Учебное пособие 1876

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The subject is understood as a group of people united by a similar characteristic, such as occupation, age, hobbies. Agent of this type is highlighted in these constructions: no one + V Mod. + Inf.; anyone + V Mod. + Inf.; they + V Mod. + Inf.; N + V Mod. + Inf. (Pass).

“The bloodstream in this woman was new and it seemed to have done a new thing to her. Her cheeks were very pink and her lips were very flesh and full of colour and they looked soft and relaxed. Someone else`s blood there. If only someone else`s flesh and brain and memory. If only t h e y c o u l d h a v e t a k e n h e r m i n d a l o n g t o t h e d r y - c l e a n e r ` s a n d e m p t i e d t h e p o c k e t s a n d s t e a m e d a n d c l e a n s e d i t a n d r e b l o c k e d i t a n d b r o u g h t i t b a c k i n t h e m o r n i n g ” [3*, p.39].

Поток крови в этой женщине был новым и, казалось, сделал с ней новое. Ее щеки стали очень розовыми и губы яркими, они выглядели мягкими и расслабленными. Чья-то кровь в ней. Если бы только это была и чья-то плоть, и мозг, и память. Если бы только о н и с м о г л и б ы з а б р а т ь е е с о з н а н и е в ч и с т к у и в ы в е р - н у л и б ы к а р м а н ы , о т п а р и л и и р а з г л а д и л и е г о , и п е р е с т р о и л и , и в е р н у л и о б р а т н о у т р о м .

IS – fantastic medical orderly-technicians.

“When should we go?” “Right away. T h e y m i g h t c o m e t o a r r e s t y o u early in

s o m e t h i n g ? I f t h e y c o u l d o n l y g i v e m e s o m e t h i n g ” [4*, p.278]. Я так люблю тебя, и я поправлюсь опять. Я буду стараться сейчас. Р а з в е о н и н е м о - г у т д а т ь м н е ч т о - т о ? Е с л и б ы о н и м о г л и т о л ь к о д а т ь м н е ч т о - н и б у д ь .

IS – doctors.

Verbs of probability (could, may, might), indicating some doubt or assumptions of probability of an event can be called typical modal verbs in the constructions.

4. Generalized universal subject.

This type of subject is understood as a generalized group of people with no distinguishing features except belonging to human beings. In the following fragments of fiction texts agent is just people, people in general, some people. The subject of this type is detected in the following constructions: anyone + V Mod. + Inf.; anybody + V Mod. + Inf.; one + V Mod. + Inf.; no one + V Mod. + Inf.; N + V Mod. + Inf. (Pass); it + V Mod. + Inf. (Pass).

“My wife says books aren`t real.” “Thank God for that. You play God to it. But who has ever torn himself from the claw that encloses you when you drop a seed in a TV parlour? It grows you any shape it wishes! It is an environment as real as the world. It becomes and is the truth. B o o k s c a n b e b e a t e n d o w n w i t h r e a s o n .” [3*, p.94-95] –

Моя жена говорит, что книги – не реальны. – И слава Богу, что так. Вы можете закрыть их и сказать: «Подождите». Вы изображаете Бога для книг. Но кто когдалибо вырвал себя из лап, когда вы усаживаетесь перед телевизором. Он делает из

Scientific Journal “Modern Linguistic and Methodical-and-Didactic Researches” Issue 1 (24), 2019 ISSN 2587-8093

IS – some people. The implied subject does not have any individual characteristics and is thought with a high degree of generalization. Any representative of human society could not notice such method of book storing.

5. Situational subject.

It should be noted that this type of subject can only be determined in a specific speech situation. Agent means people who the saying is directed to. The aim of a speaker is to warn his interlocutor, to give advice or share experience. Situational subject is presented only by constructions with pronouns one, you, they: one + V Mod. + Inf.; you + V Mod. + Inf.; they + V Mod. + Inf. In passive constructions this type of subject has not been found.

“Luckily, queer ones like her don`t happen often. We know how to nip most of them in the bud, early. Y o u c a n ` t b u i l d a h o u s e w i t h o u t n a i l s a n d w o o d . If you don`t want a house built, hide the nails and wood.” [3*, p.77]. К счастью, странные люди, как она, не встречаются часто. Мы знаем, как подавлять большинство из них в самом зародыше. Т ы н е с м о ж е ш ь п о с т р о и т ь д о м б е з г в о з д е й и д о с о к . Если ты не хочешь строить дом, то спрячь доски и гвозди.

