Rhetorical Appeals/Techniques
Rhetorical APPEALS (to the audience):
 ETHOS
 LOGOS
 PATHOS
Rhetorical TECHNIQUES (Use of language):
 ANALOGY
 ALLUSION
 ANTITHESIS
**Please take detailed notes in the Vocab section
of your notebook. Write the definition and give
one or two examples of each appeal or
technique. You might also draw a symbol or
RHETORICAL APPEALS
How does a writer/speaker engage the
audience?
What appeals are most effective?
ETHOS
(credibility)
Greek for CHARACTER
References to authority,
experiences,
character, or integrity
of the speaker as a
persuasive device.
Is the author believable?
Is the speaker a good
person, to be trusted?
How does this ad use ETHOS as a persuasive
device?
How does this ad use ETHOS as a persuasive
device?
PATHOS
(emotional)
Greek for
SUFFERING or
EXPERIENCE.
Appeals to emotions;
emotional speech,
appeals to the
audience’s
sympathies or
imaginations
How does this ad use PATHOS as a persuasive device?
How does this ad use PATHOS as a persuasive device?
LOGOS
(Logic)
Greek for WORD:
Appeals to reason, makes
a logical argument
about a particular
subject or topic.
These arguments
demonstrate
EVIDENCE, FACTS,
OBVIOUS REASONS
that make clear sense.
How does this ad use LOGOS as a persuasive device?
RHETORICAL TECHNIQUES:
Now, how do writers/speakers play with
words to create these effects on the
audience?
What techniques do we use to effectively
persuade an audience?
Analogy
Colorful or dramatic
comparisons.
The relationship of
similarity between two
or more entities on
which a comparison is
based.
Ex. Similes/Metaphors
Downtown is like the
beating heart of the
city.
How does this ad use ANALOGY as a persuasive
technique? What comparison is being made?
Allusion
Figure of speech
that makes
references to a
larger world of
ideas, events,
times, or places.
Allusions may also
make reference to
another literary
work.
How does this ad use ALLUSION as a persuasive technique?
What are the ads referencing?
Allusions are often made to Shakespeare’s tragedy,
Romeo & Juliet. Can you think of any modern-day
songs, movies, or other works that allude to this story?
Antithesis
Greek word ANTI=
AGAINST.
Contrast of opposing
ideas…
presenting the opposite
side to make your own
argument look more
appealing.
Examples of Antithesis in Speeches
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"...although the surface appears to be...very, very fine-grained
as you get close to it. It's almost like a powder...Okay, I'm
going to step off the LEM now. That's one small step for
man; one giant leap for mankind."-- Neil
Armstrong, Apollo 11 Moon Landing Speech
"The world will little note, nor long remember, what we
say here, but it can never forget what they did here."-Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (delivered by Jeff Daniels)
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in
a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their
skin but by the content of their character. I have
a dream today!"-- Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have a Dream
How does this ad use ANTITHESIS as a persuasive
technique?
Put your New Knowledge to the Test!
Which persuasive appeals & techniques are evident in this
excerpt from a speech by Barack Obama?
“This country is more decent than one where a woman in
Ohio, on the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness
away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work. This
country is more generous than one where a man in Indiana
has to pack up the equipment he's worked on for twenty
years and watch it shipped off to China, and then chokes up
as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home
to tell his family the news. We are more compassionate than
a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and
families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a
major American city drowns before our eyes. ”
Barack Obama Night Before the Election Speech Manassas,
Prince William County, Virginia November 3, 2008
Put your New Knowledge to the Test!
Which persuasive appeals & techniques are evident in this
excerpt from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by MLK, Jr.?
My Dear Fellow Clergymen:
While confined here in Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent
statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely."...Since I
feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are
sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I
hope will be patient and reasonable in terms. I think I should indicate
why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the
view which argues against "outsiders coming in."...I, along with several
members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here
because I have organizational ties here But more basically, I am in
Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the
eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the
Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the
Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus
Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I
compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home
town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for
aid.
Martin Luther King, Jr. "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
HOMEWORK:

For the excerpt: Identify one appeal or technique
employed by the speaker/writer. Write a MEL-Con
paragraph describing an example of that technique and
HOW it is persuasive.
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Main Idea: What is the author’s persuasive
purpose and which technique is being used in
the passage?
Evidence: Text example of technique
Link: How does this technique persuade the
audience?
Conclusion: Is it effective?
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