P3 & M2 - Elaborated and restricted speech codes

Elaborated code – writer or speaker uses a wide range of alternatives.

Restricted code – writer or speaker limited to a small range of alternatives.

Toys R Us.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43225248   BBC

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bloodbath-high-street-bloodbath-high-12102203   Mirror

BBC headline - Toys R Us UK goes into administration.

Mirror headline - Bloodbath on the high street: Three major chains announce 6,000 jobs cuts in one morning.

The BBC headline can be seen as restrictive. It does inform the reader that the business “Toys R us” is going into administration, however it does not give a reason as to why it is. It can be restrictive as UK residents are aware on what Toys R us is however cannot be too elaborated as they wouldn’t want to give the whole story away or the consumer wouldn’t continue to read the article.

The Mirror article is also restrictive as it doesn’t mention in the headline about Toys R us. They also use sensationalism too exaggerate on the topic, giving away that “bloodbath on the high street” is more serious than Toys R us going into administration.

Both articles mention about the jobs that are being lost or of risk of losing once the Toys R us stores shut. They both mention that 3000 jobs are at risk and that Toys R us had a VAT bill of £15 million.

 The BBC use bullet points along with a picture of Toys R us to give an overall showing of who they are and the problems they have faced causing the administration of the business.

However, in the mirror article, they use sentences in the article to express the same situation. For example they say “ Founded in 1985, Toys R Us is one of the UK’s largest toy retailers with over 100 stores nationwide and over 1,500 stores worldwide in 33 countries”. Also they say “company grapples with a £15million VAT bill”. The BBC put it in a format that is easier to read for the consumers, both used statistics however, just presented them in a different way.

The context inside the mirror article is elaborated as it mentions three chains; Toys R us, Maplin and Prezzo. However the BBC article is elaborated when talking about Toys R us but doesn’t mention the other two stores closing.

Both pictures mention how Toys R us are closing down and underneath mention the amount of jobs that are being lost, or at risk of being lost in the near future. Underneath the BBC picture it says “Toys R Us has gone into administration, putting 3,000 UK jobs at risk”. Under the Mirror picture it says “Around 3,200 jobs are at risk at Toys R Us” both mention about the job losses however only in the BBC does it mention about Toys R us going into administration.