Post on 12-Jan-2016
RHETORIC NOTESPre-AP To AP English
Junior Year: AP English
Language Exam: 3 college credits
Rhetoric/Argument/Persuasion
Senior Year: AP English
Literature Exam: 3 college credits
Uses various excerpts from readings throughout high school
Rhetoric“rhetor” Greek persona of
communicator
Art of finding and analyzing all the choices involving language that a writer, speaker, reader, or listener might make in a situation so that the text becomes meaningful, purposeful, and effective for readers or listeners.
Art of communication = art of persuasion.
Where is Rhetoric found?
Speeches Cartoons Advertisements Letters Poetry Prose Essays Magazine and newspaper articles on
controversial issues
Early History Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
1. Greek Philosopher = wrote on logic, natural sciences, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and rhetoric (many followers and brought the ideas to the western world)
2. Defined rhetoric as the ability to see; persuasion
3. Believed rhetoric created community and good will.
4. Create the basic principles for Rhetoric (ethos, pathos, logos).
Rhetorical Triangle
AUDIENCE
Subject/CONTEXT
WRITER (communicator)
Intention
AppealsAppeal Definition Effect
Logos
Greek for “word”Refers to consistency of the message-- the clarity of the claim, the logic of its reasons, and the effectiveness of its supporting evidence
Appeals to the audience’s logic, sense of reasoning using facts, statistics, and evidence
Ethos
Greek for “character”Refers to the trustworthiness or credibility of the writer or speakerConveyed through tone and style
Appeals to the audience’s ethics, morals, prudence
Pathos
Greek for “suffering” or “experience”Refers to both the emotional and imaginative impact of the message on the audience
Appeals to the audience’s emotions and ability to identify with the writer’s point of view; draws upon the audience’s feelings and sentimentality
Pages 49 - 50
Ethos
LOGOS
PATHOS
Watch the Commercial
Which rhetorical appeal the commercial is targeting? Explain why.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE&feature=g-hist
Rhetorical DevicesVocabulary
Strategies that Strengthen any Argument/Persuasion
Draw Table
Device Definition Your Own Example
Rhetorical Questions
RHETORICAL QUESTION
Question that is not answered by the writer, because the answer is obvious or is just
yes or no. It is used for effect, or provocation, or for drawing
a conclusionary statement from the facts at hand.
Winston Churchill:
“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.”
ANAPHORARepetition of the same word or
words at the beginning of successive phrases.
Antithesis
“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
ANTITHESIS
Clear, contrasting relationship between 2 ideas by joining them
together or juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure.
Can you guess device used by black knight?
Euphemism/Understatement
Euphemism
The act or an example of substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive.
CHIASMUS
CHIASMUSMirror image/opposites
Overstatement
OVERSTATEMENT/HYPERBOLE
Making something sound worse than it is
“going to the dentist is the worst thing ever”
Diction
DICTIONEx. Colgate toothpaste is
dynamite.Ex. Mary is a Queen.
Can you guess the two devices used in this video?
Allusion
Allusion
An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference
RepetitionRepetitionRepetition
How does this painting make YOU feel?
MOODMood is a state of mind or
emotion
How is the person in the clip coming across to THE AUDIENCE?
Tone
Manner in which an author expresses his/her attitude.
Metaphor
Simile
Watch clip and try and guess the next device.
Ambiguity
AMBIGUITYDoubtfulness or uncertainty as regards to an interpretation.
Acknowledgement of personal flaws or flaws to a proposal; speaker centered.
Can you guess the device used in this ad?
PARADOX
A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless
be true.
Ex. When the hurlyburly’s done, when the battle’s lost and won
(Macbeth I.i.1).
Oxymoron
OXYMORONParadox reduced to 2 words, to
show a strong relationship.
Parallelism
They are laughing at me, not with me."(Bart Simpson, The Simpsons)
"Buy a bucket of chicken and have a barrel of fun."(slogan of Kentucky Fried Chicken)
"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal."(T.S. Eliot)
"I don’t want to live on in my work. I want to live on in my apartment."(Woody Allen)
PARALLELISMSimilarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases,
or clauses. Also called parallel structure.
Asyndeton
“You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried.” (Forest Gump)
Examples of Asyndeton
“The dove, splashed, floated, splashed, swam, snorted.”
“He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, an maniac.”
ASYNDETONA style that omits conjunctions
between words, phrases, or clauses.
Polysyndeton
“We lived and laughed and loved and left” (James Joyce, Finnegans Wake)
“Oh my piglets, we are the origins of war-not history’s forces, nor ideas, nor kinds of government, nor causes, nor religions” (Katherine Hepburn, in The Lion in Winter)
POLYSYNDETONA style that employs many conjunctions (opposite of
asyndeton)
Anticipate An Objective
Addressing a possible protest Before the Opposition Can Raise It.
Ex. Lawyers
Reduce to the Absurd
Statement showing the utter foolishness of another statement.
Ex.1. Rocks have weight, otherwise we would
see them floating in the air.
2. There is no smallest positive rational number, because if there were, it could be divided by two to get a smaller one
Alliteration Alliteration occurs when a series of words
in a row (or close to a row) have the same first consonant sound.
For example, “She sells sea-shells down by the sea-shore”
or “Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers”
ANADIPLOSIS
“I am Sam, Sam I am” – Dr. Seuss "They call for you: the general who
became a slave ; the slave who became a gladiator; the gladiator who defied an Emperor" - Joaquin Phoenix (from the movie Gladiator )
ANADIPLOSIS
A rhetorical device that repeats one or several words that end one clause or sentence and begin another.
What device is the cowardly lion using?
Hypophora
"When the enemy struck on that June day of 1950, what did America do? It did what it always has done in all its times of peril. It appealed to the heroism of its youth" - Dwight D. Eisenhower
Hypophora
Raise a question and then immediately answer it.