RHETORICAL LANGUAGE Appealing to ethos, pathos, & logos

What is Rhetoric? ■Rhetoric: ■the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques. ■In other words… ■Using your words to persuade an audience to think or see things from your perspective. ■Rhetoric is the art of using language to persuade, motivate, or inform an audience via writing or speech. This is also known as the art of discourse. The goal of rhetoric is to move the audience to action through effective arguments. While rhetoric was originally seen as most important for political discourse, scholars who study it find examples of rhetoric in a wide range of fields, from fine art to fiction to architecture. Rhetoric is involved when communication is used to achieve a certain end.discourse

Rhetorical Triangle

Rhetorical Devices ■Technique(s) that writers and speakers use in their delivery to evoke emotion, convey persuasive information, and impact meaning of text. Some devices…. Metaphor Repetition Imagery Rhetorical questions

Your Rhetorical Language Arsenal ■Rhetorical Devices serve very purposeful and intentional uses. There are TWO terms that classify these purposes: –schemes: any artful variation from a typical arrangement of words in a sentence –tropes: any artful variation from the typical way a word or idea is expressed ■Schemes involving balance –parallelism: Similar ideas are balanced grammatically in a sentence ■The assistant editor was asked to write his article swiftly, accurately, and thoroughly. ■John Taylor Gatto criticizes public schools because they require students to attend, receive money from the government, and destroy students' humanity. –antithesis: parallelism is used to juxtapose ideas that contrast ■“To err is human; to forgive [is] divine.” ■words—When distance runners reach the state they call the zone, they find themselves mentally engaged yet detached. ■phrases—When distance runners reach the state they call the zone, they find themselves mentally engaged with their physical surroundings yet detached from moment-to-moment concerns about their conditioning. ■clauses—When distance runners reach the state they call the zone, they find that they are empirically engaged with their physical surroundings, yet they are also completely detached from moment to moment concerns about their conditioning.

More Devices… ■Schemes involving interruption: –parenthesis: Interruption that is indicated by punctuation, either (parentheses) or ––dashes— ■Sports night at the school always brings out the would-be jocks (who would expect any different?) ready to show that they’re potentially as good as the varsity players. ■Sports night supervisors have to stop people from trying to slam dunk—this is the ultimate showboat move— for fear that one of the would-be jocks might hurt himself. –appositive: a construction in which two coordinating elements are set side by side, and the second explains or modifies the first. ■Joe Weider, pioneer in personal weight training, would marvel at the facilities to today’s student athletes. ■Schemes involving omission –asyndeton: an omission of conjunctions between related clauses: ■ I skated, I shot, I scored, I cheered—what a glorious moment of sport! –polysyndeton: excessive repetition of conjunctions between related clauses: ■ I skated and I shot and I scored and I cheered—what a glorious moment of sport! –ellipsis: any omission of words, the meaning of which is provided by the overall context of the passage ■In a hockey power play, if you pass the puck to the wing, and he to you, then you can close in on the goal.

One More Scheme… ■Schemes involving repetition: –alliteration: repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning or in the middle of two or more adjacent words. ■Intramural hockey is a strenuous, stimulating, satisfying sport. –assonance: repetition of vowel sounds in the stressed syllables of two or more adjacent words. ■A workout partner is finally a kind, reliable, right-minded helper. –anaphora: repetition of the same group of words at the beginning of successive clauses. ■Exercise builds stamina in young children; exercise builds stamina in teenagers and young adults; exercise builds stamina in older adults and senior citizens. –epistrophe: repetition of the same group of words at the end of successive clauses. ■To become a top-notch player, I thought like an athlete, I trained like an athlete, I ate like an athlete. –anadiplosis: repetition of the last words of one clause at the beginning of the following clause. ■Mental preparation leads to training; training builds muscle tone and coordination; muscle tone and coordination, combined with focused thinking, produce athletic excellence.

