The Rhetorical Strategy

What is the Rhetorical Strategy? “Rhetoric" refers to the art of public speaking. The rhetorical strategy is often employed in writing that is meant to persuade or writing that attempts to make a strong point.

Definitions of Persuasive Writing This type of writing attempts to bring about some action or change. Its primary purpose is to influence others. A piece of writing that proves something or someone to be true, credible, essential, or worthy. A type of argument having the additional aim of urging some form of action.

Aristotelian Appeals When Aristotle wrote his Rhetoric in the 4th century BCE, he began a process of identifying ways that speakers or writers could persuade their audiences by the use of evidence.Rhetoric He identified three different ways of appealing to an audience.

Aristotelian Appeals Logos - Appeals to the head using logic, numbers, explanations, and facts. Through Logos, a writer aims at a person's intellect. The idea is that if you are logical, you will understand.

Aristotelian Appeals Ethos - Appeals to the conscience, ethics, morals, standards, values, principles. Someone using this appeal might attempt to persuade you by making you feel guilty about a subject or by telling you something is your moral obligation. Moms are great at this!

Aristotelian Appeals: Pathos Pathos - Appeals to the heart, emotions, sympathy, passions, sentimentality. Using “real life” examples is a common method of achieving this. If someone wants you to donate money for cancer research, they may try and persuade you by telling you a heart-wrenching story about a cancer patient.

Effective Rhetorical Strategies The tone of the writer or speaker is one of the most important things when it comes to persuasion. It is important to know who your audience is so that your tone is appropriate. The tone can be hopeful, ironic, serious, etc.

Effective Rhetorical Strategies Parallelism: A recurrent similarity in grammatical usage. Several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed similarly to show that the ideas in the parts are equal in importance. Parallelism also adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence.

Effective Rhetorical Strategies Contrast: The use of opposites to either bridge a gap or show distinction. Such contrasts may include light/dark, black/white, good/evil, Jew/gentile.

Effective Rhetorical Strategies Repetition of Certain Words: Why, with all the words at his or her disposal, does a writer choose to repeat particular words? Anaphora is the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases.

Effective Rhetorical Strategies Imagery: Language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching. Analogies: Comparing two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea.

Effective Rhetorical Strategies Appeal to Authority: The writer will reference an authority on a subject to support an argument. A company selling basketball shoes might mention that Michael Jordan thinks this particular company makes the best basketball shoes. Appeal of Popular Opinion: If we are told that 90% of people use a product, we might be more inclined to try it.

Effective Rhetorical Strategies Rhetorical question: A question that is not answered because the answer is obvious or obviously desired. It is used for effect, emphasis, provocation, or for drawing a conclusionary statement from the facts at hand. Example: “... For if we lose the ability to perceive our faults, what is the good of living on?”