The extract ‘How to be a good wife and mother’ has been taken from an actual 1950’s high school home economics textbook. The genre of this extract is informative and instructional, and is a written mode. The purpose of the text is to mould young women of the time into a perfect housewife, and to inform them of the partners’ needs and wants. The audience of this extract would be teenage girls studying home economics at high school in the 1950’s. the register of the extract is very formal, giving instructions and tips on how to be a good wife and mother, which brings me to the text point about the subject point, the subject of this text is to inform young ladies what is expected of them as a wife and mother and what they need to do in order to make their husbands or children happy. Although the register of the text is formal, the tone of the extract is light hearted and chirpy. The language function of this extract is informative as the author is trying to teach young women how to be good wife’s and mothers. The extract from the 1950’s textbook is full of imperatives. Imperatives are a command or request by the author towards the audience. The use of imperatives in this extract causes the rhythm of the text to speed up. A number of imperatives are used in each paragraph of the text which shows that the mans role was deemed to be more important than the women’s role. The imperatives “listen to him” and “let him talk first” show clearly that the woman’s role is to simply support the husband rather than have her own opinion. This tries to encourage the intended audience, young women that they should be seen and not heard, and that their opinions are not valued. The metaphor “they are little treasures” has connotations that the children are there to be seen and not heard, very much like the women at the time. The use of the noun treasures reflects the idea that the children are more of a status symbol for the father and that they should look good and presentable at all...