Rhetoric

Classical Appeals

logos

Deductive Reasoning

syllogism

Inductive Reasoning

Facts:

• You find your goldfish bowl on the floor.
• The goldfish is nowhere to be seen.
• The cat is sleeping contentedly.

Conclusion?

The document continues to list the King's abuses. Each statement

of evidence begins with "He has..."

The conclusion of the argument reads

A prince, whose character is thus marked

by every act which may define a tyrant, is

unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

pathos

ethos

Aristotle said there are three qualities that inspire ethos. A rhetor establishes credibility by demonstrating

or appeals to "fairness" appeal to the audience's sense of what is right, fair, proper, or just. These appeals demonstrate the speaker's virtue (a good person) and goodwill (a fair-minded person, concerned for the good of all).

Too dull, dry, or factual?

Is the speaker truly knowledgeable or an expert on the subject?

Other Rhetorical Strategies

Refutation

Concession

Which of Aristotle's three qualities of ethos does the speaker demonstrate by making a concession?

Rhetorical Question

A rhetorical question is one for which the answer is obvious--usually yes or no--presented for the purpose of creating an effect:

• emphasizing a point
• provoking thought
• drawing a conclusion

diction

the act of changing or adjusting our communication style, tone, or diction to adapt to a particular audience, purpose, setting, or occasion

to the Ancient Greeks, the speaker's ability to adapt to changing circumstances, to seize the opportune moment, the right time and place for action

figurative language / figures of speech

• simile
• metaphor
• personification
• hyperbole

apostrophe

"Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences."

Syntax

Active or Passive Voice

Smedley broke the window.

The window was broken.

It isn't the size of the dog in the fight.

It's the size of the fight in the dog.

This is the end of the presentation.

REVIEW

APPEALS

Answers:

1. rhetoric- B

2. logos- D

3. pathos- A

4. ethos- F

5. qualities that inspire credibility-G

6. logical fallacies - E

7. inductive reasoning - I

8. deductive reasoning - H

9. syllogism - C

RHETORICAL

STRATEGIES

Answers:

1. refutation - B

2. concession - D

3. rhetorical question - A

4. satire - C

5. analogy - E

DICTION

Answers:

1. diction - E

2. connotation - F

3. cliche - B

4. euphemism - D

5. imagery - A

6. onomatopoeia - C

7. tone - G

FIGURES

OF SPEECH

Answers:

1. simile - C

2. metaphor - E

3. personification - H

4. hyperbole - A

5. apostrophe - B

6. allusion - G

7. paradox - D

SYNTAX

Answers:

1. loose sentence - C

2. periodic sentence - E

3. active voice - D

4. passive voice - A

5. parallel syntax - B

Rhetoric

the art of effective or persuasive speech or writing

Rhetorical Strategies

• the methods used to persuade an audience or to express ideas effectively
• a writer's or speaker's (a rhetor's) use of language--the techniques, devices, strategies--to move an audience to adopt a belief, accept the soundness of a position, or to follow a course of action

Aristotle's Triangle

Aristotle believed that effective persuasion consisted of a balance of ethos, pathos, and logos.

Consider the result when one appeal is used without the balance of the others.

ethos

Red Herring

Why should we work to beautify our campus when there are problems with class sizes and underpaid support staff?

Equivocation

You Also

• presenting other issues that are not related to the issue at hand
• an attempt to divert the discussion to other issues

According to actor Brad Pitt, our economic policy has been a complete failure.

An argument that states that an opponent's view has no validity because the opponent does not follow his or her own advice

presenting an argument with a word that has two different meanings

The senator proposes more funding for public colleges,

yet all of his children attend private colleges.

The reference to an "expert" who actually is not qualified to speak with authority on the issue

Appeal to Doubtful Authority

Our college is hypocritical. Our professors are always preaching about scholarship, yet the school is unwilling to offer more scholarships to students

This year's senior class is not academically motivated because only 65% of the class made the Honor Roll last term.

The use of statistics or numbers as factual evidence when they distort, misrepresent, or inaccurately present the issue

Either/Or

Misleading Statistics

presenting a situation as having only two choices, without considering other options or factors

Every time we elect a woman as President of the school board, we have a teacher shortage in our schools. If we want to avoid a teacher shortage, we need to elect a man as president of the school board.

