Assignment 4

Part a)

Descriptive lead

An ominous silence, broken only by the call of a faraway bird, hung over the battle-scarred hills when suddenly an explosion followed by the yells of charging troops smashed the stillness. (Reader’s Digest, 15 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as an effective descriptive lead as it describes the scene by using the silence of the hill which only can be broken by the call of a faraway bird. Besides, a good descriptive lead can be such a fine-tuned piece of word art that do not need a picture. In the above descriptive lead, the readers are able to predict how silence is the hill as well as the explosion which ruined the silence of the hill. The readers are able to imagine how sudden is the explosion happened around the silence hill when no one is there. By using the above descriptive lead, the scenery can be appeared in the mind of the readers although there is none of the pictures.

Narrative lead

Local resident Terry Lynn told the local NBC broadcast station: “I saw a guy walking across the field with a handgun, shooting randomly into the crowd of children. I immediately screamed, “No, no!” (New Sunday Times, 10 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as an effective narrative lead as it is such as a storytelling that narrates the exact scene in a dramatic way. The main purpose of the above lead is to put the readers on the scenes as the shooting actions occurred. The readers are able to know how was the shooting happened and who were the victims whereby the goal of the narrative lead is to build suspense or even interest among the readers.

Anecdotal lead

While international athletes are competing for medals at the Commonwealth Games here, popular South Indian superstar Rajnikanth has been quietly ranking in millions from his latest movie, which he acted with Bollywood star, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. (New Sunday Times, 10 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as an anecdotal lead but it is not efficient enough. This is because the above anecdotal lead is not intriguing since it is not a fascinating or stirring story that unable to draw the readers in and make them want to read the whole feature as some of the readers who might not familiar with Bollywood star.

Part b)

Descriptive lead

BRIGHTON, England (UPI)—Mrs. Pamela Bransden slowly counted five, snapped into a hypnotic trance, and gave birth to an eight-pound baby. It was as easy as that. (Times Magazine, 15 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as a descriptive lead which describes a pregnant woman who is giving birth. The readers noticed that it is such an easy task to give birth of an eight-pound baby. This technique is able to create the curiosity among the readers on the following details about the procedures of giving eight-pound baby.

Descriptive lead

A man looking for taro(keladi) leaves to feed his ducks made a shocking discovery when he discovered the body of a baby wrapped in a white cloth diaper buried in a shallow grave at a farm in Kampung Baru Hicom’s reserved land in Section 26, near Sungai Klang here at noon yesterday. (New Sunday Times, 10 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as a descriptive lead which describes discovery on the buried baby by a man. The above descriptive lead describes the every single detail which included the 5W1H questions. There is no doubt that the readers are able to understand the feature by reading the descriptive lead above as the details stated clearly enough.

Narrative lead

House owner, Michelle Ong, 31, whose house is closest to the construction site, was worried that the cracks might affect her house and pose a danger to her family.

“The cracks on the tarmac pavement by the drain have caused chunks of the soil to fall into the drain. These hairline cracks just became bigger within a day or less,” said Ong. (New Sunday Times, 10 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as a narrative lead which narrates the expression of the related victim towards the cracking that nearby her house. In the quote above, the readers are able to know that the anxiety of the victim since she described that the cracks became bigger within a day or less.

Part c)

Narrative lead

He said, “I’m Lamont Woods,” in a Southern accent quickened by exposure to speech patterns elsewhere. (Reader’s Digest, 18 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as a narrative lead. There are lots of question marks after I finish reading the lead as there is not much information stated and this is the main reason that I dislike the above lead. Besides, it does not rise up my interest to continue reading the following features at all.

Narrative lead

When the tall, heavy, garishly dressed stranger appeared at the door, it was clear this was trouble. (The New York Times, 13 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as a narrative lead. I do not like the lead because it is too short for me as I am not fully understand the message in this lead. It made me feel like want to skip through the following features.

Question lead

Would you like to know what happened during one of the most eventful parties in Malaysia? (Reader’s Digest, 15 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as a question lead. I do not like the lead as it uses the word “most eventful”. The readers might be confused what can be defined of the word “most eventful”. I somehow wondering that are there lots of parties which held in Malaysia and what sort of the parties can be so eventful.