Ethos

Situated (Extrinsic) and Invented (Intrinsic)

Ethos

Is ethos more about people’s true character or the persona they

create in their texts?

Ethos

What are the ways that rhetors can INVENT ethos?

• establish they’re well informed• establish good character• Virtuousness• Expertise/authority

• Securing goodwill of audience

Ethos

Situated EthosWhat gives Brown the “right” to speak in

this book?How does she take advantage of

• Liking between herself and her audience

• Power between herself and her audience

Voice: Intimate or Formal

distance

What sort of voice does Brown offer in Critical Care?

“I was inexperienced enough to know that I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t force the IV team to do their job, could I? I asked around, but no one had much of an idea how to work

out this conflict. Finally, the intern suggested that we call the fellow, who came and said that if the IV team refused to

come, we could put their refusal in the chart, and say they would be responsible when the patient died of septic shock. I felt a surge of relief that finally someone with the experience—and the authority—to address the problem had come onto

the scene.” (Brown 149-150)

Voice: Intimate or Formal

distance

What about this excerpt from the Cochrane Topic on self-monitoring blood glucose devices?

“Six randomised controlled trials were included in the review. Four trials compared SMBG with usual care, one trial compared SMBG with self-monitoring of

urine glucose and there was one three-armed trial comparing SMBG with self-monitoring of urine glucose and usual care. Because of the differences in patient

characteristics, interventions and outcomes between the studies, it was not possible to perform a meta-analysis. The methodological quality of studies was

low. Two of the six studies reported a significant lowering effect of self-monitoring of blood glucose on HbA1c. However, one of these studies had a co-intervention with education on diet and lifestyle. There were few data on the effects of other

outcomes and these effects were not statistically significant.” (Welschen LM, et al 2009)

distance and persuasion

Do we agree with Crowley and Hawhee that “As a general rule, persuasion occurs more easily

when audiences can identify with rhetors. Identification increases as distance decreases” (Crowly &

Hawhee, 1)

Attitude: Advocacy or opinion

• Do we agree that less “attitude” increases rhetorical distance and possibly reduces persuasion?

• Can you think of exceptions?

Grammatical Person

• First person: “I” “we”

• Second person: “you”

• Third person “She” “he” “it” “they”

Which “person” has the most distance?

How does Brown use grammatical person in her book? Why? What persuasive effect does that have?

Which grammatical person is used predominantly in your source text? What persuasive effect do you think that has?

What is voice doing in this document?

What is voice doing in this document?

Verb Voice

• Active voice:• I baked the cake.

• Passive voice:• The cake was baked (by me).

What persuasive effect do these verb voices have?

Verb tense

Self monitoring blood glucose devices help control serum glucose in Type II diabetics not using insulin.

Self monitoring blood glucose devices helped control serum glucose in Type II diabetics not using insulin.

Do these verb tenses have a subtle persuasive effect?

Word “size”

• Is it really the size of the word at issue here, or the likelihood of general recognition of the terminology:• Shoulder blade or scapula?

• Also an issue of lexical formality: “cool” versus “favorable”

Qualifiersaka “hedges”

• Mitochondrial DNA controls heritability of body fat composition.

• In our study, we observed data consistent with the conclusion that mitochondrial DNA controls heritability of body fat composition.

• We suggest that mitochondrial DNA controls heritability of body fat composition.

• Mitochondrial DNA may control heritability of body fat composition.

Punctuation and text formatting

• Some punctuation marks function as “facial expressions” or “gestures”: ! “ ” ?

• You think he doesn’t like cake?

• You think he doesn’t like cake!

• You think he doesn’t like “cake.”

• You THINK he doesn’t like cake.

Reference

• Crowley S, Hawhee D. Ethical proof: Arguments from character. In Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. New York: Pearson/Longman. 2009; pp. 212-230.