TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

52 PLACES TO GO IN 2015

BOLIVIA: THE 8TH ONE ON THE LIST

Finally stable and opening up to the world.

Bolivia’s days of relentless transportation strikes and roadblocks are mostly behind it. (simple present tense - expressing generalization) And travelers who (relative clause) try out the now tourism-friendly infrastructure will be (future tense - expressing future plans) rewarded with new attractions once they arrive. (adverbial clause of time)  Claus Meyer’s two-year-old fine-dining restaurant, Gustu,and the Melting Pot Foundation are helping set (infinitive) a new culinary tone around the country (present continuous tense - expressing an action that is happening at the moment of speaking) by starting Suma Phayata, an official street food tour in La Paz (reduced relative clause), and renewing interest in high-altitude wine routes in the Tarija region. Adventure excursions also abound, from luxe tent camp trips led by the Chilean operator Explora (reduced relative clause) across the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flats (reduced relative clause), to community tourism projects on (preposition) coffee farms in the Yungas region, where (relative clause) a new road to Caranavi, expected to open this year will cut (future tense - expressing future plans) the travel time drastically from LA. 


VOCABULARY

Relentless: Never stopping or getting any less extreme
Roadblock: Something that is put across a road to stop people who are driving down it
Infrastructure: The basic systems, such as transport and communication, that a country or organization uses in order to work effectively.
Culinary: Related to food and cooking
Abound: To exist in large numbers
Excursion: A short journey made by a group of people for pleasure


ANALYSING THE TEXT

• Although the writer's tone is quite informative throughout the text, he also uses the descriptive tone a little. We can understand that it is an informative text in that he makes statements by giving examples and defines everything he means to tell. Furthermore, he gives descriptions by using relative clauses to create a more vivid picture about the information he gives in the readers' minds. Therefore, on the whole, it can be said that the tone of the writer is both informative and descriptive.
• The language he uses is not completely formal. Besides, it is a sort of travel writing. So, we cannot expect it to be strictly formal. To give the readers the best suggestions on where to go for a vacation and what can be done there, or just to give a brief information about the destination, the writer uses a reasonably informal tone.
• The writer uses simple present and future tenses mostly, which can be a proof that his tone is informative. As the function of the tenses he uses is either to express generalization or to give information about the future plans, it can be said that he supports his tone by using the tenses that best fit his purpose. 

MY COMMENTS

This text, which basically aims to give information about a place to visit, is quite fun to read in my opinion. The way that the author handles this topic is suitable as he uses the right language and tone. What is more, since he mostly gives information about Bolivia as a holiday destination, I don't think there is anything that I would disagree. It is an informative and descriptive text and I think he succeeds to capture the readers by his comprehensible descriptions. On the whole, I can say that I liked the text and the tone is as suitable as it could be.

• To get information about the whole list of the places to visit in 2015, you may check this link out and reach the full text:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/11/travel/52-places-to-go-in-2015.html?ref=travel&_r=0