Implied Meanings in Alzheimer's/Dementia Articles

Assignment Brief and Feedback form
(L3 study skills unit with single assignment)
Task 4 Table:
Full reference: Hammond, D. (2016). ‘My NHS dementia unit is about to close
and I fear for my patients’, The Guardian, [online] available at:
http://www.theguardian.com. Accessed 16-06-16.
Type of implied
meaning Quotation Explanation of meaning
implied in this quotation
Irony
“It’s not about money” “[it] is
to do with the costs incurred
in running a stand-alone unit,
and the desire ... to move to a
different model of care”
The quotation expresses
an irony because the
mental health nurse is
asked by the officials to
say something that is
completely opposite to
the words spoken by the
officials regarding the
current situation
Allusion
Anyone can contract
dementia; and every day and
with a growing momentum,
anybody does.
The author implies that
the disease or the
condition is gaining
pace very rapidly.
Connotation
No, I deal with the ugly side of
dementia. The side that leaves
people confused, lost, crying,
screaming, kicking, biting,
psychotic, anxious, depressed
and pleading with me to find
their long-deceased mother;
those labelled “challenging”
by the care system
The author mentions the
patients as ‘challenging’
other than just
‘patients’. Nevertheless,
the term applies in its
original meaning in
addition to the
‘situation’ faced by the
doctors and nurses.
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Assignment Brief and Feedback form
(L3 study skills unit with single assignment)
Overall, what do you think the writer wants the audience to think or feel about
the issue of Alzheimer’s/dementia?
The author wants the audiences to understand that treating dementia patients
is a challenge for the healthcare workers as much it is to the persons who are
suffering from dementia. The author projects the dark side of dementia with
clarity, and that committed healthcare professionals are required to make to a
difference.
2

Assignment Brief and Feedback form
(L3 study skills unit with single assignment)
Full reference: Pratchett, T. (2015). ‘‘A butt of my own jokes’: Terry Pratchett
on the disease that finally claimed him’, The Observer [online] Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com. Accessed 16-06-16.
Type of implied
meaning Quotation Explanation of meaning
implied in this quotation
Allusion
“When Milton’s Satan stood in
the pit of hell and raged at
heaven, he was merely a trifle
miffed compared to how I felt
on that day.”
The author writes about
how he felt on the day
when his Alzheimer’s
was diagnosed and he
encountered the most
appalling truth of his
life. He refers to have
felt more vehemently
than Milton’s Satan.
Irony My wife said, “thank goodness
it isn’t a brain tumour”, but all
I could think then was, “I know
three people who have got
better after having a brain
tumour. I haven’t heard of
anyone who’s got better from
Alzheimer’s.”
The quotation expresses
an irony because the
mental health nurse is
asked by the officials to
say something that is
completely opposite to
the words spoken by the
officials regarding the
current situation.
As the Alzheimer
subject’s wife expresses
a relief in this quote, it is
followed by the
subject’s thought “I
know three people who
have got better after
having a brain tumour. I
haven’t heard of anyone
who’s got better from
Alzheimer’s”
Hence, the situation
depicts a contradictory
state of things divided
between the wife’s
assumption of
Alzheimer’s being a less
severe condition than a
brain tumour and
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