Tropes ■Tropes involving comparisons: –simile: the comparison between two things is explicit, i.e. uses comparative language. ■An athlete’s mind must be like a well-tuned engine, in gear and responding to the twists and curves of the contest. –metaphor: direct comparison of two seemingly dissimilar things. ■Many an athletic contest is lost when the player’s mind is an idling engine. –synecdoche: a part of something is used to refer to the whole. ■We decided we could rearrange the gym equipment if everyone would lend a hand. –metonymy: an entity is referred to by one of its attributes. ■The central office announced today new regulations for sports night. –personification: Animals or inanimate objects are given human characteristics. ■After almost three periods of searching, the puck finally found the goal. –periphrasis: A descriptive word or phrase is used to refer to a proper name. ■The New York Rangers and the New York Islanders vie to be the best hockey team in the Big Apple.

Tropes Continued ■Tropes involving word play: –pun: a word that suggests two of its meaning or the meaning of a homonym. ■The tipped-but-caught third strike, ending a bases-loaded rally, was a foul most foul. –anthimeria: One part of speech, usually a verb, substitutes for another, usually a noun. ■When the Little Leaguers lost the championship, they needed just to have a good cry before they could feel okay about their season. –onomatopoeia: Sounds of the words used are related to their meaning. ■The puck whizzed and sipped over the ice, then clattered into the goal. ■Tropes involving over/understatement: –hyperbole: overstatement ■He couldn’t make that shot again if he tried a million times. –litotes: double negative ■Shutting out the opponents for three straight games is no small feat for a goal-tender.

We’ve Reached the End… ■Tropes involving the management of meaning –irony: Words are meant to convey the opposite of their literal meaning ■Their center is over seven feet tall—where do they come up with these little pipsqueaks? –oxymoron: words that have apparently contradictory meanings are placed near each other. ■When you have to face your best friend in competition, whoever wins feels an aching pleasure. –rhetorical question: A question is designed not to secure an answer but to move the development of an idea forward and suggest a point. ■Hasn’t the state of intercollegiate athletics reached the point where the line between professionalism and amateurism is blurred? –paradox: A contradictory statement that is still true. ■ War is peace. ■Tropes involving Reversal –antimetabole: is a sentence strategy in which the arrangement of ideas in the second clause is a reversal of the first; it adds power through its inverse repetition: ■‘And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you’ –inversion involves constructing a sentence so the predicate comes before the subject. ■“Long did the hours seem while I waited the departure of the company, and listened for the sound of Bessie’s step on the stairs…” –epanalepsis the repetition of the initial word (or words) of a clause or sentence at the end of that same clause or sentence ■Severe to his servants, to his children severe.

Ethos, Pathos, & Logos

Ethos ■Ethos : –is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader. –In other words…the speaker wants the audience to TRUST what they’re saying. In order to gain trust, the speaker must prove they are credible. ■Examples: –A commercial about a specific brand of toothpaste says that 4 out of 5 dentists use it. –A makeup commercial features beautiful, famous women, who use this makeup- appealing to the viewer because if these women use it, it must be a good product. ■Ethos ClipEthos Clip

Pathos ■Pathos: –is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response. –In other words, allowing the audience to connect with you and your message on an emotional level. ■Examples: –"If we don’t move soon, we’re all going to die! Can’t you see how dangerous it would be to stay?“ –After years of this type of disrespect from your boss, countless hours wasted, birthdays missed… it’s time that you took a stand." –Pathos (Try not to cry)Pathos (Try not to cry)

Logos ■Logos: –is an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason. –In other words…using LOGIC and REASON to get the audience on your side. ■Examples: –"History has shown time and again that absolute power corrupts absolutely.“ –"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: we have not only the fingerprints, the lack of an alibi, a clear motive, and an expressed desire to commit the robbery… We also have video of the suspect breaking in. The case could not be more open and shut." –LogosLogos

The combination of the three persuasive appeals leads to…..

Your assignment for today! ■I am going to come around, and you will pick a product or good that you need to persuade your audience to buy. ■You must create a visual advertisement (poster, CGI compilation, or a short 30 second video advertisement) of that image using ETHOS, PATHOS, and LOGOS! ■Do not be afraid to use one, if not some, of the rhetorical devices that we went over in the presentation. ■It will be up to you to really PERSUADE your audience! ■GOOD LUCK!