Or how to convince anyone of anything, properly.

Rhetoric: “the art or science of all specialized literary uses of language in prose or verse, including the figures of speech.” (dictionary.com)

Argument: “an address or composition intended to convince or persuade; persuasive discourse.” (dictionary.com)

Therefore, a rhetorical argument is a written

piece where language is artfully used to persuade an audience.

There are four parts to a rhetorical argument:

Rhetorical Situation Appeals Arrangement Style

The rhetorical situation can be further divided into three sections:

Exigence

Audience

Purpose

Exigence is the urgency of the writer.

Urgency is “compelling or requiring immediate action or attention; imperative; pressing.” (dictionary.com)

So, exigence is how badly the writer wants to tell the problem to the audience.

The audience is to whom the writer is addressing the argument.

A mediated audience is a second-hand audience; in other words, the writer would not be appealing to that audience directly.

An immediate audience is an audience to which the writer is directly appealing.

Good persuasive writing always addresses an immediate audience.

The purpose of an argument is pretty simple:

What do you want your audience to do?

In other words, what action do you expect your audience to take after reading your argument?

Read the article “Shakespeare is a gateway to comprehension,” by Taylor Carlile.

Identify each piece of the Rhetorical Situation in the article:

Exigence

Audience

Purpose

An appeal is “a request or reference to some person or authority for a decision, corroboration, judgment, etc.” (dictionary.com)

Appeals can be broken down into three types:

Logos

Ethos

Pathos

Logos is an appeal to logical argument.

Logos is a “this makes sense because…” argument.

Logos can further be divided into modes of discourse.

Definition

Compare/contrast

Division/

classification

Exemplification (examples)

Testimony

Cause and effect

Process analysis

Ethos in an argument relates to the credibility of that argument.

Ethos is the “why should I believe you?” part of the argument.

Ethos often relates to evidence from authority.

Pathos is an appeal to the emotion and interests of the audience.

Pathos is the “this feels right because…” part of the argument.

Refer to the article “Shakespeare is a gateway to comprehension,” by Taylor Carlile.

Locate evidence of these appeals in the article:

Logos—and which modes of discourse are used?

Ethos Pathos

Okay, this one’s pretty easy.

Arrangement has two simple parts to it:

What comes after what in the argument?

Why is it placed where it is?

That’s all there is to it!

Look at the article “Shakespeare is a gateway to comprehension,” by Taylor Carlile.

How is the article’s arrangement effective in getting its point across to the readers?

Style is “a particular kind, sort, or type, as with reference to form, appearance, or character.” (dictionary.com)

Style is as important in writing as it is in dressing up!

There are four important elements to style:

Diction Syntax Imagery Figurative language

Diction “usually implies a high level of usage; it refers chiefly to the choice of words, their arrangement, and the force, accuracy, and distinction with which they are used.” (dictionary.com)

Syntax is “the patterns of formation of sentences and phrases from words.” (dictionary.com)

In other words, syntax is how you string things together to make them sound good!

(The above sentence has horrible syntax!)

Imagery is basically painting a picture with words.

Imagery allows the readers to picture mentally the argument being presented.

Figurative language is “any expressive use of language, as a metaphor, simile, personification, or antithesis, in which words are used in other than their literal sense, or in other than their ordinary locutions, in order to suggest a picture or image or for other special effect.” (dictionary.com)

Again, this is used to get the readers to “see” the argument more clearly.

Once more, look at the article “Shakespeare is a gateway to comprehension,” by Taylor Carlile.

Find examples of the following elements of style:

Diction

Syntax

Imagery

Figurative Language

Using the notes you’ve carefully taken, read the article “Too much Shakespeare, too little time,” by Audrey Han.

Identify the following for this article:

Rhetorical Situation

Appeals

Arrangement

Style

You may write directly on the article; this will be collected for a grade.