good dog I was.
J never stopped trying to win over my guardian. Every day when she came home I was there to greet her, tail wagging enthusiastically - but she just brushed past me. She never once saw the hurt in my eyes.
Then one day, she took me for a ride in the car. I was so happy. Maybe she loved me after alL But then she did the unthinkable - rying me up outside a store and getting back int0 the car without me. I barked and barked until she was out of sight, then I put my head down on my paws and whimpered softly.
It wasn't long before someone came along and brought me to
The Toronto Humane Society. I was scared at first but when 1 saw the compassion in the eyes of the staff, hope bloomed in my heart once again.
The other animals here feel the same way. Every one of us at The Toronto Humane Sociery gets a second chance at happiness
no matter how long it takes.
We owe it all to caring people like your guardian. Their support belps to feed us, treat our health problems and give us shelter. And it gives us hope for the one thing we wish for more most of a11-a loving new home.
This is the season of giving and
r
hope your guardian will find it in their heart to give a very special gih to the hundreds of animals who will spend the festive season here. Their donation of $27, $36, or even $50 will save lives and make holiday dreams come true for a little someone who only wants to be loved.The day I arrived at the shelter, I was a mess. My fur was so matted I could barely walk or sec:. I was filthy too and very thin because my guardian often forgot to feed me.
The staff here took good care of me - giving me nourishing food to eat and shaving my matted fur. They had me looking my canine best in no time.
Continue~e¢~... Toronto Humane Society. 11 River Street. Toronto. ON M5A 4C2 416.392.2273 19976
••••
Pa~10 k' g IIIUCMST 2E03 Final Exam - April 20 10
-
2
They also took care of my emotional needs. You see, I was scared of the other dogs and I hated being alone. So, the staff took me upstairs to the offices. For the first time, I got a taste of how it felt to be loved. And it felt wonderful.
But as kind as they are at The Toronto Humane Society, I know 1 can't stay here forever. I need to be in a real home with a family of my very own.
Your guardian can help make that happen - for me and hundreds
of others. Right now, there are over 400 animals in the shelter on River Street or in foster care, just waiting for the right person to come along and
take us home.
Please remind the special person in your life that their special gift also helps pay for important programs, like Cruelty Investigation~ Foster Care, and Emergency Rescue, all geared to keeping innocent animals safe and healthy.
Of course, we're grateful for any amount your guardian can send but perhaps you can ask them to consider joining The Toronto Humane Society'S
SA
VB
THE ANIMALS 1EAM.. For as little as 70 cents a day, they can be a guardian of hope to abused, abandoned and neglected animals all year long.You are so lucky to live in a good home, surrounded by love. That's JUSt
how it should be - you deserve nothing less. Animals like me are lucky tOO lucky to be safe at The Toronto Humane Society, lucky to have caring friends like your guardian looking out for us.
Please ask them to be generous this holiday season. Their gift will remind animals like me just how much we're loved.
Your friend,
Mattea Shelter Dog
P.S. A truly special way for your guardian to show their support is to send the enclosed tree tag along with their holiday gih. With each tag received, every animal will know they are in someone's heart and thoughts this season.
1Ii 3 ./CMST 2E03 Final Exam - April 2010 Pagl! 11
Answer Question 8 here:
t· 3 . 'CMST 2E03 Final Exam - April 20 I 0 Page 12 •
9. In "The War Prayer," Mark Twain is trying to appeal to his readers to consider the full meaning of what they may be wishing or praying for. Use all your knowledge of communication and linguistics theory acquired in this course to explain how you understand his message. ( 14 points)
