Argument Techniques

​Persuasive Techniques Recap

​Analysing and Presenting Argument

Persuasive Strategies​

​Ways that writers / speakers use ​words that make their message more effective

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​These strategies are used to emphasise, explain, unify ideas and persuade targeted groups of people

Multiple Choice

What is the purpose of persuasive strategies?

• words writers use to get someone to agree with them

• words writers and speakers use that can explain, persuade, unify ideas, or emphasise

• words writers use to persuade

There are many different ways to persuade​

Here is a recap on some to warm your brains up ​

​Logos, Pathos and Ethos - as persuasive categories

​Logos - An appeal to the logical or resonable side of people (Data / facts / numbers etc.)

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​Pathos - An appeal to the emotions of the audience (sympathy / metaphors / emotionally rich vocabulary)

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​Ethos - Appeals that encourage trust from the audience (expert opinion / allusions to famous people)

​*Pro tip - you can't just refer to the category, you have to then identify the technique / strategy being used with the correct metalanguage

Multiple Choice

Incorporating ETHOS would see a writer using which one of the following strategies?

• A celebrity

• An appeal to sympathy

• A metaphor

• Scientific data

Multiple Choice

Incorporating PATHOS would see a writer using which one of the following strategies?

• An expert to trust in

• An appeal to tradition

• Figurative language that evokes an emotional response

• Facts and data

Multiple Choice

Incorporating LOGOS would see a writer using which one of the following strategies?

• An allusion

• A simile

• A rhetorical question

• An appeal to logic

Multiple Choice

Identify the allusion in the following statement:

"Sally had a smile that rivalled the Mona Lisa"

• Sally

• Smile

• Mona Lisa

​Allusion - it is a reference to a well known person, place, event, movie, book, or song

​Examples​

• If I buy any more pets, I will have to build an ark. (Biblical allusion - a reference to Noah who built a large boat; to save and have room for all the animals )

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• Carl and Joe went to the movies. Joe never had any money, so before they got there, Carl said, "Show me the money." (Literary Allusion - show me the money is an allusion to a line in the movie, Jerry McGuire)

​Repetition: Repeating a word or phrase in order to emphasise an idea.

​​Examples

“Nory was a Catholic because her mother was a Catholic, and Nory’s mother was a Catholic because her father was a Catholic, and her father was a Catholic because his mother was a Catholic, or had been.” Nicholson Baker, The Everlasting Story of Nory

What is the intended meaning? That tradition is important and reinforces a sense of intergenerational belonging

"I want her to live. I want her to breathe. I want her to aerobicise." Weird Science

​What is the intended meaning? The creator wants his prodigy to have every possible opportunity as humans have

​​Metaphor- a comparison between 2 unlike things

​Examples

• You are my sunshine. ( You and sunshine are being compared. The writer of this song wants the listener to understand that "you" is a person who warms them up and lightens their mood in the same way sunshine does.)

• My teacher is a witch. (The teacher is being compared to a witch. She is probably mean like a witch)

​​Simile - a comparison between 2 unlike things using the words like or as to connect the comparison.

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• Examples:

• He eats like a pig. (He is compared to a pig. The boy is probably messy and greedy when he eats)

• John ran like the wind. (John ran very fast just like the wind)

Multiple Choice

Which of the following options is an example of a metaphor?

• The school is like a prison

• The prisonly school

• This school is a prison

• The prison over there

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is an example of a simile?

• Love is a rose

• Love is like a rose

• A rosy love

• She looked at her love with rose coloured glasses

Multiple Select

If we look at this image as illustrating the idea that love is like a rose, what idea is it suggesting to the audience?

*Because we know there can be multiple interpretations, choose all the correct options

• If you love you are going to bleed

• Roses are pretty but can cause you to bleed

• Love can hurt you

• Love can cause you to hurt even though it is beautiful

​The rule of three - Using 3 ideas or adjectives to reinforce an idea

​Examples:

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​Blood, sweat and tears (nouns- the idea that hard work will involve effort and sacrifice is suggested to the audience)

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Cool, calm and collected​ (adjectives - the suggestion that someone wasn't nervous and didn't emotionally react is suggested to the audience)

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​Stop, look and listen (verbs - the idea that to be in tune with a situation all senses are needed is reinforced)

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​Why it works

• ​Brains recognise and remember patterns

• ​It adds structure to an idea

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is NOT and example of the rule of 3?

• “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”

• “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”

• “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”

• "The good and the bad go hand in hand"

​Persuasive Language - refers to specific words chosen to present an idea

​We have already looked at Metaphors and similes - but there are others

Examples

Those poor, helpless children with nobody to look out for them (Emotive language - tries to engage a specific emotional reaction from the intended audience) * this engages people's sympathy and concern for the children reinforcing the idea that they need to be looked after and protected

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Its up to all of us, your actions count (Inclusive language - encourages the intended audience to feel connection to the issue and involved in the solution) *this encourages the intended audience to act in support of the cause and actively make the changes needed for a solution

​Hopefully this has helped to refresh your memories a little

​Persuasive Language Continued...

The most common form of persuasive language is connotations. They are in EVERY SINGLE TEXT!

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​They can be positive to create a positive (e.g.fun / enthusiastic) or negative (killjoy / overly boisterous) bias surrounding an idea, or issue

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​*The key to this one is knowing what the word means so that you can interpret properly how it applies to the situation it is referring to