1. Rhetorical Appeals: Ethos: Appeal to the credibility of the author
Pathos: Appeal to the emotions of the audience
Logos: Appeal to the logic of the audience and the author

2. Diction Author’s choice of words
Reminder: when discussing diction, there must be an adjective before the word “diction”
Example: scholarly diction; obscure diction

3. Syntax The way in which sentences are structured
Sentences can be structured in different ways to achieve different effects
Example: "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously." (Linguist Noam Chomsky created this sentence-- which is grammatically correct but incomprehensible--to demonstrate that the rules governing syntax are distinct from the meanings words convey.)

4. Repetition
A device in which words, sounds, and ideas are used more than once to enhance rhythm and to create emphasis
Example: “…government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” (“Address at Gettysburg” by Abraham Lincoln)

5. Tone Examples of tone words: serious, sarcastic, indignant, objective
Author’s attitude toward subject matter as revealed through style, syntax, diction, figurative language, and organization.
Examples of tone words: serious, sarcastic, indignant, objective
NOTE: Tone is different from Mood, which is the atmosphere or ambience created by the author’s tone.
(Remember – tone has to do with the author, whereas mood has to do with the reader.)

6. Antithesis
A balancing of two opposite or contrasting words, phrases or clauses
Example: “. . .one seeing more where the other sees less, one seeing black where the other sees white, one seeing big where the other sees small ”
Example: Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act I, Scene I, Line 11: “Fair is foul and foul is fair.”
Example: Speech is silver, but silence is gold.
Example: “Setting foot on the moon may be a small step for man but a giant step for mankind.”

7. Anecdote
A brief story of an interesting or amusing event or incident, usually intended to support a specific message
Example: At the beginning of a speech about fire safety, the speaker tells a short cautionary tale about serious injury that occurred as a result of not following protocol.

8. Allusion
A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance.
It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers. It is just a passing comment and the writer expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to spot the allusion and grasp its importance in a text.
Example: “Chocolate was her Achilles’ heel.”
This means that her weakness was her love of chocolate. Achilles is a character in Greek mythology who was invincible. His mother dipped him in magical water when he was a baby, and she held him by the heel. The magic protected him all over, except for his heel.

9. The Rhetorical Triangle
Applying the principles of rhetoric helps you structure an argument so the truth becomes immediately apparent to your audience.
With the Rhetorical Triangle approach, we focus on the three things that have the greatest impact on an argument.
The speaker/ writer
The audience
The message

10. The Rhetorical Triangle
Speaker/ Writer
Message
Audience

11. Steps for Rhetorical Analysis
Step 1: Identify the speaker/writer
Step 2: Identify the audience
Step 3: Identify the argument and/or message. What is the speaker trying to convince the audience of?
Step 4: Identify rhetorical devices (Diction, Syntax, Tone, Repetition, Antithesis, Anecdote, Allusion)
Step 5: How does the rhetorical device(s) develop the argument and/or message?

12. Group Work Make a mini-poster that has the following:
Name of rhetorical device used
Textual evidence with examples
Explanation of which appeal (ethos, pathos, logos) the author’s use of your device most contributes to and why
One sentence clearly identifying her argument
Does she successfully prove her argument? Why or why not?