TOOLS OF PERSUASION

Warm up

Discuss the following questions at your table:• What is persuasion?• How can you convince someone of your

opinion?• What tools do speakers use to persuade their

listeners?• Where do you often find examples of

persuasive language?

Persuasion

The language of persuasion is an important literacy skill. Media, politicians, advertisers, and writers all use specific tools to persuade or convince you of their opinion. Once you know how to recognize the language of persuasion, you are better equipped to make your own decisions. There are many different tools of persuasive language and we will only examine a few key examples.

Persuasion

What are some effective tools of persuasion?

Card Stacking

What is it?Information is true, but only ideas, information and facts that support your viewpoint are presented. All other information is omitted.

ExampleStudies suggest that nutrients in milk can play an important role in weight loss. So if you’re trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, try drinking 24 ounces of lowfat or fat free milk every 24 hours as part of your reduced-calorie diet.

Card Stacking

At your table, discuss:• How is card stacking persuasive?

Compare

What is it?• Look at ways in which things

are the same

Example• The new Sony PlayStation

has more sophisticated electronics than the first NASA space shuttle.

Compare

At your table, discuss:• How is comparing persuasive?

Contrast

What is it?• Look at ways in which things

are different

Example• Coconuts are more deadly

than sharks. Coconuts kill 150 people a year, more than are killed by sharks.

Contrast

At your table, discuss:• How is contrasting persuasive?

Exaggeration

What is it?• The representation of

something that goes beyond the facts

Example

Exaggeration

At your table, discuss:• How is exaggerating persuasive?

Metaphor

What is it?• Comparisons that show

how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way

Example• The economic crisis is a

train wreck.

Metaphor

At your table, discuss:• How is a metaphor persuasive?

Repetition

What is it?• Using a word or phrase

twice or more in a short passage; dwelling on a point.

Example• “We shall go on to the end, we

shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

Winston Churchill, WWII

Repetition

At your table, discuss:• How is repetition persuasive?

Simile

What is it?• A comparison of two unlike

things using the words like or as

Example• Replacing the Prime

Minister is like replacing the captain of the Titanic.

• Gordon Brown's budget speech sounded like a blindfolded man riding a unicycle on the rim of a volcano.

Simile

At your table, discuss:• How is a simile persuasive?

Superlative

What is it?• A word that states that

something is the best. They are marked by the suffix -est or preceded by the word most or least.

Example• "The [New York City] subway is a

gift to any connoisseur of superlatives. It has the longest rides of any subway in the world, the biggest stations, the fastest trains, the most track, the most passengers, the most police officers. It also has the filthiest trains, the most bizarre graffiti, the noisiest wheels, the craziest passengers, the wildest crimes."

Paul Theroux, "Subterranean Gothic." Granta, 1984

Superlative

At your table, discuss:• How is a superlative persuasive?

Practice

Let’s read this passage about Aki Ra together. As we read, look for any tools of persuasion that you can find in the text.

Aki Ra: A HeroHe was a child soldier in Cambodia. He fought in

three armies and knew nothing except war until he was in his early 20s. The Khmer Rouge killed his family, took him to live with them, and taught him how lay the silent, sleeping, deadly monsters that upon waking devour the limbs of bodies, children of families, parents of children. He didn’t know the difference between right and wrong. He was taught to hate.

No one is perfect. All of us are flawed and in need of redemption in one way or another. Some of our indiscretions are small and usually an apology can set things right. But other acts are so painful that redemption seems nearly impossible.

In such cases, it takes the strength of a hero, a champion, brave enough to try to right a wrong. This is what Aki Ra does every day in Cambodia. He quietly walks through the villages searching the ground, getting on his hands and knees to clear landmines. Landmines that he was forced to bury as a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge.

How has this child soldier filled with hate become a defender of children? Growing up, he witnessed numerous children being hurt by

landmines. The physical and emotional scars of this country thirst for his care, for his love. This man is helping rebuild his country, one land mine at a time, one child at a time. So far, he has removed a staggering 50,000 mines.

But that is not all he does. When he walks through the villages, he meets children who have lost limbs and parents to mines. So he built a home for 30 orphans, and said, “I will love you as my own”. Every child who is brought in to the center will have a better life.

Is it possible to erase the past? Can the skeletons in our closets escape our minds, souls? Last year his organization put 2400 people back on land they had been killing in the past. He cleared 63,000 meters of land. With every land mine destroyed, a life is saved. Redemption is beautiful, dangerous and never-ending work and a hero never fears it.