IS – person who appears in a similar situation.

“If not, we`ll just have to wait. We`ll pass the books on to our children, by word of mouth, and let our children wait, in turn, on the other people. A lot will be lost that way, of course. But y o u c a n ` t m a k e p e o p l e l i s t e n .” [3*, p.150] – Если нет, мы должны просто ждать. Мы передадим книги нашим детям словами уст, и позволить нашим детям потом, в свою очередь, передать это другим людям. Многое будет потеряно таким способом, конечно. Но т ы н е с м о ж е ш ь з а с т а в и т ь л ю д е й с л у ш а т ь .

IS – anyone who wants to say something.

In most cases situational subject was found in proverbs [5*; 6*], that constitute a brief, proven by the previous generations “guidance to action" in different situations of life.

“You can`t eat your cake and have it.” Ты не можешь есть свой пирог и владеть им.

IS – person who tries to do two things at the same time.

“You cannot judge a tree by its bark”. Ты можешь судить о дереве по его коре.

IS – person who tries to judge by appearance. 65

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“You cannot teach old dogs new trick.” Нельзя учить старых собак новым трюкам.

IS – person who wants to change the traditions.

“One may lead a horse to the water but he cannot make him drink.” Ты можешь при-

вести коня к воде, но не сможешь заставить пить ее.

IS – person who wants to compel another person to do something.

“One might drink as one brews.” Ты должен пить, то, что сам приготовил.

IS – person who is to blame.

“They must hunger in winter that will not work.” Они будут голодать зимой, если не будут работать.

IS –people who don't want to work.

It should be noted a wide range of modal verbs usage in constructions with situational subject connected, obviously, with a variety of life situations, for which utterances-proverbs are kept to store experience of many generations of people. Proverbs transfer prohibition, advice or probability of the certain result of an action.

Conclusion

As a result of our research we received classification of types of indefinite subject (subject of a defined group; definite known subject; subject of a generalized group; generalized universal subject; situational subject) in constructions: no one + V Mod. + Inf.; one + V Mod.

+Inf.; anyone + V Mod. + Inf.; anybody + V Mod. + Inf.; you + V Mod. + Inf.; they + V Mod.

+Inf.; N + V Mod. + Inf. (Pass); it + V Mod. + Inf. (Pass).

In all analyzed fragments of English texts, the proportion of the constructions with the above types of subject is the following. Subject of a defined group becomes the most frequent in our material – 46% of the total number of all constructions. Then definite known subject follows – 18%. Proportion of the constructions with subject of a generalized group is 14%. The constructions with subject defined as a generalized universal are accounted for 12% of all text fragments. The least frequent subject according to the results of our research is situational subject – 10%.

In conclusion it should be noted that unlike Russian language English structural schemes are always two-membered. However, English verb forms do not always contain a reference to agent. For this purpose construction with one, you, they containing implied agent are used. In passive constructions semantic subject is not expressed lexically, but can be determined from semantics of words, previous or subsequent context. In our material facts of reality that make up content of saying and are thought by a speaker as possible, desirable, obligatory and credible, are presented by modal verbs can, could, may, might, must, have to, ought to, need and relevant infinitive forms.

All the above allows us to conclude the need for further studies of deep structure of a sentence with a view to identify national specific of syntactic and lexical means of indefinite subject expression in English language.

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References

[1]Paducheva E.V. O semantike sintaksisa: materialy k transformatsionnoy grammatike russkogo yazyka / E.V. Paducheva. – 2-e izd. ispr. i dop. – Moskva: KomKniga, 2007. – 293 s.

[2]Arutyunova N.D. Predlozheniye i ego smysl: logiko-semanticheskiye problemy / N. D. Arutyunova. – 4-e izd.. ster. – Moskva: Editorial URSS, 2005. – 382 s. – (Lingvisticheskoye naslediye XX veka)

[3]Zolotova G.A. Kommunikativnyye aspekty russkogo sintaksisa / G.A. Zolotova. – Moskva: Nauka, 1982. – 368 s.

[4]Fedorov V.A. Lingvokontseptologicheskaya spetsifika frantsuzskikh strukturnykh skhem s mestoimeniyem il v svete teorii sintaksicheskikh kontseptov: monografiya / V.A. Fedorov. – Voronezh: Izdatelsko-poligraficheskiy tsentr «Nauchnaya kniga», 2012. – 122s.

