The article creates a jokey feeling around the subject of stereotypes and uses humor to approach the subject. The first piece of humor we see is in the title 'British stereotypes:do mention the war, please!' The belief that British people always want to talk about Britain's victory is mocked in this title as it uses the verb 'please' to create sarcastic undertones straight away so that the reader is aware not to take the article too seriously. If the reader still was not sure whether the article was serious or not it goes on to say that these British stereotypes are 'a thumbnail sketch, not the whole picture'. This clears up that the writer knows these stereotypes are not the whole picture and that they are clearly using the stereotypes for comic affect.The genre of the text is an article from The Guardian which could be online or physical newspaper. The article would be received by anyone who reads The Guardian on a regular basis or perhaps someone who has searched for articles on stereotypes online and has come across this. The audience would be these guardian readers or online readers who have searched for something similar. The purpose of the article is to entertain as it is written quite informally. We can see this in the first word of the article 'Brits', this is a contraction/abbreviation of Britons. This use of abbreviation makes the article seem more casual. This shows how it is used to entertain rather than inform. The reader would maybe expect for the article to inform them on some more factual information and not really expect for it be so entertaining.
A good overview - improve it by suggesting that the producer of the article (say that rather than 'the article creates') uses humour in an attempt to hook and persuade the reader that a serious issue is concealed under lighthearted stereotypes. Also consider the affordance of having the link suggested to the reader via social media which might mean the article is better targeted to such a reader than one who browses through a newspaper or searches the general topic. Consider how these audiences might react differently to particular techniques. TRy and get in even more terminology e.g. the informality of the register, colloquial language, the contraction of the more formal alternative plural noun to use higher-frequency lexis - all these could be used in addition to the technique you chose to mention : abbreviation. Is it entertain rather than inform or a complex interweaving of the two? - try to be sensitive to the subtler aspects for the A and be tentative, offering alternative interpretations rather than clear-cut statements e.g. 'The purpose is...' Look at the importance of entertainment in articles away from the front page in broadsheets and look at the degree of entertainment even on front-pages of tabloids. Is it creeping onto broadsheets' front pages?
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