Vocabulary 14

Rhetorical Appeal Strategies used to persuade an audience

Emotional appeal (pathos) – technique of manipulating someone’s emotions

Ethical Appeal (ethos) – technique that appeals to someone’s moral values

Logical Appeal (logos) – technique that tries to convince you to make the right decision, smart decision or best choice based on logic

Ad Hominem arguments that attack a person’s character rather than an issue

Bandwagon Appeal – a statement that seems to be true because of popular support by desirable people

False Authority Using a suspicious, biased, or non-credible source to defend a conclusion “Because I said so”

Glittering Generalities – a vague statement used to evoke positive feelings rather than convey information

Red Herring Misleading or unrelated evidence to support a conclusion; draws attention away from the central issue 1. Topic A is under discussion. 2. Topic B is introduced under the guise of being relevant to topic A (when topic B is actually not relevant to topic A). 3. Topic A is abandoned. Example: “Why do I have to study math? I don’t want to be a math teacher.” * The desire to be a math teacher is not the point.

Slippery Slope A course of action that seems to lead to additional actions until some undesirable consequence results