Ethos
"As a teacher of 25 years, I have seen how daily reading improves student success."
Identify the appeal AND explain how it builds credibility.
Ethos - the speaker references experience to establish authority on a topic.
"Imagine coming home to find your house destroyed by fire."
Identify the appeal and explain the impact of the appeal.
Extra 100 pts - identify at least two rhetorical strategies apparent in this example.
Pathos - creates fear and empathy in the audience.
Extra 100 - direct address to the reader ("imagine.. your house..."), emotional language / concrete diction that is emotionally charged ("coming home...destroyed by fire")
"Schools that implemented this program saw a 30% increase in graduation rates."
Identify the appeal and explain how the statistics strengthens the claim.
Logos - provides measurable, objective evidence.
Wiesel references his experience as a Holocaust survivor.
Identify the appeal and explain how it impacts the audience.
Ethos - firsthand experience builds authority.
Aristotle - "someone's life says more than their words"
"Our research team at Harvard University has studied the issue for over a decade."
What appeal is being used? How does the institution strengthen the argument?
Ethos - the association with a respected institution increase the audience's trust in the claim and/or evidence about "this issue."
“Thousands of elderly citizens sit alone in silence each day, forgotten by the very communities they helped build.”
What appeal is being used? Explain how the diction shapes the reader's emotional response.
Pathos — concrete diction / imagery like alone and forgotten evoke sadness and guilt to encourage action.
"If we reduce class sizes, students receive more attention. More attention leads to higher achievement."
What appeal is used? Identify the reasoning pattern (the way the author develops a relationship between things)
Logos - cause and effect reasoning OR process analysis (explain how to do something or how something occurs)
Wiesel repeatedly defines / discusses indifference:
"Indifference is not a response. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten."
Identify the strategy and explain why repetition is effective here (2 potential reasons).
Anaphora (or repetition) - repeating the definition (Indifference is...) reinforces the different understandings of indifference and creates urgency.
In the article, the author begins the article with the following lines:
"The lexicographers at the Oxford University Press seem to be punking us. In 2015, their “word” of the year was “😂.” In 2023, rizz. In 2024, brain rot. And now the publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary have chosen rage bait. As I write this, the spell-check bot has underlined many of these words in red or blue squiggles, urging me to rectify my missteps. But no mistakes have been made here."
What is the rhetorical appeal? Why do they open with this rhetorical appeal?
Ethos - attempting to establish credibility by identifying their source (Oxford University Press) and showing expertise by listing the previous words of the year (demonstrating that they've done their research).
A speaker uses a calm tone, formal language, and cites credible sources.
Identify the appeal and explain how these choices (tone, language, sources) influence the audience.
Ethos - professionalism (through tone, language, and use of sources) increases trustworthiness.
“He was only seventeen when he lost his life to a preventable accident. His dreams ended before they even had a chance to begin.”
Identify the appeal and explain why personalizing the issue strengthens the argument.
Pathos — personalizing creates empathy and makes the issue feel real, makes sure it "hits home with the audience," rather than abstract.
"According to a 2023 study of 5,000 participants..."
What appeal is this? Why does specificity matter?
Logos - detailed evidence increase reliability (specificity = reliable source, vagueness affects your reliability), larger sample size means more reliable source.
Wiesel describes the suffering of victims in concentration camps in vivid detail.
Identify the appeal and explain the emotional effect.
The following excerpt is the third paragraph in the article:
"Language is the freest market that we have. Words that prevail do so on merit, no matter their origin. Rage bait is evocative and useful. Because the English language had previously failed to provide such an efficient term, we should be glad that the internet has come through."
What is the rhetorical strategy(s) being used in this paragraph? Why do they use it here?
Syntax - short choppy sentences. They signal a change from the previous section. However, the clear, choppy sentences help to clearly and directly communicate the sub-claim.
Direct Address to the Reader - "we should be glad," getting the audience invested in the argument, communicating to them how they will benefit in some way from the author's argument.
A celebrity who starred in the most recent Marvel film promotes a new medical product.
Which appeal is being attempted? Why might it be weak?
Ethos - but weak because the credibility is unrelated to the product they are promoting.
“Of course I work best under pressure — said every student at 2:00 a.m. the night before the deadline.”
Identify the rhetorical strategy being used and explain how it strengthens the writer’s argument.
Humor/Sarcasm - humor makes the issue relatable and engaging, lowers reader resistance, and subtly criticizes procrastination in a memorable way.
Identify the flawed reasoning. What is wrong with this logic?
Generalization - When a writer bases a claim upon an isolated example or asserts that a claim is certain rather than probable.
Logical Fallacy - a flaw in reasoning that weakens or invalidates an argument, often appearing plausible while relying on faulty, deceptive, or irrelevant logic
“How many more lives must be lost before we decide to act? How long will we stand by and do nothing?”
Identify the rhetorical strategy being used and explain how it strengthen's the speaker's argument and/or their intended rhetorical appeal.
The speaker uses rhetorical questions to force the audience to reflect, create urgency, and feel morally responsible. The questions imply that action is overdue and encourage the audience to agree without directly stating the answer.
This rhetorical strategy enhances Wiesel's use of ethos, because it speaks to his character, wanting to ensure that a tragedy like the Holocaust never happens again.
In the fourth paragraph of the article, the author discusses how some people criticize Oxford for using internet slang, saying it replaces traditional English with trendy words, which reflects a long-standing debate between documenting how people actually speak (descriptivists) and enforcing traditional language rules (prescriptivists).
What is the purpose of introducing the counterargument so early in the article?
By discussing the debate (between descriptivists and prescriptivists), it responds to these objections/challenges and offers a counterclaim that supports the article’s argument that new words like rage bait reflect natural language evolution rather than cultural decline.
Explain how false credentials (or lack of mentioning one's credentials) would damage a speaker's argument beyond just credibility.
It destroys or eliminates trust, making all arguments less persuasive.
“Last year, I watched my little brother throw away his entire lunch because he said it was ‘too gross to eat.’ By the end of the week, he had stopped bringing lunch altogether.”
Identify the rhetorical strategy being used and explain how it supports the speaker’s overall argument.
Anecdote - The short personal story humanizes the issue, makes it concrete rather than abstract, and builds emotional connection and credibility.
Explain why logos alone may not fully persuade an audience.
People are influenced by emotion and trust, not just logic.
"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference."
Identify one rhetorical strategy and one rhetorical appeal Wiesel uses in this passage, and explain how they work together to strengthen his argument.
Strategy: Parallelism (repetition of sentence structure) - The repetition creates rhythm and intensity, making the statement memorable.
Appeal: Pathos - works by challenging the audience’s assumptions and evoking emotional/moral discomfort, pushing them to reconsider how serious indifference truly is-- helping to develop, too, that indifference is the root of all evil
“Without the concept of rage bait, we couldn’t adequately describe why the president of the United States might be broadcasting AI-generated videos of him dumping feces on Americans who protest his policies. Nor would we be able to explain why California Governor Gavin Newsom…celebrated the Democrats’ electoral wins in November with a TikTok of him and fellow party members slamming Trump and other Republicans in a mock World Wrestling Entertainment smackdown.”
Identify the rhetorical strategy and rhetorical appeal(s) used in this passage.
Strategy: Examples / illustrative anecdotes — the author uses specific, vivid instances to show what rage bait looks like in real-world politics.
Appeal
- Logos - concrete examples provide evidence for why the term is necessary to describe current political behavior.
- Pathos - vivid, absurd, emotional charged examples to provoke shock, outrage, or amusement in the readers. Helps to add to the argument that rage bait should be a word because of it's urgent, immediate need.