Appeals to Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Advanced Placement English Language Semester 1 Mr. Gallegos

Building Background Please write this question in your spiral notebooks and answer it. After we have discussed our questions, record more for your records. Imagine you have been given the opportunity to deliver a speech to an audience about an issue that means something to you. What questions should you ask yourself about the audience you will be presenting to? Why is it important to ask yourself these questions?

To Whom Am I Speaking? 1. What does the audience know about the subject I will be speaking about? 2. What is the audience’s attitude toward my subject? 3. Is there common ground between my views and my audience’s views?

Learning Objectives Content Objective: Students will be able to identify the use of ethos, pathos, and logos from text and analyze the effectiveness of the persuasive techniques. Language Objective: Students will read a speech delivered by Lou Gehrig and complete the worksheet.

The Rhetorical Triangle from Aristotle

Key Vocabulary Ethos is an appeal to character by demonstrating that the speaker is trustworthy and credible. Ethos often stresses shared values between the speaker and the audience. Logos is an appeal to logic or reason by offering clear and rational ideas to back up your thesis, or claim.

Key Vocabulary Pathos is an appeal to emotion. An argument should never be based solely on pathos. Figurative language, personal anecdotes, and vivid images are commonly used.

Who was Lou Gehrig? Lou Gehrig was a professional baseball player who was diagnosed with a neurological disorder called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The disease is now known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.” He holds Major League Baseball’s record for the most career grand slams and was referred to as “The Iron Horse” for his durability.

Ethos Lou Gehrig establishes ethos simply by being a good sport, a regular guy who shares the audience’s love of baseball and family, and like them, he has known good luck and bad breaks. Lou Gehrig knows his audience and who he is speaking to, this making himself sound like one of them. Ethos can be established by expertise and knowledge, experience, training, sincerity, or a combination of all of these.

Logos Lou Gehrig established ethos by stating that he is “the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” The two points he uses to rationalize his point is that he has played major league baseball for seventeen years and enjoyed the kindness and encouragement he has received from his fans all these years. The two contrasting ideas that he talks about to help him prove his point is that his bad break is not a cause for discouragement because he has so much to live for. The underlying belief that links these two contrasting ideas is that even though he has been dealt a bad break, he is a very lucky man.

Pathos Words that carry a positive connotation are greatest, wonderful, honored, grand, and blessing. He delivers his speech from a first-person point of view. His careful choice of words resonates well with the crowd, which makes his speech seem more passionate and heartfelt. The visual “Tower of Strength” is an image, although not original, one that the audience understands. This use of imagery demonstrates how much Lou Gehrig really understood his audience.

Homework Assignment