Rhetorical Devices: Methods of Persuasion & Communication

What is Persuasion? A means of convincing someone To act, buy or give Believe something To agree or disagree with a certain point of view

Common Methods of Persuasion Slogan/Repetition Statistics Bandwagon Analogy Testimonial/ Anecdotes Rhetorical Questions Emotional Appeal Humor Expert Opinion Reasoning/Logic Cardstacking Parallelism

Slogan/Repetition A catchy phrase or repeated statement used often to persuade by staying in the reader’s mind. Advertisement: Literature: I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.– Dr. King

Bandwagon A statement suggesting that everyone is using a specific product, or believing something so you should too Advertisement: Literature: And now you have an extraordinary opportunity . . . Many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you were in, are now in a happy state . . . Jonathan Edwards Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

Testimony/Anecdote A person supports a product or service/ has a story about when something happened to them in order to persuade Advertisement: Literature: Thomas Paine once used this anecdote to convince others to go to war: A man was at a tavern, standing at his door with a child in his arms and he said let there be peace in my day. He is an awful father because if he truly loved his child he would want trouble now in order for there to be peace in the child’s day.

Emotional Appeal A person using language or situations in order to make listeners feel sad, angry, guilty, afraid, happy, proud, sympathetic, reverent . . .etc. Advertisement: Literature: It is in vain to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry: Peace! Peace! . . . Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? . . .I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

Expert Opinion A person who uses the endorsement of an expert in the field to persuade readers Advertisement: Literature: A persuasive essay on smoking would alert the reader that the SURGEON GENERAL recommends all citizens quit smoking.

Cardstacking Only presenting the good side of an argument Advertisement: Literature: A persuasive essay on school uniforms only mentions: preventing bullying, school pride, quick identification of students in neighborhood but never mentions cost or personality.

Statistics Using numbers and surveys to argue your point Advertisement: Literature: A persuasive essay on drunk driving asserts every 40 seconds an alcohol related crash injures someone.

Analogy Using a comparison to persuade Advertisement: Literature: Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God argues ‘If you are unsaved, your good deeds have no more power in God’s eyes to keep you from falling into hell as a spider web has to keep a rock from falling to the ground .’

Rhetorical Questions Asking the reader questions designed to make them think Advertisement: Literature: Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves to be so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love?— Patrick Henry on British troops being sent to America before the Revolution (Speech In The Virginia Convention)

Humor Amusing the audience in an attempt to persuade them Advertisement: Literature: ‘The word onomatopoeia better be spelled right or one usage dictator and six copy editors will get zapped.’ William Safire arguing that some people take English too seriously and it is a difficult language.

Reasoning/Logic Persuading the reader by using arguments that make sense. Advertisement: Literature: Governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed; whenever any form of government becomes destructive it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it— Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

Parallelism Repetition in grammatical structure Advertisement: Literature: “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” —Winston Churchill “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” —John F. Kennedy