Post Hoc

logos

Post hoc reasoning assumes that because two events occur close together in time, the first event caused the second.

Either you will support our plan to improve our school, or you obviously don't care about our school.

appeal to reason

pathos

logos

is Latin for "after this, therefore because of this."

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

Sweeping Generalization

• an appeal to the logical, rational nature of human beings
• appealing to the audience's reason or logic

Thousands of people have purchased this product, so it must be effective.

an argument based on the assumption that all people, situations, or events of a kind are the same

a conclusion that does not logically follow from the previous statement or evidence

an argument that establishes a general observation and proceeds to a specific conclusion

Non Sequitur

The leader of the committee was a freshman, and she wasn't very responsible. Freshman aren't prepared to lead a committee.

Too much pathos?

logical fallacies

Classical Appeals

a three-part logical proof:

1. major premise

Personal Attack

Where are the facts or evidence for support?

Is the speaker reliable or credible?

Feeling emotionally manipulated?

An action is justified because the end result is the ultimate goal.

All humans have a right to rebel against tyranny in order to be free.

arguments that sound logical but are actually the result of faulty reasoning

attacking the person presenting the argument, rather than the merits of the argument

Refutation is making a counter-argument.

The speaker presents the opposing side's view and shows how it is weak, faulty, or flawed.

According to Aristotle, there are three basic appeals used in persuasion. These are known as the Classical Appeals.

"It's okay to take the money from the wallet I found. After all, my money was taken from my lost wallet."

We can't support his proposal to improve mass transit. After all, he left his wife for a younger woman.

Ends Justify the Means

2. minor premise

Once a practice begins, it will lead to more and more use of the practice, and ultimately to an undesirable extreme.

Two Wrongs Make a Right

reason

False Analogy

logos

The King has demonstrated actions of a tyrant in his treatment of his subjects.

emotion

pathos

Other Fallacies

a comparison establishing a similarity between two ideas or things that are, in fact, quite different

ethos

authority

Slippery Slope

3. conclusion

Students are like nails. And like nails, they must be hit hard in the head in order for them to work.

Therefore, the people have a right to rebel against their king in order to be free.

That was the argument our founding fathers presented in the Declaration of Independence.

Sound familiar?

Too much logos?

Begging the Question

a conclusion drawn from evidence that has not been proven or established.

Concession is the act of acknowledging the validity of a point or argument made by the opposing side.

Since the new program is not effective, it is a waste of taxpayer's money.

an argument which proceeds from several specific observations or facts to lead to a general conclusion

Why would you do that?

Your cat knocked over the goldfish bowl and ate the goldfish!

The history of the present King of Great Britain is history of

repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object

the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states.

To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

Intelligence?

Virtue?

Goodwill?

Our Founding Fathers also used Inductive Reasoning in the Declaration of Independence. They listed specfic observations (facts) about the King of England, all of which lead to the general conclusion that the King is a tyrant.

He has refused to assent to his laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

What are the real facts?

Are all "experts" well-informed?

Should we believe the speaker just because of the speaker's title, position, or status?

appeal to authority

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

It's what you know about the speaker OUTSIDE of what the speaker says.

Extrinsic ethos: respect for the speaker's established authority, experience, expertise, position, or status.

Too much ethos?

ethos

• an appeal to the audience's desire to trust the writer or speaker
• the ability to inspire confidence in the speaker's credibility.

When the speaker presents ideas with clarity and appears intelligent, knowledgeable, honest, sincere, and confident, the speaker is credible (believable or trustworthy).

This conclusion supports the second (minor) premise of the

deductive argument presented earlier.

Do you remember the minor premise?

Example:

When a doctor speaks about medicine or disease, we usually accept and believe

what he or she says, because we have respect for a doctor's education, training and professional experience.

It's the impression the audience forms by what the speaker says and how the speaker says it.

Intrinsic Ethos: respect for the trustworthy manner of the speaker

Example:

If the same doctor can't pronounce medical words, seems unsure of his statements, or forgets what he just said, you would probably question his authority as an expert on medicine.

appeal to emotions

pity

grief

guilt

sorrow

fear

anger

love of family

love of country

pathos

loyalty

intelligence

virtue

goodwill

compassion

love of self

an appeal to the emotional, feeling nature of human beings-- the audience's passions, loves, desires, senses, or fears.

sadness

respect

pride

sympathy

responsibility

"Can we as a nation afford to continue to spend our way into deeper and deeper debt for our children and grandchildren?"

