TOOLS OF PERSUASION
Warm up
Discuss the following questions at your table:
• What is persuasion?
• How can you convince someone of your
opinion?
• What tools do speakers use to persuade their
listeners?
• Where do you often find examples of
persuasive language?
Persuasion
The language of persuasion is an important
literacy skill. Media, politicians, advertisers, and
writers all use specific tools to persuade or
convince you of their opinion. Once you know
how to recognize the language of persuasion,
you are better equipped to make your own
decisions. There are many different tools of
persuasive language and we will only examine a
few key examples.
Persuasion
What are some effective tools of persuasion?
Card Stacking
What is it?
Information is true, but only
ideas, information and facts
that support your viewpoint
are presented. All other
information is omitted.
Example
Studies suggest that nutrients
in milk can play an important
role in weight loss. So if you’re
trying to lose weight or
maintain a healthy weight, try
drinking 24 ounces of lowfat or
fat free milk every 24 hours as
part of your reduced-calorie
diet.
Card Stacking
At your table, discuss:
• How is card stacking persuasive?
Compare
What is it?
• Look at ways in which things
are the same
Example
• The new Sony PlayStation
has more sophisticated
electronics than the first
NASA space shuttle.
Compare
At your table, discuss:
• How is comparing persuasive?
Contrast
What is it?
• Look at ways in which things
are different
Example
• Coconuts are more deadly
than sharks. Coconuts kill
150 people a year, more
than are killed by sharks.
Contrast
At your table, discuss:
• How is contrasting persuasive?
Exaggeration
What is it?
• The representation of
something that goes
beyond the facts
Example
Exaggeration
At your table, discuss:
• How is exaggerating persuasive?
Metaphor
What is it?
• Comparisons that show how
two things that are not alike
in most ways are similar in
one important way
Example
• The economic crisis is a
train wreck.
Metaphor
At your table, discuss:
• How is a metaphor persuasive?
Repetition
What is it?
• Using a word or phrase
twice or more in a short
passage; dwelling on a
point.
Example
• “We shall go on to the end, we
shall fight in France, we shall
fight on the seas and oceans, we
shall fight with growing
confidence and growing strength
in the air, we shall defend our
Island, whatever the cost may
be, 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, WWII
Repetition
At your table, discuss:
• How is repetition persuasive?
Simile
What is it?
• A comparison of two unlike
things using the words like
or as
Example
• Replacing the Prime
Minister is like replacing the
captain of the Titanic.
• Gordon Brown's budget
speech sounded like a
blindfolded man riding a
unicycle on the rim of a
volcano.
Simile
At your table, discuss:
• How is a simile persuasive?
Superlative
What is it?
• A word that states that
something is the best. They
are marked by the suffix -est
or preceded by the word
most or least.
Example
• "The [New York City] subway is a
gift to any connoisseur of
superlatives. It has the longest
rides of any subway in the world,
the biggest stations, the fastest
trains, the most track, the most
passengers, the most police
officers. It also has the filthiest
trains, the most bizarre graffiti,
the noisiest wheels, the craziest
passengers, the wildest crimes."
Paul Theroux, "Subterranean
Gothic." Granta, 1984
Superlative
At your table, discuss:
• How is a superlative persuasive?
Practice
Let’s read this
passage about
Aki Ra together.
As we read, look
for any tools of
persuasion that
you can find in
the text.
Aki Ra: A Hero
He was a child soldier in
Cambodia. He fought in three armies and
knew nothing except war until he was in
his early 20s. The Khmer Rouge killed his
family, took him to live with them, and
taught him how lay the silent, sleeping,
deadly monsters that upon waking devour
the limbs of bodies, children of families,
parents of children. He didn’t know the
difference between right and wrong. He
was taught to hate.
No one is perfect. All of us are
flawed and in need of redemption in one
way or another. Some of our indiscretions
are small and usually an apology can set
things right. But other acts are so painful
that redemption seems nearly impossible.
In such cases, it takes the
strength of a hero, a champion, brave
enough to try to right a wrong. This is
what Aki Ra does every day in Cambodia.
He quietly walks through the villages
searching the ground, getting on his hands
and knees to clear landmines. Landmines
that he was forced to bury as a child
soldier for the Khmer Rouge.
How has this child soldier filled
with hate become a defender of children?
Growing up, he witnessed numerous
children being hurt by landmines. The
physical and emotional scars of this
country thirst for his care, for his love. This
man is helping rebuild his country, one
land mine at a time, one child at a time.
So far, he has removed a staggering 50,000
mines.
But that is not all he does. When
he walks through the villages, he meets
children who have lost limbs and parents
to mines. So he built a home for 30
orphans, and said, “I will love you as my
own”. Every child who is brought in to the
center will have a better life.
Is it possible to erase the past?
Can the skeletons in our closets escape our
minds, souls? Last year his organization
put 2400 people back on land they had
been killing in the past. He cleared 63,000
meters of land. With every land mine
destroyed, a life is saved. Redemption is
beautiful, dangerous and never-ending
work and a hero never fears it.
Aki Ra: A Hero
He was a child soldier in
Cambodia. He fought in three armies and
knew nothing except war until he was in
his early 20s. The Khmer Rouge killed his
family, took him to live with them, and
taught him how lay the silent, sleeping,
deadly monsters that upon waking devour
the limbs of bodies, children of families,
parents of children. He didn’t know the
difference between right and wrong. He
was taught to hate.
No one is perfect. All of us are
flawed and in need of redemption in one
way or another. Some of our indiscretions
are small and usually an apology can set
things right. But other acts are so painful
that redemption seems nearly impossible.
In such cases, it takes the
strength of a hero, a champion, brave
enough to try to right a wrong. This is
what Aki Ra does every day in Cambodia.
He quietly walks through the villages
searching the ground, getting on his hands
and knees to clear landmines. Landmines
that he was forced to bury as a child
soldier for the Khmer Rouge.
How has this child soldier filled
with hate become a defender of children?
Growing up, he witnessed numerous
children being hurt by landmines. The
physical and emotional scars of this
country thirst for his care, for his love. This
man is helping rebuild his country, one
land mine at a time, one child at a time.
So far, he has removed a staggering 50,000
mines.
But that is not all he does. When
he walks through the villages, he meets
children who have lost limbs and parents
to mines. So he built a home for 30
orphans, and said, “I will love you as my
own”. Every child who is brought in to the
center will have a better life.
Is it possible to erase the past?
Can the skeletons in our closets escape our
minds, souls? Last year his organization
put 2400 people back on land they had
been killing in the past. He cleared 63,000
meters of land. With every land mine
destroyed, a life is saved. Redemption is
beautiful, dangerous and never-ending
work and a hero never fears it.