The middle seat at the lecture

Text: an original contemporary personal-account-style practice extract.

From the middle of the lecture hall, a question seemed to acquire weight while travelling towards the microphone. I had written mine in the margin of the programme. It looked straightforward there. When the speaker invited questions, I began adding qualifications to it until the original sentence was almost buried.

A person two rows ahead asked something close to my first version. The speaker requested an example, waited, and then answered part of the question. She said the rest depended on information she did not have. Nobody laughed at the missing certainty. I crossed out half the words I had added and raised my hand.

My question did not become the memorable moment of the evening. It led to a brief explanation and another person’s follow-up. That was enough. I had imagined an audience evaluating the question as an isolated performance. In practice, it became one turn in a discussion whose next useful sentence did not have to belong to me.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to interest and engage the reader.

In your answer, consider:

• language features and techniques
• structural techniques
• the effect on the reader.

Support your views with detailed reference to the extract.