What’s in This Toothpaste is a formal and informational essay. Bodanis’ essay has an overall explicit thesis, which is to be aware of ingredients in your toothpaste hence the title “What’s in This Toothpaste?” Some background information for the reader would be that Canadian laws require manufacturers to label all ingredients on a product (Bodanis, 10). Bodanis starts by listing the three major ingredients; water, chalk, and titanium dioxide. Next, he describes other enhancing ingredients in the paragraphs that follow such as glycerine glycol, seaweed molecules, paraffin oil, detergent, and peppermint oil. Firstly, an effective example of diction is how Bodanis uses technical words such as titanium dioxide, formaldehyde, fluoride, etc. just
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One of the places where parenthesis was used was, “A bit of paraffin oil (the fuel that flickers in camping lamps) (Bodanis, 12).” Bodanis uses parenthesis to further explain and expand on his thoughts and in some cases, give a simpler explanation of the ingredient such as how he clarified what paraffin oil is in this sentence. This helps the reader understand what these ingredients are so they can be more actively aware when they see them. Another example of syntax was the use of short sentences. This allows the point and topic of each sentence to be communicated easily and effectively to the reader. Due to this being an informational essay, Bodanis uses short sentences because they are good for factual purposes and no drama is really needed in this type of essay. The third example of syntax is the use of dashes. “Manufacturers add optical whitening dye—the stuff more commonly found in washing machine bleach—to make extra sure that that glance in the mirror shows reassuring white (Bodanis, 11).” Bodanis uses dashes to further expand his ideas by giving other applications of the ingredient or further clarifying what the ingredient …show more content…
Bodanis kept relisting the ingredients used at the end of the last few paragraphs. Bodanis does this to recap the ingredients for the reader and restating them multiple times portrays their importance to the reader. Also, this tell the reader to be aware/lookout for these ingredients. The third example of a rhetorical device used is enumeration. “So it’s chalk, water, paint, seaweed, antifreeze, paraffin oil, formaldehyde, and fluoride (Bodanis, 12).” Bodanis puts this in the last paragraph to state the final list of ingredients used. This clearly shows the reader which ingredients to be aware of if they were previously unaware. Lastly, Bodanis’ tone is for the most part calm and casual, but occasionally somewhat sarcastic. His tone is calm because he is not urging on the reader to know the ingredients, but is simply informing them. An example that portrays Bodanis’ calm tone is, “The craters, slashes, and channels that the chalk tears into the teeth will also remove a certain amount of build-up yellow in the carnage, and it is for that polishing function that’s there (Bodanis, 11).” Bodanis’ tone becomes slightly sarcastic when he asks questions such as, “Is that it?” and when he is stating something such as, “With glycol, ooze and paraffin, we’re almost there. Only two major chemicals are left.” This slightly sarcastic because he is trying to show that even after many ingredients, there are still some left. His overall
One of the places where parenthesis was used was, “A bit of paraffin oil (the fuel that flickers in camping lamps) (Bodanis, 12).” Bodanis uses parenthesis to further explain and expand on his thoughts and in some cases, give a simpler explanation of the ingredient such as how he clarified what paraffin oil is in this sentence. This helps the reader understand what these ingredients are so they can be more actively aware when they see them. Another example of syntax was the use of short sentences. This allows the point and topic of each sentence to be communicated easily and effectively to the reader. Due to this being an informational essay, Bodanis uses short sentences because they are good for factual purposes and no drama is really needed in this type of essay. The third example of syntax is the use of dashes. “Manufacturers add optical whitening dye—the stuff more commonly found in washing machine bleach—to make extra sure that that glance in the mirror shows reassuring white (Bodanis, 11).” Bodanis uses dashes to further expand his ideas by giving other applications of the ingredient or further clarifying what the ingredient …show more content…
Bodanis kept relisting the ingredients used at the end of the last few paragraphs. Bodanis does this to recap the ingredients for the reader and restating them multiple times portrays their importance to the reader. Also, this tell the reader to be aware/lookout for these ingredients. The third example of a rhetorical device used is enumeration. “So it’s chalk, water, paint, seaweed, antifreeze, paraffin oil, formaldehyde, and fluoride (Bodanis, 12).” Bodanis puts this in the last paragraph to state the final list of ingredients used. This clearly shows the reader which ingredients to be aware of if they were previously unaware. Lastly, Bodanis’ tone is for the most part calm and casual, but occasionally somewhat sarcastic. His tone is calm because he is not urging on the reader to know the ingredients, but is simply informing them. An example that portrays Bodanis’ calm tone is, “The craters, slashes, and channels that the chalk tears into the teeth will also remove a certain amount of build-up yellow in the carnage, and it is for that polishing function that’s there (Bodanis, 11).” Bodanis’ tone becomes slightly sarcastic when he asks questions such as, “Is that it?” and when he is stating something such as, “With glycol, ooze and paraffin, we’re almost there. Only two major chemicals are left.” This slightly sarcastic because he is trying to show that even after many ingredients, there are still some left. His overall