[5]Admoni V.G. O dvusostavnosti predlozheniya / V.G. Admoni // Uchenyye zapiski pervogo Leningradskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo instituta inostrannykh yazykov. Novaya seriya. Vyp.2: Voprosy grammatiki i leksikologii. – Leningrad, 1955. – S.131 – 172.

[6]Levitskiy Yu. A. Sintaksicheskaya sistema yazyka / Yu. A. Levitskiy. – Perm: Svobodnaya assotsiatsiya psikholingvistov, 1993. – 138 s.

[7]Rylov Yu.A. Sintaksicheskiye svyazi slov v ispanskom predlozhenii / Yu.A. Rylov. – Voronezh: Izdatelstvo voronezhskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 1985. – 304 s.

[8]Volokhina G.A.. Popova Z. D. Sintaksicheskaya sistema russkogo yazyka v svete teorii sintaksicheskikh kontseptov / G.A. Volokhina. Z. D. Popova.– Voronezh: Istoki. 2009. – 209 s.

[9]Vinogradov V.V. Russkiy yazyk (grammaticheskoye ucheniye o slove). – M.; L.: Uchpedgiz, 1947. –784 s.

[10]Akhmanova O.S. Slovar lingvisticheskikh terminov / O.S. Akhmanova. –Moskva: Sovetskaya entsiklopediya. 1966. – 608 s.

[11]Zolotova G. A. Ocherk funktsionalnogo sintaksisa russkogo yazyka / G.A. Zolotova. – 2- e izd.. ispr. – Moskva: KomKniga, 2005. – 350 s.

[12]Koprov V.Yu. Aspekty opisaniya semantiko-strukturnogo ustroystva predlozheniya / V. Yu. Koprov // Mir russkogo slova i russkoye slovo v mire: Materialy XI Kongressa MAPRYaL T.1. – Sofia: Heron Press, 2007. – C. 134 – 141.

[13]Krasnova T.I. Subyektivnost – modalnost / T.I. Krasnova. – SanktPeterburg: SanktPeterburgskiy universitet ekonomiki i finansov, 2009. – № 4. – S. 92 – 96.

[14]Arutyunova N.D. Yazyk i mir cheloveka / N.D. Arutyunova. – 2-e izd.. ispr. – Moskva: Yazyki russkoy kultury, 1999. – I-XV. 895 s. – (Yazyk. Semiotika. Kultura.)

[15]Lomov A.M. Tipologiya russkogo predlozheniya / A.M. Lomov. – Voronezh: Izdatelstvo Voronezhskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 1994. – 280s.

Analysed sources

[1*] Mitchel M. Gone with the wind / M. Mitchel – Pan Books Ltd, 1974 – 1011 p. [2*] Orwell G. Animal Farm / G. Orwell. – Penguin Books, 2000. – 113 p.

[3*] Bradbury R. Fahrenheit 451. Short Stories / R. Bradbury. – Moscow: Raduga Publisher, 1983. – 384 c.

[4*] Hemingway E. A farewell to arms / E. Hemingway. – Moscow: Progress publishers, 1969. – 320 p.

[5*] Gvardzhaladze. I. S. Angliyskiye poslovitsy i pogovorki / I. S. Gvardzhaladze. D. I. Mchedlishvili. – Moskva: Vysshaya shkola, 1971. – 77 s.

[6*] Vasilyeva. L. V. Angliyskiye poslovitsy. pogovorki. krylatyye vyrazheniya / L. V. Vasilyeva. – Moskva: Tsentrpoligraf, 2006. – 350 s.

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UDC 81 ’42

CRITERIA IDENTIFICATION OF THE TEXT OF THE EDITOR’S LETTER

IN ENGLISH GLOSSY MAGAZINES

M.S. Smekhnova

____________________________________________________________________________

Voronezh State University

Postgraduate student of faculty of Romance and Germanic philology, teacher of English Chair for science departments VSU

Maria Sergeevna Smekhnova e-mail: rudakova_mari@mail.ru

____________________________________________________________________________

Statement of the problem. The article is devoted to the study of the linguistic-cognitive aspect of the text based on the texts of the editor’s letters in glossy magazines. The article reveals the features of the embodiment of the constitutive criteria of the text as a linguistic phenomenon in the original material of the texts of the editor’s letter in English glossy magazines. The article defines the fundamental features of the text of the editor’s letter as a structural component of the format of a glossy magazine in English media.

