RHETORIC
any communication used to
modify the perspectives of
others
RHETORICAL SITUATION
The circumstances in which
you communicate
THE RHETORICAL SITUATION
THE WRITER
Your culture, personal
characteristics affect what
you write about and how you
write it.
P U R P O S E : YO U R R E A S O N F O R
WRITING
AU D I E N C E : T O W H O M A R E YO U
WRITING?
Many of the same
factors which affect
the writer also
affect the audience
• Social class
• Education
• Culture
• Political beliefs
CONTEXT
The “situation” which
generates the need for writing
Affected by the
•
•
•
•
Time period or timing
Location
Current events
Cultural significance
THE RHETORICAL
TRIANGLE
Audience
Rhetorical
(Pathos)
Context
Speaker/
Writer: Ethos
Message
(Logos)
ETHOS
• Refers to the writer or speaker
• appeal based on the character of
the speaker
• An ethos-driven document relies
on the reputation of the author.
ETHOS EXAMPLE
"As a doctor, I am qualified to tell you
that this course of treatment will likely
generate the best results.
LOGOS:
• Logic (Rational Thought) added to
the argument
• Refers to human reasoning
• Used to “prove” your opinion/message
•
Example:
LOGOS EXAMPLE
Notably, since stabilizing in mid-2009,
real household spending in the United
States has grown in the range of 1 to 2
percent at annual rates, a relatively modest
pace.
LOGOS ELEMENTS
• Assumption: underlying belief
• Counterargument: way to appeal to logos
is to anticipate other views
• When you CONCEDE the opposing
argument MIGHT be true, you have the
ability to RUFUTE (deny) their validity.
Lou clip
PATHOS
• appeal based on emotion.
• 'appeal to the audience's sympathies and imagination.'
• Language choice affects the audience's emotional
response
• An appeal to pathos causes an audience not just to
respond emotionally but to identify with the writer's point
of view--to feel what the writer feels
• the power with which the writer's message moves the
audience to decision or action.
PATHOS EXAMPLE
Some of you have come from areas
where your quest -- quest for
freedom left you battered by the
storms of persecution and
staggered by the winds of police
brutality.
r
RHETORICAL
DEVICES
RHETORICAL DEVICES
Rhetorical question: is a figure of speech in
the form of a question that is asked in order to
make a point
The question is not to elicit a specific answer,
but to get the listener to consider a viewpoint
Persuade an audience to believe in the
position(s) of the speaker.
• What have the Romans ever done for
us?
REPETITION
The simple repeating of a word, within
a sentence or a poetical line, with no
particular placement of the words, in
order to secure emphasis.
• Antanaclasis is the repetition of a word
or phrase to effect a different meaning
• "We must all hang together, or
assuredly we shall all hang separately."
(Benjamin Franklin)
TYPES OF REPETITION
Anaphora is the repetition of a word or
phrase at the beginning of every clause. It
comes from the Greek phrase, "Carrying up or
Back".
• "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, we shall never surrender." (Winston
Churchill)
ANALOGIES
 A kind of extended metaphor or long
simile in which an explicit comparison is
made between two things (events, ideas,
people, etc.) for the purpose of furthering
a line of reasoning or drawing an inference
• Example: "Withdrawal of U.S. troops will
become like salted peanuts to the American
public; the more U.S. troops come home,
the more will be demanded."
ANALOGY VS. SIMILE
While simile and analogy often overlap,
the simile is generally a more artistic
likening, done briefly for effect and
emphasis, while analogy serves the more
practical end of explaining a thought
process or a line of reasoning or the
abstract in terms of the concrete, and may
therefore be more extended.
PARALLELISM (GRAMMAR)
Parallel structure means that two or more
ideas in a sentence are expressed in similar
form. And, but and or usually join similar
• I am neither a Catholic nor a Protestant.
• Nancy read a book while Joe watched
television.
