Persuasive Appeals and

Rhetorical Devices

Devices are use to create specific types of appeals.

The Three Classical AppealsWhen analyzing someone else’s

argument or constructing your own, always ask yourself these questions:  Who is the speaker?  Who is the speaker or author’s intended audience? How do I know who the audience is?  How has the audience influenced the speaker or author’s choice of argumentative strategies?

The Three Classical Appeals Include:• Ethos (Ethical)• Logos (Logical)• Pathos (Emotional)

Persuasive Technique: Appeals

Designed to sway the audience:• Ethical appeal (Ethos) is directed at the

audience’s sense of morality or values – the sense of right and wrong. This type of appeal is linked to the audience’s perception of the trustworthiness and moral character of the speaker or writer.

• Logical appeal (Logos) builds a well-reasoned argument based on evidence such as facts, statistics, or expert testimony

• Emotional appeal (Pathos) attempts to arouse the audience’s feelings, often by using loaded words that convey strong emotions

EthosEthos (Ethical) - Ethical appeals

depend on the credibility or training of the author. Audiences tend to believe writers who seem honest, wise, and trustworthy. An author or speaker exerts ethical appeal when the language itself impresses the audience that the speaker is a person of intelligence, high moral character and good will. Thus a person wholly unknown to an audience can by words alone win that audience’s trust and approval. Aristotle emphasized the importance of impressing upon the audience that the speaker is a person of good sense and high moral character.

The Ethical AppealWhen you write, you can develop your

own “ethos” as a writer by using many strategies. Here are just a few:

Using Scholarly LanguageResearching your topic

Providing Credible EvidenceWriting Well/Proofing for Errors

Stating why you are qualified to write about the topic.

Showing many sides/shades of the argument.

Logos• Logos (Logical): Loosely defined,

logos refers to the use of logic, reasons, facts, statistics, data, and numbers. Logical appeals are aimed at the mind of the audience, the thinking side.  Very often, logos seems tangible and touchable.  When a speaker or writer uses logical appeals, he or she will avoid inflammatory language and carefully connect his reasons to supporting evidence.

Logos…Here are some, but not all, techniques that are used in this type of

appeal: • logical reasons why your

audience should believe you (keep in mind that not all reasons are equally persuasive for all audiences).

• evidence that proves or explains your reasons

• facts–using information that can be checked by testing, observing firsthand, or reading reference materials to support an opinion.

Logos…Here are some, but not all, techniques that are used in this type of

appeal: • statistics–percentages, numbers,

and charts to highlight significant data 

• expert opinion––statements by people who are recognized as authorities on the subject. 

• examples-giving examples that support each reason

• use of cause and effect, compare and contrast, and analogy

Pathos• Pathos (Emotional): Arguments from the heart

are designed to appeal to audience’s emotions and feelings.  Emotions can direct people in powerful ways to think more carefully about what they do.  In hearing or reading an argument that is heavy on emotional appeals, ask yourself these questions: – How is the speaker or author appealing to

the audience’s emotions? Why? – Always try to name the emotions being

appealed to (love, sympathy, anger, fear, hate, patriotism, compassion) and figure out how the emotion is being created in the audience.

– After you name the appeal, state what effect this appeal has on the tone, mood, argument, etc.

Pathos

Emotional appeals are often just examples—ones chosen to awaken specific feelings in an audience.  Although frequently abused, the emotional appeal is a legitimate aspect of argument, for speakers and authors want their audience to care about the issues they address.

PathosHere are some, but not all, techniques

that are used in this type of appeal:• moving stories and anecdotes that

prove your opinion• using emotional language or “catchy

words” to appeal to people’ s values or guilty consciences or vivid description.

• slanting is omitting or not using information that may conflict with or weaken the author’s opinion.

• predicting extreme outcomes of events/dire predication in order to create a sense ofurgency

• specific examples/charged words

Identifying Appeals

1. “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.” Appeal?

2. “Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation.” Appeal?

3. “Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.” Appeal?

Rhetorical DevicesPatterns of words and ideas that

create emphasis and stir the audience’s emotions:– Rhetorical Question– Allusion– Imagery– Charged Words– Synecdoche– Metonymy– Restatement

Structural Devices

–Parallelism–Anaphora–Repetition–Antithesis–Asyndeton–Polysyndeton

Rhetorical QuestionMust be a purposeful question whose

answer helps the audience realize the writer’s point.–Should we compromise the safety of

our children? We must allow police dogs in the school.

–Should we waste an entire day somewhere else when students can be learning and having fun at the zoo?

–Why would someone add to the number of years he/she works in a lifetime if it wasn’t necessary?

AllusionAllusions are brief, usually indirect

references to a person, place, or event--real or fictional for the purpose of enhancing meaning.–Babylon (Frank 14)–Armageddon (Frank 70)–Caesar (Frank 74)–Paul Revere (Frank 74)–Bedlam (Frank 81)

ImageryImagery is words that appeal to the

senses.–Visual - “There are black clouds of

God’s wrath now hanging directly over your head” (Edwards)

–Auditory – the wind whistling through the trees, the rumbling waves rushing past

–Tactile/Emotional – “How awful it is to be left behind at such a day! To see so many others feasting….” (Edwards)

–Oral – the puckering twang of lemon juice

–Olfactory – wet dog after a morning rainshower

Charged WordsCharged words are words with strong

connotations beyond their literal meaning that are likely to produce an emotional response.–Tyranny (evokes a feeling of fear,

suggests living in a state of terror)

–Liberty (suggests an ideal life characterized by freedom)

– Justice (can be associated with freedom and equality)

–Honor (evokes a sense of morality and dignity)

Charged Words

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

Charged WordsHe is at this time transporting large

armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

Contrast

The Effect of Charged Words

• “Grandmother Arrested in Pot Sting”• The fact that the person is a grandmother

has no relevance to the fact that she was arrested on a drug charge.  It may not even reflect the fact that she is old, since I’ve known grandmothers as young as 32.  But the use of the term conjures up an image of a sweet, gentle person, and juxtaposed against the crime, elicits far more outrage than if the headline was “Local Woman Arrested in Pot Sting”

People are informed by facts, but moved by emotion. 