Results. The features of the text of the editor’s letter are highlighted in terms of its compliance with the criteria of the text as a linguistic phenomenon: the letter of the editor has a complex linguistic and cognitive character. It must meet the prototypical criteria of the text as a cognitive base for decoding the meaning programmed by the author by the collective addressee based on the background knowledge and experience of the latter. The editor’s letter should correspond to the whole complex of communicative tasks.

Conclusion. The editor's letter has the title meaning and is very different from other materials of an issue. It is a peculiar face of the magazine, whose main task is to attract the attention of the audience, announce key materials, create a mood and state the theme of the issue. The editor’s letter has a lot of functions. Its complexity is expressed in a set of interrelated sentences, which represent a coherent sequence. An important element is the appeal to the reader, which can both play a key role in the editor’s letter and have shifted accents. This type of text can be considered as special and independent, since it has a whole set of unique features, implicit and explicit characteristics, meets the tasks of the author and the magazine’s team, while remaining a text in its broadest sense.

Key words: text, text criteria, editor's letter, glossy magazine, target audience, author-editor.

For citation: Smekhnova M.S. Criteria identification of the text of the editor’s letter in English glossy magazines / M.S. Smekhnova // Scientific Journal “Modern Linguistic and Methodical-and-didactic Researches”. – 2019. - №1

(24). – P. 68-75

Introduction

In the modern world, the establishment of features for processing, receiving, verbalizing and transmitting information by various social, age, gender, status, ethnic, and psychological groups of people acquires a special role. The relationship between language and society is ambiguous: on the one hand, the physical environment in which society lives is reflected in the language, and on the other hand, the social environment is reflected in the language and often affects the speech and worldview of each person.

In the research, the text of the editor’s letter is characterized as a special type of text and is analyzed from various theoretical and practical points of view, namely, linguistic, semantic, syntactic and pragmatic aspects. Our particular interest in this issue can be explained by the fact that, as a special type of text, the letter of the editor has not yet fallen into the research field of view of linguists, along with a general description of the text, a letter to the editor, which has already received some analytical coverage [1].

Research methodology

All of the above constitutes relevance, which is determined, firstly, by the actual linguistic material of the research, which is unique from a linguistic and pragmatic point of view;

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© Smekhnova M.S., 2019

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secondly, considering the editor’s letter as a special type of text oriented towards dialogization – building a special connection between the addresser (the editor of a glossy magazine) and the collective addressee (the target audience of the magazine). We reasonably believe that the text of the letter of the editor as a linguistic phenomenon is unfairly deprived of the attention of research thought due, firstly, to the uniqueness of its architectonics, and secondly, to its pragmatic polyfunctionality.

An editor’s letter (An Editor’s letter or From The Editor) is one of the must-have sections of the modern English glossy magazine that seeks to keep in touch with its readers. With this text, the editor announces the content of the issue and shares personal stories and opinions, creating “an image” of the magazine and forming an idea about it as a whole.

The object of the research is the texts of the editor's letter in English men's and women's glossy magazines. The subject of this research is the criteria for the selection of the text of the letter of the editor as a linguistic phenomenon.

This article reflects the results of our study on the aspects of the text of an editor's letter in glossy magazines based on the texts of an editor's letter from British glossy magazines Cosmopolitan (40 texts) and Men’s Health (40 texts).

In accordance with the goals and objectives of the study, a whole range of research methods was used, including both general methods of scientific knowledge (analysis, synthesis, comparison) and linguistic methods (semantic, distributive, contextual, stylistic, quantitative analyzes).

Objectives of the study:

1.To consider the editor’s letter as a special type of text.

2.To identify and describe the features of the organization of English text of editor’s letter in accordance with the ontological characteristics of the text as a linguistic phenomenon.

3.To reveal the features of the embodiment of the constitutive criteria of the text as a linguistic phenomenon in the original material of the Editor’s Letter texts of the English version of glossy magazines.