• We are giving away our furniture, selling
our house and moving to Spain
PARALLELISM (VERBS AND
ADVERBS)
I have always sought but seldom
obtained a parking space near the door.
Quickly and happily he walked around
the corner to buy the book.
PARALLELISM (VERBS AND
OBJECTS)
He liked to eat watermelon and to avoid
grapefruit
This wealthy car collector owns three pastel
Cadillacs, two gold Rolls Royces, and ten
assorted Mercedes
PARALLELISM (PHRASES)
The pilot walked down the aisle, through
the door, and into the cockpit
He left the engine on, idling erratically
and heating rapidly.
To think accurately and to write precisely
are interrelated goals
PARALLELISM (RHETORIC)
is recurrent syntactical similarity.
Several parts of a sentence or several
sentences are expressed similarly to
show that the ideas in the parts or
sentences are equal in importance.
Parallelism also adds balance and
rhythm and, most importantly,
clarity.
PARALLELISM (RHETORIC
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us
well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any
burden, meet any hardship, support any friend,
oppose any foe to assure the survival and the
success of liberty." — John F. Kennedy
We beg no longer. We entreat no more. We
petition no more. We defy them." — William
Jennings Bryan
UNDERSTATEMENT AND
HYPERBOLE
Understatement: deliberately expresses an idea as less
important than it actually is, either for ironic emphasis or
for politeness and tact.
• Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly
believe how much it altered her person for the worse.
--Jonathan Swift
Hyperbole: the counterpart of understatement,
deliberately exaggerates conditions for emphasis or effect.
• I've seen cows hurt worse than this get up and get
well
METAPHOR
Metaphor compares two different things by
speaking of one in terms of the other. Unlike a
simile or analogy, metaphor asserts that one
thing is another thing, not just that one is like
another. Very frequently a metaphor is invoked
by the to be verb
• affliction then is ours; / We are the trees whom
shaking fastens more. --George Herbert
• When it comes to midterms, it's kill or be
killed. Let's go in and slay this test
ALLITERATION
is the recurrence of initial consonant sounds.
• Done well, alliteration is a satisfying
sensation
• I shall delight to hear the ocean roar, or see
the stars twinkle, in the company of men to
whom Nature does not spread her volumes or
utter her voice in vain. --Samuel Johnson
PARADOX
is a statement that apparently contradicts
itself and yet might be true.
• "This statement is false", a form of the liar
paradox. The statement is referring to itself.
often refers to statements that
are ironic or unexpected, such as
• "the paradox that standing is more tiring
than walking"
OXYMORON
is a paradox reduced to two words, usually
in an adjective-noun or adverb-adjective
• eloquent silence
• inertly strong
is used for effect, complexity, emphasis, or
wit
• He was now ready to order a party of
modest magnificence
OXYMORON CONTINUED
An oxymoron shows the complexity of a situation
where two apparently opposite things are true
simultaneously,
• literally ("desirable calamity")
• imaginatively ("love precipitates delay“
An oxymoron can be useful when things have gone
contrary to expectation, belief, desire, or assertion, or
when your position is opposite to another's which you
are discussing.
• The cost-saving program became an expensive
economy
JUXTAPOSITION
an act or instance of placing close t
o each other or side-by-side,
especially for comparison and
contrast
• Peasants and aristocrats;
• Forget to remember or remember to
forget."
ANTITHESIS
establishes a clear, contrasting relationship
between two ideas by joining them together or
juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure.
• To err is human; to forgive, divine. –Pop
Antithesis can convey some sense of
complexity in a person or idea by admitting
opposite or nearly opposite truths:
• Success makes men proud; failure makes
them wise.
REFERENCES:
• Crewell, D. (1999) The Art of Rhetoric.
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/webclass/web/project1/group4
/
• http://courses.durhamtech.edu/perkins/aris.html
• Rozkelly, H. (1998) Everyday use: Rhetoric at work in
reading and writing. New Your, NY: Pearson