“Putin Pushes Ahead With Land Grab in Ukraine After Sham Votes”

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/29/world/russia-ukraine-war-news

Authors use diction that they know will catch the attention of their intended audience. In this way, an author indicates the values of their discourse community. In this article, the author uses words with strong negative connotations such as “land grab” and sham votes” in the headline to catch the attention of readers that have negative opinions of Putin’s actions in the Russia-Ukraine war. The authors diction is very telling of their own values and opinion in relation to the war. The headline accurately reflects the contents of the article; The author discusses Russia’s plans for the war and highlights the injustices related to them.

Several authors contributed to writing this article for the New York Times. They directly quote Putin in several places as sources to prove what they are saying. The intended audience of this article is people interested in the Russia-Ukraine war. The authors goal seems to be making the audience aware of the suffering Putin’s decisions are causing. The authors strongly appeal to pathos by showing examples of suffering people; The article contains images of a sergeant’s burial as a means of evoking a feeling of sympathy in the reader. Logos is also employed in this article; Putin is directly quoted which serves as evidence and plays to the readers logical thinking. Overall, the argument is effectively presented and is made convincing through strong diction and the inclusion of telling photographs and direct quotations.