RHETORICAL DEVICES RHETORICAL TRIANGLE and PERSUASIVE WRITING SPEECHES

RHETORICAL DEVICES RHETORICAL TRIANGLE and PERSUASIVE WRITING, SPEECHES

THE RHETORICAL TRIANGLE ETHOS Establishing credibility • • PATHOS Appealing to emotion LOGOS Appealing to logic • Using description and concrete language • Using figurative language (metaphors, similes, analogies) • Shaping your appeal to your audience • Emotional fallacies: bandwagon appeal, flattery, incrowd appeal, veiled threats, false analogies, weasel words Demonstrating knowledge Establishing common ground Demonstrating fairness Ethical fallacies: ad hominem, guilt by association • Providing examples and precedents • Citing authority and testimony • Establishing causes and effects • Using inductive and deductive reasoning • Logical fallacies: begging the question, post hoc fallacy, non sequitur, either -or, hasty generalization, oversimplification

The Reader’s Rhetorical Triangle Logos • Note the claims the author makes, the exigence. • Note the data the author provides in support of the claims. • Note the conclusions the author draws. Ethos • Note how the author establishes a persona • Note how the author establishes credibility • Note any revelation of the author’s credentials or personal history Pathos • Note the primary audience for the text • Note the emotional appeals the author makes • Note the author’s expectations of the audience

“Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel. ” --Ralph Waldo Emerson Speech = nonfiction work; delivered orally to audience Types of speeches: countless settings & purposes for speeches Common Types of Speeches: • Political Speech-government • Address-special occasion (dedication/inauguration) • Sermon (religious instruction)

Rhetorical Devices • Restatement: expressing the same idea using different words Abraham Lincoln: “. . . we can not dedicate —we can not consecrate---we can not hallow--this ground. ”

Rhetorical Devices • Anaphora: repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases Winston Churchill: “We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans. . . ”

Rhetorical Devices • Rhetorical Questions: questions asked for effect rather than answers Benjamin Franklin: “From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? ”

Rhetorical Devices • Repetition: restating an idea using the same words “The war is inevitable—and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come!” Patrick Henry

Rhetorical Devices • Parallelism: repeating a grammatical structure “With malice toward none; with charity for all. . . ” Abraham Lincoln

Rhetorical Devices • Antithesis: juxtaposition of strongly contrasting words, images, or ideas “. . . ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. ” John F. Kennedy

Rhetorical Devices • Exclamation: an emotional statement, often indicated in texts by an exclamation mark “. . . as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” Patrick Henry

Persuasion: Argument Persuasion = writing that presents an argument; message meant to persuade readers to think/act in a certain way • Appeals to emotion (influence readers’ feelings) • Appeals to logic (show readers that argument is well reasoned)

Persuasion (con’t. ) • Appeals to ethics (shows readers that argument is just/fair) • Appeals to authority (shows readers that a higher power supports the ideas)