Warm Up #7:What are each of these cartoonists trying
to say? What is their purpose?
Passive Verbs
• Using passive verbs effectively
• In most cases writers use active verbs to make clear who
or what is performing the action. Sometimes writers use
passive verbs to avoid assigning responsibility.
• Example: “Mistakes were made.” – In this sentence, we
don’t know who made the mistakes. Perhaps it was the
person who wrote the sentence, or the person the writer
works for, or maybe the writer just doesn’t know.
• GENERALLY, writing that uses active verbs will be
stronger and clearer. However, there are sometimes when
using passive voice is purposeful and therefore necessary.
Passive Verbs
• Reasons to use passive:
• 1. When you don’t know the agent or “doer” of the
action, when the agent is not important, obvious, or you
don’t want to mention the agent.
• Ex. “John was arrested for loitering.” – Here the agent is
obvious, police are usually the only people who can arrest
others.
• 2. When you want the receiver of the action to become
the subject and therefore the focus of the sentence.
• Ex. “Many African Americans and Hispanics have been
stopped simply because of their race.” – Here, the focus of
the sentence has been shifted onto the victims of the racial
profiling.
Passive Verbs
• Reasons continued…
• 3. When you want to avoid the informality of using the
impersonal you or they.
• Ex.
• Active: You should not stop innocent motorists based on their
race.
• Passive: Innocent motorists should not be stopped based on their
race.
• Homework: Changing active verbs to passive
assignment, on teacher page to print.
STANDARDS
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Reading Comprehension:
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OBJECTIVES
2.4 Make warranted and reasonable assertions
about the author’s arguments by using
elements of the text to defend and clarify
interpretations.
2.5 Analyze an author’s implicit and explicit
philosophical assumptions and beliefs about a
subject.
2.6 Critique the power, validity, and
truthfulness of arguments set forth in public
documents; their appeal to both friendly and
hostile audiences; and the extent to which the
arguments anticipate and address reader
concerns and counterclaims (e.g., appeal to
reason, to authority, to pathos and emotion).
1.0 Written and Oral English Language
Conventions Students write and speak with a
command of standard English conventions. 1.1
Demonstrate control of grammar, diction, and
paragraph and sentence structure and an
understanding of English usage. 1.2 Produce
legible work that shows accurate spelling and
correct punctuation and capitalization.
• Students will be able to:
• identify and define ethos,
pathos, and logos
• identify the purpose,
argument, persona,
audience, and rhetorical
methods and strategies in a
given passage.
• make assertions that can be
supported.
• begin their final writing
assignment
Thinking Critically
• Ethos, Pathos, and Logos
• What are they?
• Ethos: author’s appeal to credibility and reliability; his/her
background
• Pathos: appeal to emotion
• Logos: appeal to logic
• Why do we use them? What is their purpose?
• To help persuade. A good persuasive argument will use all
three to have a balanced appeal to persuade.
• It is always important to identify how a piece or person
is trying to persuade you!
Thinking Critically
Questions about Logic
1.
What are the 2 major assertions the author makes in this essay?
2.
What counterarguments does the author not deal with?
3.
Do you think the author has left something out on purpose? Why?
Questions about Emotions
4.
Does this piece affect you emotionally? Which parts?
5.
Do you think the author is trying to manipulate the reader’s emotions? How?
6.
Do your emotions conflict with your logical interpretation of the arguments?
7.
Does the author use humor? How does that affect your acceptance of the
author’s ideas?
Thinking Critically
Continued…
Questions about the Writer
8.
Does the author have the right background to speak
with authority on this subject?
9.
Is this author knowledgeable? Smart? Successful?
10. What does the author’s style and language tell you
about him?
11. Do you trust this author? Why or why not?
12. Do you think this author is deceptive? Why or why
not?
13. Do you think this author is serious?
Author’s Purpose
• There are five simple purposes for an author to write a
passage:
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inform
persuade
narrate
entertain
describe
• “Hounding the Innocent” is …?
PAPA square
• Helps analyze rhetorical strategies
• Stands for:
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purpose
argument
persona
audience
• Answer those four on the outside of the square
• On the inside square identify the rhetorical methods
and strategies.