• Which is stronger?Fast food is bad food.- OR - Parents are murdering their

children by feeding them fast food.

• Ultimately, they say the SAME thing and preface the SAME article!

Synecdoche and Metonymy• Synecdoche is a type of metaphor in

which the part stands for the whole. Ex: Could you lend me a hand?

• Metonymy is another form of metaphor in which the thing chosen for the metaphorical image is closely associated with (but not an actual part of) the subject with which it is to be compared. Ex: “[Mark’s] riding soft and plush…with a lot of Offutt brass” (Frank 27).

What does this say?• it becomes necessary for one person to

dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another

• it is their duty, to throw off such government

• states need to strike out on their own• What’s going on here?• They ALL say the same thing!• This is RESTATEMENT

How about this?• Abraham Lincoln: “we can not

dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground.”

• Yep! Same thing – three different ways!• RESTATEMENT!

Now YOU try it!

• Write a sentence that expresses an idea you feel strongly about.

• Then, write the same idea again, but in different words.

• Finally, one more time, write the SAME IDEA in DIFFERENT WORDS.

• That’s RESTATEMENT!!

Structural Devices

The arrangement of words MATTERS!

What’s happening here?• He has plundered our seas, ravaged

our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

• What is this an example of?• Parallelism (or Parallel Structure)• EVERY item in this series is

Verb+Direct Object–Plundered our seas–Ravaged our coasts–Burned our town

Understanding Parallelism

• Faulty Parallelism“For my own part, whatever anguish

of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth: to know the worst and I will provide for it.”

• Effective Parallelism“For my own part, whatever anguish

of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth: to know the worst, and to provide for it.

Identifying Parallel Structure Directions: Identify the parallel elements in each of the following sentences.

1.Are we disposed to be of the number of those who having eyes see not, and having ears hear not?

2.Are we disposed to be of the number of those who having eyes see not, and having ears hear not?

3.Ask yourself how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land.

4.Ask yourself how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land.

Identifying Parallel Structure Directions: Identify the parallel elements in each of the following

sentences.

1.They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other.

2.Subject (They) + Verb (are meant/can be meant) + prepositional phrase beginning with for.

3.Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded.

4.Our + noun + past tense verb beginning with have.

Structure of items?

• With malice toward none; with charity for all…

• Parts of Speech?• Preposition+Noun+Prepositi

on+Pronoun• Parts of the Sentence?• Prep+OP+Prep+OP

What is wrong here?• He has invaded our homes in the

middle of the night, and taking our stored provisions.

• This is NOT in parallel structure.• The tense and corresponding verb

construction is different.• It should be “He has invaded our

homes in the middle of the night and taken our ….”

• Both verbs must conjugate with has.

Fix these problems with parallelism:

• 1.  An actor knows how to memorize his lines and getting into character.

• 2.  Tell me where you were, what you were doing, and your reasons for doing it.

• 3.  Clark's daily exercises include running, swimming, and to lift weights.

• 4.  To donate money to the homeless shelter is helping people stay warm in the winter.

• 5.  Jim not only likes working outside but also getting dirty.

Check Your Answers!1. An actor knows how to memorize

his lines and (how to) get into character.

2. Tell me where you were, what you were doing, and why you were doing it.

3. Clark's daily exercises include running, swimming, and lifting weights.

4. To donate money to the homeless shelter is to help people stay warm in the winter.

5. Jim likes not only working outside but also getting dirty.

Anaphora• Repetition of the same word or

words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with parallelism

• In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth the laws of peace. --Richard de Bury

What’s Going On Here?• Mom came into my room when I

was gone. I need to leave! Dad charges me for the gas I use in his car. I need to leave! My parents tell me where I can go. I need to leave!

• What part of this will you remember most?

• Why?• Repetition pounds an idea into your

head.• How is it different from

restatement?

Asyndeton

• Asyndeton consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses.

• Ex. On his return he received medals, honors, treasures, titles, fame.

Polysyndeton

• Polysyndeton is the use of a conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause, and is thus structurally the opposite of asyndeton.

• Ex. They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and played and talked and flunked.

How are these similar?• Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice,

moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Barry Goldwater

• Brutus: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

• Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. Thomas Jefferson

• John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”

Antithesis

• opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction

• The idea is that they enhance one another, kind of like two halves of the perfect whole: yin and yang, sweet and sour, Good cop/Bad cop

Antithesis Poem• I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.• I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.• I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit

alive.• I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in

life appear much bigger.• I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.• I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you

possess.• I wish you enough “Hello’s” to get you through the

final “Goodbye.”• - – - “I Wish You Enough” written by Bob Perks, P.O.

Box 1702, Shavertown, PA 18708-1702, USA

In Oratory, Please…• Extremism in defense of liberty is no

vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Barry Goldwater

• Brutus: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

• Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. Thomas Jefferson

• Ask NOT what your country can do for you; ask what YOU can do for your country. -JFK

Let’s Hear From YOU!• Step one: Name two things that, by their

contrast, enhance each other. (a gentle brook/a raging river)

• Step two: Identify a noun or adjective associated with each of the things you named in Step one. (happiness (hello)/anger (goodbye))

• Step three: Create two sentences, in parallel structure, linking the associated items you have identified.

• The gentle brook sings our first hello; the raging river roars our last goodbye.

Fin