Ethos, Pathos,
or Logos?
Pathos
Was the technique
effective?
Yes
Explain
“You should definitely get help with your debt,
and I say that as somebody with over 30 years’
experience of debt counseling.”
“I need new jeans. Everyone in my class has
new jeans.”
Ethos
Yes
The speaker has referred to their extensive experience in this area, in order to give
credit to their opinion. Somebody with over 30 years’ experience would surely
know what he or she is talking about.
Logos
No
This is not an effective use of logos as the reasoning is not logical and convincing.
Firstly, it is highly unlikely that everyone has new jeans (hyperbole). Secondly, just
because other people have new jeans, it does not logically follow that the speaker
needs them.
1
“All men and women will die. You are a man.
Therefore, you will die one day.”
logos
yes
2
“If you don’t purchase this life insurance, and
something happens to you, how will your
family survive?
pathos
yes
3
“As your father, I love you and only want the
best for you. Therefor when I ask you not to go,
please listen to me.”
ethos
yes
4
“Just eat and don’t complain. Children in Africa
are starving and would give anything to have
that plate of food.”
pathos
yes
5
Everyone has children. Therefore, everyone
needs to think about the schooling of his or her
children.”
logos
no
6
“The research- conducted by professors at
Harvard University- suggests that you should
learn a second language.”
Ethos
yes
7
“I read somewhere that bicarbonate of soda is
really useful for cleaning. You should try it.”
logos
no
This an effective technique because it provides a basic fact saying
that everyone dies, both boys and girls. So, since you are a man, you
will die one day. Which is basic info.
This is an effective technique because in pathos, you are trying to
appeal to there emotions and one thing that people love the most is
there family. So, they say how will they survive which makes them
get worried.
This is an effective technique because in ethos it is about authority
and credibility, so the dad obviously has authority over his kid, so
using that may help persuade the kid.
This technique is effective because they are trying to make you feel
selfish or ungrateful compared to the kids Africa, who would die for
food, which isn’t true. But, for a young kid this technique may work.
This technique isn’t effective because it is providing a falsehood first
of, because not everyone has kids, I know plenty of family friends
without kids. Also, they aren’t very persuasive with there point
The technique is effective because everyone mostly knows Harvard
as the top school in America, so the reader will think, well if they
think I should learn another language because their research said
so, then I will.
This is not an effective technique because they are providing false
info first, but that doesn’t matter. This is not effective because they
aren’t providing any extra research than just one place the read it
from, while it may say its effective, another could say its not.
Example
“Don’t be the last person to get one. You don’t
want to be the laughing stock of your school!”
Here the speaker is appealing to the audience’s sense of pride by pointing out that
they will be laughed at if they do not get product. This would make the
listener/reader fell compelled to get it, in order to maintain their dignity and not
hurt their pride.
8
“We have been mistreated, abused and
oppressed. They have benefited from our
suffering and we must act now!”
pathos
yes
This is effective because the writer is getting to the readers
emotions by maybe giving them a flash back to a traumatizing event
and may get feel scared or mad. But, then when they read they
benefited from are suffering, we must act now. They will probably
agree and act.
9
“Dentists all over the world are telling their
ethos
yes
This is effective because it is using the creditability of dentist and
patients the same things, You must floss
how they know a lot more about dental hygiene then we do. So if
regularly.”
they say we should floss regularly, then we probably should.
10
“Cigarette smoke contains over 4,800
logos
yes
This is effective because at first it provides the details of smoking
chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause
and what chemicals are in a cigarette, and how there are 4800
cancer. So why start smoking?”
chemicals in them and 69 cause cancer. After providing all the info it
ask, why are you still smoking, which will make the reader reflect on
their decisions.
TASK ONE: For each of the following, identify what persuasive technique was used (ethos, pathos, or logos), decide if it was effective, and provide a 2 sentence
explanation justifying your answer.
TASK TWO: For each of the following, scenarios, write your own rhetorical appeal using the designated persuasive technique.
Ethos
Scenario
Rhetorical Appeal
1. You are trying to persuade your teacher not to give you homework.
Studies show that if students receive homework everyday at a young age, it
can have a huge toll on there mental health.
2. You are attempting to convince an audience that animal testing is
morally wrong.
How would you like it someone came to your home and took someone you
love, and sent to a lab to have needles stabbed in them? That’s how animals
feel when you test them.
Pathos
Scenario
Rhetorical Appeal
1. You are trying to persuade members of your class to volunteer to tutor
underprivileged children.
If you guys don’t help these kids, then no one else will because they don’t have
the opportunities we have.
2. You are attempting to convince a friend to join your sports team.
Come on bro, everyone will laugh at you if they know you don’t play sports.
Logos
Scenario
Rhetorical Appeal
1. You are trying to persuade an audience that they should exercise more
often.
You should really start to exercise because some people will look at you as a
target to laugh at, and you and me both don’t want that.
2. You are trying to persuade your brother to stop eating chocolate.
You need to stop eating so much chocolate because studies from yale show
that too much chocolate can cause heart problems