Before the names are read

Text: an original contemporary speech-style practice extract.

In a few minutes, we will read the names on this list. To the printer, they were lines that fitted inside a margin. To the people waiting here, each name belongs to years of work, several versions of a plan and at least one moment when continuing looked doubtful. We should take slightly longer over them than the printer did.

A difficult name is difficult to the person encountering it, not to the person who has answered to it all their life. If we can rehearse where to stand and when to applaud, we can rehearse the words by which we introduce someone. Asking how a name is pronounced is a small preparation, not an admission that a speaker has failed. Guessing confidently is not the same as taking care.

Our ceremony will still have mistakes. A microphone may crackle; someone may turn the wrong way. We can correct a name without making its owner apologise for needing the correction. When the first person crosses the stage, let us give their name the same attention we intend to give their achievement. The list is orderly. The lives it introduces have been more complicated, and deserve to be heard clearly.

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.