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Compare: The first chapters of Bill Bryson's "The Lost Continent" & Samuel Johnson's "Rasselas". The Lost Continent and 'Rasselas' are both underlying satires, 'Rasselas' with its subtle irony and The Lost Continent with its explicit humour. Therein lies the major difference between the two pieces of prose: one is implicit and the other is not. GRAMMAR 'Rasselas' is prescriptive and 'The Lost Continent' is descriptive. The effect this has on the text is that 'Rasselas' seems more dated and sophistication. This contrast can be seen in the first chapter: 'The Lost Continent': "There's a New Jersey couple up the street from my parents' house whom you see wandering around from time to time looking faintly puzzled but strangely serene." 'Rasselas': "Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and persue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies..." Immediately, the differing styles are...

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