Answers to Question II (a) & (b) of Assignment I

Information control refers to deliberate elimination of multiple meanings that a text has. It
attempts at making the text easier as it is going to have greater readership. The editor
simplifies the text by eradicating all the meanings but the one that he finds the reader will
readily accept. When such a text goes into the hands of the reader he/ she believes that it has
only one meaning and it is the same meaning that the editor aimed at while editing. For
example, Julius Caeser that is taught in tenth class in CBSE schools is concise and simplified
version of the original Shakespeares play.

Lexical control is a technique where the original text is re-written using high frequency
words. The editor finds that the lexicon of the text in unsuitable or simply difficult for the
reader he is editing the text for and so draws to the vocabulary used in everyday language.
However, this is done at the cost of connotations that the original text had. Emotions and
thoughts that the writer of the original version wanted to evoke may not evoke now as the
words and expressions that he used for this particular purpose have been replaced with new
lot that may have its own connotations different from those of the original.

Structural control aims at replacing compound and complex sentences with simple sentences.
The editor finds the original compound and complex sentences unsuitable for the target
reader and so render them into simple sentences. For example the opening lines of Pride and
Prejudice:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of good fortune, must
be in want of a wife

May be re-written as:

A single man in possession of good fortune wishes to have a wife. It is a truth universally
accepted.

Yes I think these processes help the reader in better comprehension of the text. If a 19 th
century British novel has to be done at secondary level, definitely the original text will be a
herculean task for both the teacher and the students. However, the same may be achieved by
doing a simplified version. There exist inevitable constraints both at the level of teacher and
at the level of the student. Generally such novels are quite voluminous and abound so many
characters, sub-plots and themes. I do not think that the teacher can do justice with the text
because besides time, the level of the students at secondary level creates hindrance. However,
if the text is simplified one it can serve many useful purposes. The text will not only make the
teaching feasible but also help the students understand the content of it readily and accept it
to perform better at exam.