Filled-in petition forms and hand-drafted petitions to the Foundling Hospital
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Nuria Calvo Cortés
Abstract
The present study compares filled-in petition forms with hand-drafted petitions addressed to the Foundling Hospital between 1759 and 1815. The focus of the analysis is on the similarities and/or differences between the two types and how they compare to the petition models presented in the letter-writing manuals of the time. The results show that the hand-drafted petitions display more variation in general than the filled-in petition forms, although not as much as expected. The findings suggest that the writers of these petitions were aware of the conventions established at the time even when they had to draft a petition themselves and that their writing did not differ much from the writing of other letter writers of the time.
Abstract
The present study compares filled-in petition forms with hand-drafted petitions addressed to the Foundling Hospital between 1759 and 1815. The focus of the analysis is on the similarities and/or differences between the two types and how they compare to the petition models presented in the letter-writing manuals of the time. The results show that the hand-drafted petitions display more variation in general than the filled-in petition forms, although not as much as expected. The findings suggest that the writers of these petitions were aware of the conventions established at the time even when they had to draft a petition themselves and that their writing did not differ much from the writing of other letter writers of the time.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction 1
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Part I. Pragmatics and prescriptivism
- Researching understatement in the history of English 10
- The rise and fall of sentence-internal capitalization in English 33
- Gender, genre, and prescriptivism 60
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Part II. Political, legal and medical text types
- A manipulative technique in a congressional debate 86
- Is legal discourse really “outside the ravages of time”? 101
- Duties, offices, and conduct 129
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Part III. The language of late modern letters
- Changing styles of letter-writing? 154
- “No criticism or remarks & pray burn it as fast as you read it” 180
- Filled-in petition forms and hand-drafted petitions to the Foundling Hospital 198
- “Quhen I am begun to write I really knou not what to say” 225
- Index 251
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Pragmatics and prescriptivism
- Researching understatement in the history of English 10
- The rise and fall of sentence-internal capitalization in English 33
- Gender, genre, and prescriptivism 60
-
Part II. Political, legal and medical text types
- A manipulative technique in a congressional debate 86
- Is legal discourse really “outside the ravages of time”? 101
- Duties, offices, and conduct 129
-
Part III. The language of late modern letters
- Changing styles of letter-writing? 154
- “No criticism or remarks & pray burn it as fast as you read it” 180
- Filled-in petition forms and hand-drafted petitions to the Foundling Hospital 198
- “Quhen I am begun to write I really knou not what to say” 225
- Index 251
