1. Rhetoric

2. What is rhetoric?
In classical times, a rhetor was defined as “the good person speaking well” Basically, rhetoric is: * Speaking or writing effectively * Using words for a purpose, often to persuade So, it is what a speaker or writer says, and how he/she says it, for a specific purpose

3. What is rhetoric?
More specifically, rhetoric is: *What a writer or speaker does that causes a text/speech to become meaningful, purposeful, and effective * A reader or listener analyzing how the writer or speaker’s choices make the text become meaningful, purposeful, and effective

4. What is the Author’s purpose?
What does the author/ speaker/ filmmaker/ advertiser, etc. want the reader, listener, viewer to Feel? Think? Do?
What does he use to convince us to feel / think/ do what he wants us to?

5. Persuasive Techniques
Aristotle’s 3 Appeals:
Logos
Ethos
Pathos

6. Appeals: How to Persuade
Ethos: appeals to a sense of character, credibility, authority.
The writer makes a good impression.
The reader believes the writer knows what he or she is talking about.
The speaker’s ethos is his expertise, knowledge, experience, training, sincerity, or a combination.

7. Ethos Involves appeals to: The conscience Ethics Morals Standards
Values
Principles
Author or speaker tries to convince you that
He is of good character
Is qualified to make his claims
Author or speaker:
Cites relevant authorities
Quotes others accurately and fairly

8. Appeals: How to Persuade
Logos: appeals to reason, sense of logic.
Solid facts
Sound argument
Acknowledge the counterargument
Concession and refutation

9. Logos Using logos involves: Facts or research Quoted authorities
Cause and effect information
Analogies and comparisons
Common sense information

10. Appeals: How to Persuade
Pathos: writer/speaker draws on the emotions and interests of the audience
Figurative language
Personal anecdote
First person
Strong connotations.

11. Pathos Involves appeals to: The heart Emotions Sympathy Passions
Sentimentality
It may also involve imagery and figurative language

12. Rhetoric in advertising
resources/lesson-plans/video/persuasive- techniques-advertising-1166.html

13. Rhetorical techniques / devices
Themes: The central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into life.
Linking devices that hold a text together structurally, e.g. the battle between good and evil
Usually theme is unstated in fictional works, but in nonfiction, the theme may be directly state, especially in expository or argumentative writing.
Repetition of certain words: Why, with all the words at his or her disposal, does a writer choose to repeat particular words or phrases?

14. Rhetorical techniques / devices
Imagery: language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching.
Metaphor and symbolism: Non-literal, imaginative substitutions in which, for instance, a tree becomes a metaphor for family, or springtime symbolizes rebirth.
Winter, darkness, and the cold are real things, but in literature they are also likely to be used as symbols of death. For example, the color green might represent ecology, environmental issues or money.

15. Rhetorical techniques / devices
Style, tone, voice: Gut reactions are useful here. Examine your own responses. What is it that makes you respond as you do? Are you the author’s intended audience? If not, who is? The attitude a writer takes towards a subject or character: serious, humorous, sarcastic, ironic, satirical, tongue-in-cheek, solemn, objective.
Analogy: compares two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one.
. . . For answers successfully arrived at are solutions to difficulties previously discussed, and one cannot untie a knot if he is ignorant of it. – Aristotle .

16. Rhetorical techniques / devices
Hyperbole: Exaggeration or overstatement.
Allusion: A reference to something real or fictional, to someone, some event, or something in the Bible, history, literature, or any phase of culture.

17. Rhetorical techniques / devices
Irony: use of a word in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the statement
A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant. Irony is frequently humorous, and can be sarcastic when using words to imply the opposite of what they normally mean

18. Rhetorical techniques / devices
Oxymoron: A contradiction in terms
Such as faithless devotion, searing cold, deafening silence, virtual reality, act naturally, peacekeeper missile, or larger half
Symbolism: is using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning.
Examples: dawn symbolizing hope or a new beginning, a rose symbolizing love, a tree symbolizing knowledge

19. Rhetorical techniques / devices
Sarcasm: a form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually bitterly or harshly critical.
For example, a coach saying to a player who misses the ball, "Nice catch."
Satire: literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject of the satiric attack.
One of the most interesting features of satire is that it is almost universally believed to be a persuasive writing form. In actuality, it appears that most written satire actually fools most of its readers, so that, far from being persuasive, it is often not even understood.