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What are Rhetorical Strategies?. Big ol’ name, but everybody uses them…. What is “rhetoric”?. /ˈ re- tə - rik / available means of persuasion effective communication, including the rational exchange of opposing viewpoints. art of recognizing and appealing to an audience .
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What are Rhetorical Strategies? Big ol’ name, but everybody uses them…
What is “rhetoric”? /ˈre-tə-rik/ available means of persuasion effective communication, including the rational exchange of opposing viewpoints. art of recognizing and appealing to an audience
Rhetorical Triangle With special thanks to Aristotle…
The Speaker… • Persona – literally “mask” • How s/he wants to be perceived by the audience • Usual characteristics: educated, considerate, trustworthy, well-intentioned • Makes assumptions about what the audience • Knows • Cares about/values
The Audience… • responds to the text (whether written, verbal, or visual) • emotionally • logically • based on the speaker’s choice of rhetorical appeals or strategies
Why should audience be considered? What are some examples of how your rhetorical choices might change based on the audience? 10/2 – answer in your groups
REVIEW:General questions to consider… • Who created the argument? • What is the purpose of the argument? • Who is the audience for the argument? • What appeals or techniques does the argument use – emotional, logical, ethical?
RHETORICAL STRATEGIES What did the speaker do? How did s/he do it? Why did s/he do it?
Ethical appeals (ethos) • Who is making the argument? • What values does it assume? • How does it try to make the writer or creator seem trustworthy? • What authorities does the argument rely on or appeal to?
For example… • If you were trying to persuade a restaurant worker to wear gloves, you might say to him or her : • “It is the policy of the Georgia Restaurant Association for all employees to wear gloves.” • Those words are persuasive because they sound formal and authoritative.
Emotional appeals (pathos) • Emotionally loaded words • lead readers to recognize that the ideas expressed are important to the writer • demonstrate a writer’s intense feeling • For example, if you wished to demonstrate how much you liked a movie you could say it was : “The most awe-inspiring display of artistry ever presented on the big screen.”
Allusion… • can associate a new idea with a traditionally respected source • often used in advertising • people connect people and ideas through juxtaposition • Example: If I want to convince you to wash your hands, I may say, “thou shalt wash thy hands.” • connects the idea of washing one’s hands to the commandments • many people respect the commandments • theory: therefore, those people will begin to associate hand washing with the same reverence given to a commandment.”
Humor • can be used to “win you over” • to make you like the writer and, therefore, like his or her ideas • comes in many forms • hyperbole (exaggeration) • understatement • irony (verbal, situational, dramatic, and cosmic) • sarcasm
ATM: Attitude, Tone, or Mood the emotional feelings aroused by the chosen diction writers who use diction to contribute to tone are using tone as a rhetorical technique
Logical appeals (logos) • What facts are used in the argument? • What logic? • What evidence? • How is the evidence arranged and presented? • Example: enumeration (listing or numbering ideas) – this logical presentation of information can be convincing because of its strong organization
Structure • What genre does the speaker select to present his/her argument? • expository • descriptive • narrative • argumentative
Organization… • How is it presented or arranged? Example: anticipation of opposition – some people may present very convincing arguments that are structured in contrast to what the opposition is likely to think or say • What media does it use? • Electronic or print? • Photographs or images? • Even font size and style, the use of bullets or numbers, and how white space is used!
Finally… • What claims are advanced in the argument? • What issues are raised, and which ones are ignored, or, perhaps, evaded? • What are the contexts – social, political, historical, cultural – for this argument? • Whose interests does it serve? • Who gains or loses by it?
Magic Show – A Case Study Ralph wants to go to a magic show; his mom wants him to stay at home and clean out the frog cage.
A Day at the Magic Show… Or Not Ralph : Hello, my gorgeous mother. Please, please, please take us to a magic show! Mother : No, I will not “please, please, please take you to a magic show.” I won’t even take you to the dentist. You need to clean out the frog cage. I am incredibly disappointed in your neglect. Now go in there and do it.” Ralph: But I can do that in the morning, Mom. You know what Benjamin Franklin says, “Plough deep while sluggards sleep.” Mother : I am not going to pay $100.00 for you to disappear. Now get in there and deal with the frog.” End of Argument
Magic Show - A Case Study • Are you sad that Ralph didn’t get to go? Would you rather it end like this… • Mother : Ralph, I would love to take you and all of your friends to the magic show. Let’s leave right now and take extra spending money! Feel better?