When a speaker's words move us to respond emotionally, the message can be very powerful.

Virtue:

The speaker presents as a person of good moral character, trustworthy, and ethical in conduct.

Intelligence:

The speaker shows knowledge or experience with the subject, appears as an"expert"

levels of diction

accommodation

...depending on the speaker's audience, purpose, or occasion

word choice

Overall the word choice may be described as

• highly formal
• formal
• informal
• colloquial
• slang
• official
• technical
• abstract
• concrete
• jargon

Goodwill:

The speaker is "fair-minded," acknowledging differing views, respecting the audience's intelligence and showing concern for the good of all

Ethical Appeals

kairos

connotation

It's knowing the right words for the right time.

cliche

a trite, common, or tired expression made meaningless by thoughtless overuse

the attitudes or feelings associated with a given word

A word's connotation can be positive, negative, or neutral, or have other associated meanings.

• tone
• diction
• imagery
• figurative language
• analogy
• paradox
• allusion
• satire
• syntax

For example,

would you prefer to be described as or

skinny ?

Recognize these?

slender

Language

Devices

Which word has the positive connotation and which has the negative connotation? Why? What different ideas do the words suggest?

feeling out of place?

I have a feeling that things will get better soon.

Evidence

Still can't decide?

imagery

onomatopoeia

euphemism

the use of a word that imitates a natural sound

words that appeal strongly to our senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch

a euphemism is a pleasant-sounding word or term used to avoid a harsh or blunt word or term

Question:

What are the names of the three Kellogg's Rice Krispies characters?

the speaker's authority may be enhanced by use of

• facts and expert opinions
• examples or case studies
• scientific research
• cause-effect analysis

Answer: Snap, Crackle, and Pop

a transparent wall maintenance officer

a sanitation engineer

simile

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion ;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

simile

metaphor

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

a direct comparison of two things using the words "like" or "as"

THE fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

Carl Sandburg

metaphor

personification

an implied comparison of two things

apostrophe

personification

Apparently with no surprise,

To any happy flower,

The frost beheads it at its play,

In accidental power.

The blond assassin passes on.

The sun proceeds unmoved,

To measure off another day,

For an approving God.

tone

speaking to someone absent, dead, or not human as if it could listen or reply

Busy old fool, unruly sun,

Why dost thou thus,

Through windows, and through curtains call on us?

the assigning of human qualities to a non-human thing

John Donne, The Sun Rising

Emily Dickinson

hyperbole

is not only a punctuation mark. It's a figure of speech, similar to personification. Here's how...

People moved slowly then. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.

understatement

the use of words that are less strong than what would normally be expected for the circumstances

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Seeing a masked man with a gun enter a bank tends to make the customers and employees a little nervous.

hyperbole

a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement

oxymoron

the use of two opposite or contradictory words side by side, a verbal paradox

Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,

That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Words used to describe tone

Appeals Review

The speaker's attitude toward the subject or audience

pedantic scathing

compassionate fearful

macabre

playful

scornful

condescending flattering maudlin pompous

self-deprecating

confidential

gothic

mocking

reflective

sentimental

critical

humorous

mock-serious

remorseful

skeptical

cynical

idyllic

didactic

irreverent

nostalgic

sad

whimsical

disdainful

jingoistic

objective

sarcastic

wistful

sincere

sarcastic

mournful

resigned

solemn

defensive

inspiring

mystified

resolute

spiritual

detached

ironic

naïve

reverent

angry

elegaic

joyous passionate sardonic

astonished facetious laudatory patriotic

satirical

bitter

factual

1. rhetoric

2. logos

3. pathos

4. ethos

5. qualities that inspire credibility

6. logical fallacies

7. inductive reasoning

8. deductive reasoning

9. syllogism

A. appeal to emotions

B. the art of effective or persuasive speech or writing

C. three-step deductive proof

D. appeal to logic or reason

E. arguments that sound logical but are actually the result of faulty reasoning

F. appeal to authority

G. intelligence, virtue, goodwill

H. an argument that moves from a general observation to a specific conclusion

I. an argument which proceeds from several specific observations or facts to lead to a general conclusion

arrangement or order of words in sentences

paradox

analogy

periodic sentence

an apparent contradiction that actually holds a truth

Rhetorical Strategies Review

a comparison showing the similarities between something familiar to something unfamiliar

A periodic sentence presents the main point at the end of the sentence. It creates "syntactic tension" or suspense and builds to a climax at the end.