Research results

As a written type of text, the letter of the editor must meet the basic criteria of the text so that the recipient can easily identify it among the rest, namely:

• criterion of complexity (the text of the letter of the editor should be a set of sentences);

• coherence criterion (the text of the editor’s letter implies the presence of a coherent sequence in it);

• cohesion criterion (the architectonics in the text should correspond to the logic and have grammatical alignment);

• thematic criterion (thematic unity should be reflected in the text, which should be explicitly and implicitly related to the subject matter of the entire publication and the individual issue in which it is presented, that is, the text should not be mediated, but thematically one with the magazine);

• criterion of completion (the text of the letter of the author is subject to structural norms and is a complete and related object; and although the letter text may be copyright and free, it contains a structure that allows readers to distinguish it from other materials of the issue, for example, it has an appeal to the recipient, as well as parts: introduction, main and conclusion);

• communicative criterion (the text of the letter of the author should be a communicative unity, consistent with certain goals, objectives and motives of the editor).

In the context of the discussion of this problem, it is significant that today there is a tendency to identify a relatively new text criterion, such as its “culture” [9], which, in our opinion, is relevant and genre-forming for the editor’s letter, since the focus on the recipient has to take into account his belonging to a particular culture. This, in turn, determines the way of thinking of the reader and his perception of the linguistic picture of the world.

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As the results of the analysis show, each of the above criteria finds a kind of embodiment in the letters of the editor in English magazines for women and men.

So, with respect to criterion No. 1 (criterion of complexity), the following state is observed. In both Cosmopolitan and Men's Health, editors present their text as a set of sentences with a single theme. However, it is worth noting the greater integrity of the text in Cosmopolitan magazine, where the text of the editor’s letter presented on the whole page is a single whole unit, rather than fragmented, like in Men's Health, where half of the page is devoted to annotations of especially interesting headings with page numbers, which tend to attract the attention of the reader.

The architectonics of the editor's letter in the men's magazine Men's Health has not always had the above-mentioned format of 2017–2018. From 2015 to the beginning of 2017, before the change of the chief editor, the title of the analyzed text was “The First Word”, and the text always had a subtitle, which attracted the attention of the reader. In addition, links to pages with interesting headings were inclusive: the editor indicated them in the text in brackets. And this means that, including them in the text, the author-editor simplifies the text of the letter for the reader so that he can easily trace the story telling. Moreover, the text of the editor’s letter occupied the entire page, had a signature, contact details and a few photos until 2017 in Men’s

Health. At the moment, the listed characteristics are also inherent in the letter of the editor in Cosmopolitan, which testifies to the tendency of the ideological unity of the letter of the editor to the magazine as a whole.

Despite some fragmentation of the text on the page, Men’s Health editor maintains the integrity of the text of the letter itself, relative to the text of the editor’s letter in Cosmopolitan, which is smaller in size. Let's compare: the text of an editor's letter in a women's magazine is on average 35-38 sentences (490-520 words), whereas in a men's magazine - 20-23 (370-400 words).

In the texts of the editor’s letter in the women's magazine Cosmopolitan, the editor seeks to maintain a balance between the quantitative and qualitative criteria of his text, given the structural design of the text on the page. The editor's letter in the women's magazine takes almost all the space on the page.

In general, despite the differences in the number of sentences, the text of the editor’s letter in both the women's and men's magazines meets the criteria for the complexity of the sentences.

The content side of the texts in both men's and women's magazines echoes the overall theme of the magazine's issue, for example, in the New Year's edition, Cosmopolitan editor devotes her text to New Year's promises (New Year's Resolutions), and Men's Health editor tells about his plans for the coming year calling every day to do special (Make every day count. Here’s to 366 Days of Awesome [1*].

Analyzing the text of the editor's letter in male and female magazines, we consider the assumption that the editor's letter should be part of thematic unity with the issue, correct. Explicit and implicit links to the topic of the entire publication and the specific issue of the magazine in which it is published are not indirect.

On the one hand, the connection between the letter of the editor and the entire issue may be obvious, especially if the issue is devoted to one of the holidays that are popular in society (for example, Christmas, New Year, Valentine's Day). Also, the text may reflect a connection with a season (summer, spring, autumn, winter), when the author tells about the story that happened to him/her in one of these seasons, gives practical advice, etc.

On the other hand, the connection between the letter of the editor and the number may be implicit. There are examples when it is impossible to unequivocally say what will be in the headings of this issue in the text of the editor’s letter. However, here the editor, in our opinion, puts the task of attracting the attention of the reader with a personal story in the first place, and the mention of the topics covered in the issue becomes secondary. Perhaps this is because many

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readers make a choice in favor of a magazine, not only because of the contents of the magazine, but also because of the personal and trusting format of the narrative in the letters of the editor.

