Describing People

O'Reilly has been described in many different ways - some more favourable than others. Which do you think are most favourable and what differences are there between the descriptions?

Raging O'Reilly Dan O'Reilly, a local publican

Mr O'Reilly Mr D O'Reilly, member of the Licensed Victuallers' Association

Desperate Dan Shy hero, Dan O'Reilly

Respected publican, Mr Daniel O'Reilly O'Reilly, D. licensee

The following descriptions are taken from three daily newspapers.
Notice how, although they describe the same people, they do so in different ways.

The Sun	Daily Mirror	The Guardian
The Earl of St Andrews, 24, 17th in line to the throne	The shy Earl of St Andrews, a cousin of the Queen. The 24-year-old earl, whose name is George	The Earl of St Andrews, aged 24, oldest son of the Duke and Duchess of Kent.
Canadian lover Sylvana Tomaselli, 29, a divorcee	Sylvana Tomaselli, 29, a lapsed Roman Catholic	Miss Sylvana Tomaselli, the 29-year-old Canadian
Ace Allan Allan Lamb, the 32-year-old batsman dropped by England	England reject, Allan Lamb	Allan Lamb Lamb
John McEnroe, three-times Wimbledon champion Tired MacEnroe	Tormented superstar John McEnroe Fallen star John McEnroe	John McEnroe McEnroe

* Which descriptions give most information?
The descriptions may be made up of title, forename, surname, general words, age, job, ....

* How close to the beginning of the phrase does the name come?

* What kinds of words appear before the name?

* Make your own collection of different ways in which the same person is described

Here is one common sequence:

describing phrase	first name without surname
perky pensioner	Doris

or in reverse:

first name without surname	describing phrase
Doris	the perky pensioner

and here is a different sequence:

title	first name	surname	describing phrase
Mr	Edward	Chaplin	first secretary in Tehran

* Find other sequences of words used to describe people.

* Which sequences are preferred by which newspapers?
* Collect pictures of people from newspapers and describe them in your own words using these techniques.

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