Rhetoric

Rhetorical appeals

There are 4 main rhetorical appeals, ethical strategies or modes of persuasion, used in speaking and writing:

• Ethos: Credibility / trust
• The credibility that a speaker/writer brings to a subject.
• Main techniques:
• Personal branding
• Confidence in delivery
• Cites credible sources

• Pathos: Emotions / values
• Use of emotion in debate/argument.
• Main techniques:
• Stories
• Inspirational quotes
• Vivid language

• Logos: Logic / reason / proof
• Appeal to reason, to the forcefulness of a well-though-out and well-argued position.
• Main techniques:
• Structure
• References to studies/statistics/etc...
• Comparisons, analogies, metaphors...

• Kairos: Timing
• Use of timing and appeal to the timeliness of the argument. Saying or doing the right thing at the right time.
• Main techniques:
• Examining the factors that create the particular moment
• Considering the order and timing of your delivery
• Utilizing the call to "act now!"
• The use of deadlines or goals
• References to current crises or impending doom

Questions for rhetorical analysis:

1. Who is the intended audience for the text?

2. What is the purpose of the text?

3. Does the author seem credible? Why, or why not?

4. What is your gut reaction to the text? What emotions does it evoke?

5. How are the elements arranged or organized? Why? Does the arrangement seem logical?

6. When and where was the text written? Was it timely given this context? Why, or why not?


Rhetorical devices

Figures of speech (use words in distinctive ways to achieve special effects):

• Metaphor: A comparison of two objects or ideas that does NOT use "like" or "as". Used to convey to the audience a new idea or meaning by linking it to an already familiar idea or meaning. By making the new concept appear to be linked to the old and familiar concept, the person using the metaphor hopes to help the audience understand the new concept.
• Simile: A gentler form of metaphor that always uses "like" or "as" to compare something to something else. 
• Idiom: A phrase that means something other than its literal meaning.
• Oxymoron: A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.
• Irony: Used to convey to the audience an incongruity that is often used as a tool of humor in order to depreciate or ridicule an idea or course of action.
• Verbal irony: When the speaker says the opposite of what they intend.
• Euphemism: Polite, indirect expressions which replace words and phrases considered harsh and impolite or which suggest something unpleasant. A euphemism is an idiomatic expression which loses its literal meaning and refers to something else in order to hide its unpleasantness. They mask the rude or impoliteness while still conveying the concept clearly.
• Exaggeration: A statement that makes something worse, or better, that it really is. It is used for extra stress or drama. Types of exaggeration include overstatement and hyperbole.
• Overstatement: A slight exaggeration, overstating the truth to convey the meaning across.
• Hyperbole: An extreme, extravagant, and impossible exaggeration.
• Understatement: A statement used to intentionally make something seem less important that it really is. It usually has an ironic effect as an equally intense response is expected in severe situations, but the statement in response is the opposite of what was expected i.e. less intense but with an ironical tone.
• Sarcasm: A device meant to mock with often satirical or ironic remarks with a purpose to amuse and hurt someone or some section of society simultaneously. Generally, the literal meaning is different from what the speaker is intending to say through sarcasm. There are seven types of sarcastic voice tones:
• Self-deprecating sarcasm: Expresses an overstated sense of inferiority and worthlessness.
• Brooding sarcasm: The speaker utters something polite. However, the tone of his speech has a marked bitterness in it.
• Deadpan sarcasm: Criticism expressed without emotion or laughter, making it difficult for the listener to judge wether the speaker is joking or mocking.
• Polite sarcasm: Delivered when listeners only get to realize the speakers kind remark was a sarcastic one after they had given it some thought.
• Obnoxious sarcasm: The kind of sarcasm that is not very funny and gets under the listeners skin, making them feel aggravated and angry toward the speaker.
• Manic sarcasm: Sarcasm delivered in an unnatural happy mood that makes the speaker seem like they have gone crazy.
• Raging sarcasm: Sarcasm that relies mainly on exaggeration and violent threats.
• Situational irony: When incongruity occurs between what is expected to happen and what actually ends up happening instead. Thus, something entirely different happens from what the audience may be expecting, or the final outcome is opposite to what the audience is expecting. Situational irony generally includes sharp contrasts and contradictions. The purpose of ironic situations is to allow the readers to make a distinction between appearances and realities, and eventually associate them to the theme of a story.
• Dramatic irony: A stylistic device often used in plays, movies, theaters, and poetry. Storytellers use this irony as a plot device for creating situations in which the audience knows more about the situations, the causes of their conflicts, and their resolutions before the leading characters or actors. It is used to create suspense and humor, and also emphasizes embellishes, and conveys emotions and moods more effectively. It generates curiosity and puts the readers or the audience above the characters by allowing them to know important facts ahead of the leading characters, encouraging them to anticipate, hope, and fear the moment when a character would learn the truth behind events and situations of the story.
• Paradox: An apparent contradiction that is nevertheless somehow true. Paradox can take the form of an oxymoron, overstatement or understatement. Paradox can blend into irony.
• Proverb: A short and concise saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice.
• Cliché: A phrase that conveys a particular meaning, but has been so overused that it now seems boring or irritating. A cliché phrase can be a metaphor, simile, idiom, proverb, or even a single word.
• Personification: The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something non-human, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
• Synechdote: When part of something is used to refer to the whole. Many examples of synechdotes are idioms. (Ex: Calling an entire car a set of "wheels" or a team of workers a "pair of hands")
• Metonymy: Similar to a synechdote, but instead of a part representing the whole, a related object or part of a related object is used to represent the whole. (Ex: The phrase "The king's guns were aimed at the enemy", using "guns" to represent infantry)
• Apostrophe: Similar to personification, but direct. The speaker addresses someone absent or dead, or addresses an inanimate or abstract object as if it were human.
• Symbol: An object, person, situation, action, word, or idea that has literal meaning as well as an alternative identity that represents something else. It is used as an expressive way to depict an idea. 
• Allegory: A story that has a second meaning, usually by endowing characters, objects or events with symbolic significance. The entire story functions symbolically; often a pattern relates each literal item to a corresponding abstract idea or principle. Although the surface story may have its own interest, the author's major interest is in the ulterior meaning.
• Motif: When a word, phrase, image, or idea is repeated throughout a work or several works. Motifs may be used to establish mood, for foreshadowing, to support the theme, or for other purposes.

Sonic devices (dependent on sound):

• Rhyme: The repetition of identical or similar sounds, usually accented vowel sounds and succeeding consonant sounds at the end of words, and often at the end of the lines of prose or poetry.
• Alliteration: The use of a stream of words with the same first phoneme, only interrupted by grammatically required words (a, an, the, to, for, by, etc.). Used for emphasis, suggesting a humorous or even threatening tone.
• Assonance: The repetition of a similar set of vowel sounds. Used to emphasize intensity, mood, and imagery, amongst others. 
• Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds at the ends of words.
• Cacophony: The use of words with harsh consonants, usually at the beginning of a word.
• Onomatopea: The use of words that attempt to emulate a sound. When used colloquially, it is often accompanied by multiple exclamation marks and in all caps.