The Rhetorical Situation
The goal of the speaker/writer.
What is the PURPOSE?
The clear, logical ideas in an argument; usually created from claims backed up with evidence like specific details, examples, facts, statistics, or expert testimony
What is LOGOS?
A description involving one of the five senses; a description of something you can see, hear, touch, taste, or smell.
What is IMAGERY?
A conclusion based on the premise that if A happens, then eventually B, C,..., X, Y, Z will happen, too
What is SLIPPERY SLOPE?
A face or character the speaker creates to show their audience. From Greek for “mask.”
What is a PERSONA?
The historical, cultural, and social movements that influence a text
What is the CONTEXT?
An appeal to the emotions, values, desires, hopes, prejudices, or fears of the audience
What is PATHOS?
The dictionary definition of a word
What is the DENOTATIVE definition?
A conclusion based on an argument that the origins of a person, idea, institute, or theory determine its character, nature, or worth
What is the GENETIC FALLACY?
The faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion
What is RHETORIC?
The method used to present the subject to the audience
What is the GENRE?
The speaker’s expertise, knowledge, experience, sincerity, or combination of these factors that gives the audience a reason for listening to this person on this subject
What is ETHOS?
When the typical English word order (subject-verb-object) is rearranged (usually object-subject-verb)
What is INVERSION?
An attack on the character of a person rather than his or her opinions or arguments
What is AD HOMINEM?
Any essay, political cartoon, photograph, advertisement, etc. that can be analyzed rhetorically
What is a TEXT?
The topic of the text
What is the SUBJECT?
These are the two parts of a counterargument
What is CONCESSION and REFUTATION?
Putting two or more ideas next to each other to create a direct comparison
What is JUXTAPOSITION?
An appeal that presents what most people, or a group of people think, in order to persuade one to think the same way
What is BANDWAGON fallacy?
To deduce or conclude information from evidence and reasoning, rather than from explicit statements
What is to INFER?
The specific circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding the creation of the text
What is the OCCASION (or EXIGENCE)?
A method used to be persuasive
What is an APPEAL?
The speaker’s attitude toward the subject
What is TONE?
This fallacy compares minor misdeeds with major atrocities, suggesting that both are equally immoral
What is MORAL EQUIVALENCE?
This fallacy oversimplifies an opponent's viewpoint and then attacks that hollow argument
What is the STRAW MAN FALLACY?