Thus, the letter of the editor almost never acts indirectly from the magazine issue. The editor seeks to maintain a connection with the entire number implicitly or explicitly.

Studying the parameter of completeness of the editor’s letter, we propose that the text itself is a relatively complete unity, since the norms of the structure are largely respected. Despite the free author's style, the editor's letter meets the structural criteria that allow the audience to distinguish it from other textual material of the issue. The author’s letter contains not only an appeal to the reader. It is possible to distinguish the introduction, the main part and the final (conclusion).

For example, in Cosmopolitan, the editor follows the classical structure of the organization of the text; there is an introduction, main part and conclusion. In the introduction, the editor most often tries to interest the reader, to intrigue him, for example:

To the outsider, I live a life of two dramatically different halves. From Monday to Friday, I race around the city; hair blow-dried, fingers manicured, my body zipped and nipped into the sort of clothes that don’t accommodate pasta at lunchtime. But come Saturday morning, it is a different story. Because the weekends are w h e n I … w a i t f o r i t … garden [5*],

as well as introduces the topic and mentions the context of the future narration:

When I was growing up, I thought I’d live in a bigger house than the one I grew up in. I also thought I would have two cars in my driveway, and be halfway to paying off the mortgage by now. I thought I would be more ‘together’ than I feel most of the time, and that I would have more answers to life’s biggest questions, rather than more questions to life’s biggest answers [4*].

A women's magazine editor uses a rhetorical question to encourage the reader to stop and think about the answers she personally would give;

Why did I think all of ? What did you get, didn’t get a bit more straightforward than you could get? [4*].

The main part has a logical narration, the editor intelligently and conveniently builds the text for the reader’s eye, dividing the text into paragraphs, which certainly helps to follow the author’s thoughts.

Regarding stylistic and genre specificity, in the letter of the editor, language and nonlinguistic means are chosen on the basis of the goals and objectives of the author, who usually takes into account all the characteristics of the target audience: gender, age, psychological characteristics. Individual attention is paid to such parameters as education and cultural level of the audience, which helps to increase the direct impact on people reading the magazine. In this regard, the authors simply need to understand that background knowledge, the cognitive context of the editor and the reader, play a special role. Cognitive linguistic interpretation schemes contribute to the formation of individual conceptual systems, their structure and content [10, 11], which affect the perception of the information obtained from the letter. So that the audience could not only completely decipher, but also understand the message, it just needs to have the same information background as the author.

The special structural organization of the text of the letter of the editor is clearly delimited by the change of topics. These borders, while retaining their external clarity, acquire a special internal character here, since the speech subject - the editor - here manifests his/her indi-

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viduality in style, in his/her views on problems, in all aspects the author's vision of this type of text is traced. This sense of individuality creates special inner boundaries that separate one text from other related texts. The editor’s letter thus imitates the dialogue between the author of the text and the reader, is adjusted to the latter’s reaction, to his active understanding of the text, which can take various forms (internal influence on readers, their conviction, critical evaluation, influence on subscribers, etc.); it determines the response of others in difficult conditions of verbal communication. So, the editor's letter mimics the dialogue, despite the fact that it seems to be one-sided.

One of the most important conditions for the successful perception of text by the reader is the possession of the same background knowledge (cognitive context) that the author has. This is due to the fact that the message presented in the letter can often relate to specific socioeconomic spheres or cultural aspects/ events and, for full decoding, require the recipient to be aware of such references. For example, in the print version of the glossy magazine Cosmopolitan, the editor-in-chief Farrah Storr often appeals to the reader's pre-verbal knowledge:

I learned about sex long before I had it (thank you, J u d y B l u m e ’ s F o r e v e r , the one battered copy passed around my classroom like a relay baton). I learned about love – and loss of it – through T h e G r e a t G a t s b y b y Francis Scott Fitzgerald, just as my own heart was breaking. I learned about injustice by reading T o K i l l A M o c k i n g - b i r d , and about loss and regret through just about every R a y m o n d C a r v e r s h o r t s t o r y out there… [3*].

It is worth noting here that in the absence of at least a minimal understanding of the listed works of the reader, the main communicative task of the author will remain, with greater probability, unfulfilled. In other words, her personal experiences and stories, explicitly expressed through an allusion to significant literary changes in her life, will not induce the recipient to continue reading the magazine. However, in our opinion, the writer speaks about some of the most popular literary works, which a priori should be known to almost everyone.