Activity
• In groups of 4
• One person needs to be the recorder/writer
• One person needs to be the speaker
• One person needs to be materials manager and time
enforcement.
• On a poster paper create a PAPA square to be
presented in class
• You have 20 minutes to create your poster
• You will have 5 minutes to present it
Making Assertions That
Can Be Supported
• Academic writers often make generalizations as they
explain an issue and argue for their position. However, they
do not want to alienate their audience by being too direct or
assertive or by making claims that cannot be supported.
• Defensible assertions often answer the following questions:
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Who is doing something
How often does it happen
How likely is it
Under what circumstances does it happen
When does it happen
Where does this happen
Strategies for Making
Defensible Assertions
• Indicate who: change passive verbs to active or specify
the agent.
• Indicate frequency: Use adverbs such as sometimes,
always, often, usually, generally, rarely, or occasion.
• Indicate probability: Use Modals such as may, might,
can, could; use adverbs such as possibly, probably,
generally; or never use nouns such as a possibility and
a probability
Continued…
• Indicate uncertainty: use verbs such as seem, appear,
tend, or suggest.
• Indicate quantity: use quantifiers, such as few, some,
many, most, or virtually.
Using the Words of
Others
• One of the most important features of academic
writing is the use of words and ideas from written
sources to support your own points.
• Essentially, 3 ways to incorporate words and ideas
from sources into your own writing:
• Direct Quotation
• Paraphrase
• Summary
Direct Quotes
• Bob Herbert says, “Most Americans have no idea of
the extent of the race-based profiling that is carried out
by law enforcement officials and the demoralizing
effect it has on its victims” (Herbert 17).
Paraphrase
• In “Hounding the Innocent,” Bob Herbert notes that
racial profiling is more extensive than we realize and is
demoralizing to victims (Herbert 17).
Summary
• In “Hounding the Innocent” Bob Herbert cites
statistics and stories from different parts of the country
to prove that the racial profiling is extensive and
unjust. According to the author, “ethnic profiling” is
practiced in a variety of ways all throughout the
United States, and no people of color, either walking
or driving, are free of its effects (Herbert 17).
Documentation
• It is important to take notes with full citation
information.
• For print materials you need to record AT LEAST the
author’s name, title of the publication, city of
publication, publisher, publication date, and page
number.
• Citation for this article:
• Herbert, Bob. “Hounding the Innocent.” The New York
Times. 13 June 1999, Sec. 4: 17.
Good Resources
• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/search.php
• http://www.mla.org/
• http://easybib.com/
• http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/apa
The Assignment
• Write an essay that presents your opinion on a
controversial issue of your choice. Begin with a
debatable thesis statement. Then follow the guidelines
for writing an argument/persuasive essay. As you write
your essay, be sure you support your opinions with
reasons. If something in the media (such as a
newspaper article, ad, or speech) inspired this
assignment, attach a copy to your paper before you
turn it in.
Choosing a topic
• Choose a controversial issue on this campus, in this
city, in the news, etc. that is important to you.
• Use a technique from the list on the following page to
generate ideas on the issue.
• Questions to consider:
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What is the exact issue?
Why is it important?
Why do people care about it?
How do you think the issue should be resolved?
Prewriting
Strategies
• Brainstorming: based on free association, the act of making
a list of related words and phrases.
• Clustering/Webbing: process of “mapping” any ideas that
come to mind.
• Freewriting: writing for a brief period of time on whatever
comes to mind.
• Outlining: listing main ideas and details in the order you
wish to address them.
• Questioning: ask questions that will generate new topics and
ideas (who, what, where, when, why, and how).
A Working Thesis
• A tentative thesis, can be revised several times.
• Your responses to the following questions will help you
write a tentative thesis.
• What specific question will you answer in your essay? What is
your response to this question? (This is your tentative thesis.)
• What support do/will you have/want to have?
• What evidence have/will you found/find?
• How much background do your readers need to understand
your topic?
• If readers would disagree with your thesis or the validity of
your support, what would they say? How would you address
these concerns?