Rhetoric 101
Clue: This rhetorical appeal builds a speaker's credibility through character, authority, or trustworthiness.
What is ethos?
Clue: This president delivered the Gettysburg Address in 1863, encouraging Americans to honor fallen soldiers by preserving the nation and its founding ideals.
Who is Abraham Lincoln?
Clue: The statement "Her courage was like a lighthouse in a storm" compares two unlike things using the word "like."
What is a simile?
Clue: In his September 11 address, President Bush emphasized the courage of firefighters, rescue workers, and ordinary Americans helping strangers. His description was intended to inspire compassion, grief, admiration, and national unity.
What is pathos?
Clue: During a speech about overcoming adversity, a student holds up a cracked trophy that has been carefully repaired. The trophy represents resilience, personal growth, and the ability to recover from failure. Rather than directly stating these ideas, the speaker uses a physical object to communicate a larger message.
What is symbolism?
This rhetorical strategy persuades an audience by appealing to emotions such as hope, grief, fear, anger, or compassion.
What is pathos?
Clue: This speaker compared America's failure to guarantee equal civil rights to a financial promise that had not been fulfilled, suggesting that the nation owed its citizens justice.
Who is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?
Clue: The phrase "the bright light guides the night" repeats similar vowel sounds to create a musical quality.
What is assonance?
Clue: In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln refers to the nation's founding principles and its earlier commitment to equality. Referencing these familiar historical ideas is an example of this rhetorical strategy.
What is allusion?
Clue: A principal argues that removing arts programs to improve academic performance is like removing the roots of a tree to help its branches grow. By comparing two different situations, the principal helps the audience recognize a flaw in the proposed decision and understand why the arts might be essential to student development.
What is an analogy?
This persuasive appeal uses facts, evidence, and logical reasoning to support an argument.
What is logos?
Clue: This president addressed Americans on September 11, 2001, emphasizing national unity, resilience, and determination following the terrorist attacks.
Who is George W. Bush?
Clue: The phrase "wild winds whisper" repeats beginning consonant sounds to create rhythm and emphasis.
What is alliteration?
Clue: A speaker describes a brief personal experience of discrimination to help an audience understand injustice through an individual's story rather than through statistics alone. "When I was a child, my mother taught me the importance of being kind and having integrity..."
What is an anecdote?
Clue: At a graduation ceremony, a student speaker announces, "We will rise when challenges appear. We will rise when others doubt us. We will rise when the path seems impossible." The repeated opening creates momentum, emphasizes determination, and encourages the audience to see themselves as capable of overcoming challenges.
What is anaphora?
Clue: This rhetorical device involves asking a question to provoke thought or emphasize a point rather than receive an actual answer.
What is a rhetorical question?
Clue: This abolitionist and women's rights advocate delivered an 1851 speech remembered for challenging society's assumptions about women's strength, rights, and equality.
Who is Sojourner Truth?
Clue: The statement "Justice is a bridge to a better future" compares two unlike things without using "like" or "as."
What is a metaphor?
Clue: A speaker repeats similar grammatical patterns, such as "to learn, to grow, to lead," to create rhythm, emphasize a shared mission, and make the message more memorable.
What is parallel structure?
Clue:
During a speech advocating for educational reform, a student declares:
"Our school stands at a crossroads. We can continue down a road of outdated expectations, or we can build a bridge toward opportunity. Like David facing Goliath, we may be small, but our determination can challenge even the strongest institutions."
Identify THREE rhetorical strategies used in this statement and explain how they work together to persuade the audience.
What is metaphor/simile?
What is symbolism?
What is allusion?
Clue: This term describes the specific group of people a speaker wants to reach or influence. Understanding this group helps determine the speaker's tone, language, and rhetorical choices.
What is the audience?
Clue: Identify the speaker AND at least TWO rhetorical strategies used in this quotation:
"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve."
Who is George W. Bush? What is metaphor, parallel structure, symbolism, or pathos?
Clue: The statement "We shape our words, and our words shape us" reverses the arrangement of important words or ideas to create a memorable effect.
What is chiasmus?
Clue: A student addresses the school board about eliminating after-school tutoring.
"Would you take away a lifeboat from someone who is struggling to swim? After-school tutoring is that lifeboat. Last semester, 85% of students who regularly attended tutoring improved their grades."
Identify THREE rhetorical strategies being used to persuade the school board.
What is a rhetorical question, metaphor, and logos?
Clue: During a speech encouraging students to take responsibility for their community, a student leader declares:
"We can build walls that divide us, or we can build bridges that unite us. We can choose silence in the face of injustice, or we can choose courage in the face of fear. The choice we make today will shape the community we become tomorrow."
Identify THREE rhetorical strategies used in this statement.
What is anaphora? What is parallel structure? What is symbolism?