" This gives a sense to the reader that somebody cares, the language used is colloquial and is more like a letter to a close friend rather than an information page on the Internet.
The author then changes tactics to persuade the reader away from suicide by giving the reader a personal definition of what suicide is:.
"When pain exceeds pain-coping resources, suicidal feelings are the result. Suicide is neither wrong nor right; it is not a defect of character; it is morally neutral. It is simply an imbalance of pain versus coping resources." This allows the reader to.
place more trust in the author, because this shows the reader that they are not abnormal for having these feelings, plus by using technical language, the reader is more likely to place trust in the author.
The author then gives five points of which she requests the reader thinks about, this is almost a five step guide, which makes the article easier to understand. In step one of the list, the author quotes statistics that the reader is likely to live, but she does not dispute the fact that the reader may be very depressed. However by quoting statistics she is giving the impression to the reader that although she is not a professional healthcare worker, she has revised and backed up her knowledge of the subject. .
In step two of the list, the author actually tells the reader what to think. Although in most cases this is bad, this command is put as bluntly as possible. The author begs the reader to think about what they are going to do, for at least twenty-four hours. This way, the reader has time to reflect on what they have read, and the author hopes that during that time gap, the reader will have changed their mind about suicide, however the author avoids writing this because she needs to give a certain amount of sensitivity toward the reader.
In step four of the list, the author explains that not everyone will understand the way the reader feels, the author gives the reader a list of people to turn to for advice, for example, The Samaritans.
