Persuasive Techniques:
Today’s Lesson
Objectives:
To identify and revise
persuasive techniques
and their definitions;
To be able to explain
the impact of
persuasive techniques
on the reader
1.
Copy the date, title
and objectives.
2.
Register Challenge:
Can you name a
Persuasive technique?
3.
Extension:
The Head has asked
for your response to
Gove’s proposal to
keep schools open
until 6pm – Start an
email to the Head
persuading him that
this is a ridiculous /
brilliant idea!
You should aim to
complete all of these
tasks before the music
ends
The Techniques:
• Before we can start to talk about the effects
of persuasive techniques, we need to make
sure that we have a toolkit to play with!
Rhetorical
Question
Pronouns
Facts
Imperatives
Hyperbole
List of 3
Statistics
Opinions
Emotive
Imagery
Anecdote
Question:
What effect is a writer hoping to achieve with the use of a
rhetorical question?
Question:
What effect is a writer hoping to achieve with the use of a list
of 3?
i.e. Do you really think that Michael Gove has any idea at all
about how Teachers should plan?
i.e Gove is an ill-informed, ill-mannered… ill man!
Answer:
Rhetorical questions are designed to engage the reader in the
article. The idea is that the reader thinks about an answer to
the question and it suggests questions that the reader should
ask in relation to the argument.
Question:
What effect is a writer hoping to achieve with the use of
pronouns?
Answer:
Lists of 3 are designed to emphasis a point. The writer makes
one point and intensifies it so that it seems much more
extreme. The idea is that the reader will understand the
extreme nature of the three words together.
Question:
What effect is a writer hoping to achieve with the use of
statistics?
i.e. You must see that we, as Teachers, should be sticking
together. It’s our job to do something about Gove!
i.e 80% of recently interviewed Teachers said that their
workload is excessive.
Answer:
A writer addresses the reader directly with the use of personal
pronouns. By talking to the reader with “you”; it seems more
personal. By stating “we”, it seems like we are all in this
together, so the reader takes the writer’s side more readily.
Answer:
A writer uses statistics (and facts) to back up his suggestion.
They add “factual weight” to an argument. If you have
statistics, it seems real!
Question:
Question:
What effect is a writer hoping to achieve with the use of facts? What effect is a writer hoping to achieve with the use of
opinions?
i.e. A Teacher’s job is not 8am until 3am. Teachers work longer i.e. Gove needs to get into a school for a week and try our job!
than this!
Answer:
Answer:
Opinions are used to suggest ideas to a reader. A writer offers
Facts, in the same way as statistics, add “factual weight” to an his opinion to make the reader think “that’s a good idea”.
argument. If you use facts, it seems real! They also back up
Writers also use other people’s opinions as facts. i.e. “A wise
what a writer is suggesting.
man once said that Gove is a Muppet!” and then, they can
back up the writer’s opinions.
Question:
Question:
What effect is a writer hoping to achieve with the use of
What effect is a writer hoping to achieve with the use of
imperatives?
emotive imagery?
i.e We must act now!
Do it, Today!
Get Gove out!
i.e My daughter sees very little of me as it is. I leave the house at 7am and
return home at 4pm – then spend the whole night working. Most of the time
she sits on the sofa, looking sadly at me, wishing I had more time to spend
with her.
Answer:
Imperative verbs are the kind of verbs that instruct people to
do something immediately. They are instructions and they
make the message seem urgent. People tend to respond to
instructions without thinking, so they persuade people to act
and “revv” the reader up!
Answer:
Emotive imagery is where a writer uses words to create
pictures that are designed to make the reader sad / happy.
They encourage the reader to empathise with the position of
the writer by making the situation seem more real. This can
also be used with actual images!
Question:
What effect is a writer hoping to achieve with the use of
hyperbole?
Question:
What effect is a writer hoping to achieve with the use of an
anecdote?
i.e. Gove has never worked a day in his life!
i.e. My daughter sees very little of me as it is. I leave the house at 7am
and return home at 4pm – then spend the whole night working. Most
of the time she sits on the sofa, looking sadly at me, wishing I had more
time to spend with her.
Answer:
Hyperbole – better known as exaggeration - is used to add
emphasis to the writer’s point. It’s also great for making the
opposition seem ridiculous! Therefore, persuading the reader
that the writer’s point of view is eternally flawed!
Answer:
The use of little stories is similar to emotive imagery, where a writer uses
words to create pictures that are designed to make the reader sad /
happy.
Anecdotes encourage the reader to empathise with the position of the
writer by making the situation seem more real. As they are sometimes
factual, they can also add factual weight!
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Persuasive Techniques:
1. _________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________________
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5. _________________________________________________________________
6. _________________________________________________________________
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10. ________________________________________________________________
Persuasive Techniques:
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1. _________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________________
4. _________________________________________________________________
5. _________________________________________________________________
6. _________________________________________________________________
7. _________________________________________________________________
8. _________________________________________________________________
9. _________________________________________________________________
10. ________________________________________________________________
Dear Mr Keulemans.
I have a question that you need to answer! Do you really think that Michael Gove has any idea
at all about the job that we do? Of course he doesn’t! Gove is an ill-informed, ill-mannered, ill man!
80% of recently interviewed Teachers said that their workload is excessive. Do you think Gove
has looked at this NUT survey? You know that a Teacher’s job is not 8am until 3am. Teachers work
longer than this!
My daughter sees very little of me as it is. I leave the house at 7am and return home at 4pm –
then spend the whole night working. Most of the time she sits on the sofa, looking sadly at me,
wishing I had more time to spend with her. The only other person that wishes this was the case,
seems to be me! I work every day already – if I had to plan for lessons that lasted until 6pm, I’d have
no time left to eat, sleep or drink!
Gove has never worked a day in his life! He needs to get into a school for a week and try our
job! Our job is the best job in the world! But, it’s also one that involves working lots of hours
already!
You can’t possibly agree that our school should be open until 6pm every night. You need to
do something about his today! You must act now. Get Gove out! Be the man that we all want you to
be!
Yours Sincerely
Mr P Turbed!
Today’s Lesson Objectives:
To identify and revise persuasive techniques and their definitions;
To be able to explain the impact of persuasive techniques on the reader
Letter to the Head:
The Head has asked for your response to Gove’s proposal to keep schools open until 6pm – Start an email to the Head
persuading him that this is a ridiculous / brilliant idea!