In this vein, it is also worth mentioning that one of the important aspects of background knowledge that determines the choice of verbal and non-verbal means is the political awareness of the reader and the degree of awareness of contemporary socially significant issues. Open editor’s appeal We need thinkers just as much as we need doers. And we need writers and students of A-level literature just as crucially as we need coders and brilliant scientific minds. It’s the very reason why we need left-wing politicians as much as we need right-wing ones, and why in meetings we need a devil’s advocate just as much as we need a cheerleader [3*] is implemented through an appeal to the background knowledge of the target audience, and at the syntax level through the use of parallelism. This technique contributes to the structuring of the author’s thoughts and the correct placement of semantic accents in the sentence, which, in our opinion, will facilitate the reader’s perception of information.

Along with these socially significant problems of modern British society, the problem of gender and aspects related to it is highlighted in a special way. On the one hand, Cosmopolitan magazine editor positions the idea of “I am a woman” through the use of woman/ women tokens, which explicitly indicates the gender orientation of the letter:

You connect into the virtuous circle of woman. It is a club of sorts, yes, but not a club in the modern sense of the word. <…> This is the reason why women o n t h i s v e r y m a g a z i n e will share things you may not read anywhere else. <…> W e share not because it’s what good journalists do, but because it’s what good w o m e n do. <…> And also I would like to add one last piece of advice: share. Share the good and the bad. Share it with no expectation other than perhaps, one day, it will help a w o m a n out

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Scientific Journal “Modern Linguistic and Methodical-and-Didactic Researches” Issue 1 (24), 2019 ISSN 2587-8093

there who is in need of answers. W o m e n – you shouldn’t have to be more like man to get ahead…[3*].

Personification through the use of the personal pronoun you and the lexical repetition of the word share cannot leave the reader indifferent, who is now convinced that she, as well as the editor-in-chief of the magazine she chose (“why women on this very magazine will share”)[3*], can become part of a powerful community of women who help each other in every possible way, and play a significant role in it. The editor also stresses the importance and value of the information that can be found in the British edition of Cosmopolitan magazine (This is the reason why women o n t h i s v e r y m a g a z i n e will share things you may not read anywhere else) [3*].

The editor of Cosmopolitan, which is focused on the female target audience, incorporates in the letter rather personal stories and stories of people around her, for example, some other editors of the magazine:

These examples of personification of stories are numerous and typical for this type of text, focused on the female target audience, which can be explained by the fact that the letters of the editor are similar to the epistolary genre, which manifests itself in extra-linguistic factors

– the personal direction and personification of the addressee. However, it should be noted that the addressee’s personification has an implicit character, that is, it is created artificially, because in fact the editor does not appeal to the individual, but to the readership community as a whole, in other words, to the collective addressee.

The text of the editor’s letter in terms of its compliance with the criteria of the text as a linguistic phenomenon has the following features:

1.The editor’s letter, for all its apparent simplicity, is complex linguistic and cognitive in

nature.

2.The editor's letter must meet the prototypical criteria of the text as a cognitive base for decoding its meaning programmed by the author by a collective addressee based on the background knowledge and experience of the latter (cultural and educational level, cognitive context, socio-economic and political specifics).

3.Representing the reasoning with the narration, the letter of the editor must meet the whole complex of communicative tasks, that is, by using certain linguistic and extra-linguistic means of interest to the recipient, to encourage the reader to continue reading the entire magazine, which contains the specific letter of the author.

Conclusion

The editor's letter is a special type of text, vividly represented in English glossy magazines and combining the unique features and characteristic (fundamental) criteria of the text. It bears the title value and is very different from other materials of a single issue. If other rubrics can consist of several topics or text works, then the letter of the editor cannot be repeated. It is a peculiar face of the magazine, which main task is to attract the attention of the audience, announce key materials, create a mood and state the theme of the issue. However, the functions of an editor’s letter are often much wider. So, after studying the specific issues of the glossy magazines Cosmopolitan and Men’s Health, we found that this genre is used by the authors to convey their own feelings, thoughts and emotions. This proves that the editor's text is a living, special genre, the rules of which do not have a clear wording, which is a clear advantage and the main distinctive feature, and allows the author to determine the boundaries of his work. At the

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