To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with.

After listening to the speeches, seeing the awards, and admiring the applause, we left.

loose sentence

In 1954 President Dwight D. Eisenhower drew an analogy to the spread of communism in Indochina to a row of dominoes. This analogy became known as the "Domino Theory."

Mark Twain

1. refutation

2. concession

3. rhetorical

question

4. satire

5. analogy

A loose sentence presents the main point at the beginning of the sentence. It's direct and factual.

A. a question to which the answer is obvious, presented for persuasive effect

B. a counter-argument presenting the opposing side's view and showing how it is weak, faulty, or flawed.

C. the use of humor or ridicule to show human folly or vice

D. Acknowledging the validity of a point made by the opposing side

E. establishing a similarity between two dissimilar things

antithesis

We left after listening to the speeches, seeing the awards, and admiring the applause.

allusion

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Antithesis is the use of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases or clauses.

reference to a literary or historical person or event

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

To err is human, to forgive, divine.

Diction Review

Alexander Pope

An "Achilles' Heel" is a person's fatal weakness. In the Trojan War, Achilles was mortally wounded by an arrow in his heel, his one area of vulnerability.

parallel syntax

satire

chiasmus

the use of humor, wit, or ridicule to expose human folly or vice

1. diction

2. connotation

3. cliche

4. euphemism

5. imagery

6. onomatopoeia

7. tone

Here is a clever rhetorical device using word order. Two key words are reversed in order, making an "X."

A. words that appeal to the senses

B. a tired, worn-out expression

C. a word that imitates a natural sound

D. a pleasant-sounding word used in place of a harsh-sounding word

E. a writer's choice of words for their effect

F. the attitudes or meanings associated with a word

G. speaker's attitude toward his/her subject or audience

Parallel syntax is the repetition of patterns of words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence or in several sentences. Notice the repetition of patterns in these two sentences from Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. Brutus is explaining his relationship and feelings for Caesar and for Rome.

Satire may also include the use of irony, sarcasm, exaggeration, caricature, or parody (imitation).

Ask not what your country can do for you.

Ask what you can do for your country.

President John F. Kennedy

Inaugural Address

There's no money in poetry,

but then there's no poetry in money, either.

Robert Graves

Mark Twain was a great American satirist.

Review Activities are next.

As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears for his love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his ambition.

Figures of Speech Review

Active Voice

Active Voice is used when the subject of the verb is a performer of the action.

Why is parallel syntax effective?

1. simile

2. metaphor

3. personification

4. hyperbole

5, apostrophe

6. allusion

7. paradox

subject

verb

A. deliberate exaggeration or overstatement

B. a speech to an object or non-living thing

C. a comparison using "like" or "as"

D. a contradiction that actually reveals a truth

E. an implied comparison

G. reference to a literary or historical person or event

H. giving human qualities to non-human things

Passive Voice

Parallel syntax adds a poetic beauty to the sentence and emphasizes repeated words or ideas. It enhances the speaker's authority by demonstrating intelligence or wisdom.

Passive voice is used when the subject of the verb is the result or the receiver of the action.

Passive voice is used when the subject is unknown or unimportant, or when the speaker wishes to avoid identifying the performer of the action.

verb

subject

Did the window perform the action?

...and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address

Mistakes were made.

Who made the mistakes?

Syntax Review

1. loose sentence

2. periodic sentence

3. active voice

4. passive voice

5. parallel syntax

anaphora

Here is another kind of parallelism, called anaphora. It's the repetition of words at the beginning of sentences. What is the effect of Churchill's anaphora?

A. subject is the result or receiver of the action

B. repetition of patterns of words within a sentence or in several sentences

C. the main clause appears at the beginning of the sentence

D. subject is the performer of the action

E. the main clause appears at the end of the sentence

"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills."

Winston S. Churchill