Appropriate use of modality, metaphors and other evaluative language

 

 

Metaphor is the practice of using one concept which is familiar to explain another process or concept which may be new or less familiar. For example, ‘mental health’ or ‘intellectual level’.

Modality indicates the degree of certainty in any claim i.e. research suggests that mood may be affected by cortisol level’ as opposed to ‘according to research, mood is affected by cortisol level,

Refer to extract 2.2

 

Extract 2:

There are three main psychological theories that examine humour, its comic nature and its quantifiable elements, insofar to say each theory proposes a different hypothesis to why we laugh. Most prevalent amongst these is the incongruity theory (Berger, 1994; Clark, 1970; Curco, 1996; Meyer, 2000 & Rutter, 1997).1 Schopenhauer’s interpretation of incongruity (2010) furthers Kant (2007) and is the most widely accepted theoretical basis for contemporary research on humour.2 Perhaps most important to denote in this theory is how recognition and understanding multiple sets of scripts and roles contribute to the presentation of the joke and the falseness  of the narrative congruence3, thus leading to the difference in expectation and the surprise effect (Shurcliff, 1968). This highlights a link that shows how a cognitive understanding of semantics (Giora, 1991; Grice 1975) can, in this sense lead to a better understanding of humour as a concept. Moreover, it could be suggested that the form of incongruence theory shares commonalities with the form of a joke, wherein there is a setup, expectation and twist; advocating evidence for why incongruence is the most popular humour theory.4