1. Using Numbers to Persuade
3B2 English 1

2. Learning Intentions I Am Learning To…
Recognise different persuasive devices within different texts and can explain how they are being used.
Develop my understanding of how one specific persuasive device is used to create a particular effect. 2

3. Success Criteria I Can…
I can explore a text for persuasive devices, identify at least 5 from within the text and can explain what effect they have on me as a reader.
I can identify and comment on how Facts and Statistics within a text are used to create a particular effect – persuasion. 3

4. Additional Persuasive Devices
Personal Evidence – to make your reader more aware of you and make the situation more real.
Emotive Language – to appeal to the reader. The build up of emotive words will make the reader feel sorry.
BOLD PRINT or Underline – to make things stand out.

5. Identifying Persuasive Devices
Read essay
In pairs/3’s, use the Persuasive Devices worksheet to help you identify at least 5 persuasive writing techniques.
Explain how this persuasive device makes you feel as the reader. 5

6. Example
‘In California, out of five hundred and sixty one people on death row, two hundred were black and a further one hundred and five were latino.’
Facts and Statistics.
This makes me feel a sense of shock, as it seems like a ridiculously large number.

7. Learning Intentions I am learning…
To develop my understanding of how one specific persuasive device is used to create a particular effect.
how to manipulate information in order to influence opinion.

8. Success Criteria I can…
I can identify and comment on how Facts and Statistics within a text are used to create a particular effect – persuasion.
I can demonstrate my understanding of how to manipulate information by changing a negative opinion to a positive one without altering the statistics.

9. Expressing numbers
Read the article 'A nation of addicts glued to the box'.
In your jotters, identify and comment on the Facts and Statistics used in the article.
Find at least 5 examples – remember to comment on how it is persuasive. 9

10. A nation of addicts glued to the box
If television is truly the 'drug of the nation' then it appears that we are cripplingly addicted to it. More than half of us devote more than five hours of each and every day to getting another fix of its transmissions. We waste away 72 days each year in a flurry of nature documentaries, soapy melodrama and live sport.
The survey carried out by a national building society also shows that more than a third (35%) of those asked owned two TV sets, just under a quarter (23%) had three and 6% had more than five sets.
The most common activity associated with viewing is eating, with more than two-thirds of families now having their meals whilst watching TV.
However, perhaps the most disturbing statistic was the indication that one in five believe that without television life would hardly be worth living.
The results of the survey disturb Greg Philo of Glasgow Media Group. 'To produce this average... There must be some people watching eight, ten hours a day... If you just sit down in front of the TV you can spend hours where you've not really achieved anything. TV stops us from doing the really good things in life.'
Alasdair Reisner 10

11. How we persuade
Think about the sentence: 'We waste away 72 days each year in a flurry of nature documentaries, soapy melodrama and live sport.' What can you say about the language used? 11

12. How we persuade How else could we express '72 days'?
What happens if we express it as;
'19% of our time'?
'less than a fifth of a year'?
Can you think of other ways to express it? 12

13. How we persuade What would happen if we expressed it like this:
'We spend less than a fifth of our time using TV for educational, news and entertainment purposes…'?
Can you think of another way to express this sentence? Write down in your jotter. 13

14. How we persuade
Think about the sentence: 'The survey carried out by a national building society also shows that more than a third (35%) of those asked owned two TV sets, just under a quarter (23%) had three and 6% had more than five sets.' Why do you think the author has included this information? What can you say about the persuasive devices used? Write in your jotter. 14

15. How we persuade
What happens to this sentence if we give exactly the same figures in a different way?
'The survey carried out by a national building society showed that almost two-thirds of households had no TV or only one.'
What would be the intention of stating the statistic this way? 15

16. Changing the tone
In your jotters, rewrite the first two sentences (from 'If television…' to '… its transmissions') to give a positive view of people's TV watching habits.
Be prepared to share. 16

17. Homework Tuesday 22nd Jan 2013
‘Can you help Janice?’
Write a short appeal where you are trying to persuade people to help.
Use the persuasive devices you have been learning about.
At least 10 examples in your appeal.

18. Using statistics to convey a message
As you can see, numbers can be expressed in a variety of ways.
How we express numbers can be used to convey a message to the reader.
Think about different ways to express numbers for particular purposes. 18

19. What's the difference? Factually, there is no difference between
33% of people think Y
One in three people think Y
Two-thirds of all people think Z
More than three out of ten people think Y
Less than a third of all people think Y
However, is there a difference tonally in these expressions? 19

20. Maximising and minimising statistics
We can make a statistic sound a lot or sound a little depending on how we express it.
In your groups, look at the statistics in the following table.
How could you express them in a way that seems to you to make them sound:
neutral?
a lot
a little? 20

21. Suggested alternative Make it sound a little Make it sound a lot
Percentage
Suggested alternative
Make it sound a little
Make it sound a lot
10%
One-tenth
'Only around…'
'As much as…'
23%
'Almost…'
3 in 10
49%
52%
Two-thirds
75%
90%
All 21

22. Percentage
Suggested alternative
Make it sound a little
Make it sound a lot
10%
One-tenth
'Only around…'
'As much as…'
23%
'Not even a quarter…'
'Almost a quarter…'
30%
3 in 10
'Less than a third…'
'As many as one in three…'
49%
5 in 10
'A minority…'
'Almost a half… '
52%
5 out of 10
'Barely half…'
'A clear majority…'
66%
Two-thirds
'As many as a third…' [reference to the opposite]
'Two out of every three…'
75%
Three-quarters
'A significant minority…' [reference to the opposite]
'It's hard to ignore the fact that three quarters…'
90%
9 out of 10
'Hardly surprising that…' [make it seem too obvious to mean much]
'All but…'
100%
All
'Of course everyone… but…' [make it seem too obvious to mean much]
'It is unanimous…' 22

23. Stating the blooming obvious...
How can we minimise and cast doubt on large statistic?
We can make it seem so obvious as to be worthless. Think about the following examples:
‘Of course everyone would agree with X: it’s a bit like agreeing that air is good for you...’
‘So what if 100% of the population believe in Y: is what is popular always what is right?’ 23