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Rhetorical DevicesYear Non-Fiction Texts

Learning objectives

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In this unit you will…

Discuss the different purposes a writer may have

Learn about the rhetorical devices used by writers

Analyze famous texts and speeches to see which rhetorical devices are used

Writers write with a purpose.

Brainstorm the different purposes non-fiction writers have in the box below.

Rhetorical devices

To explain something

To persuade you

To amuse you

To give you information

To entertain you

To shock you

To make you feel strongly about something

Look at your own answers and the list above.

Can you think of an example of each type of writing?

Here are some ideas:

Understanding rhetoric There are different ways a speaker or

writer can appeal and seek to persuade his or her audience:

1) logic or reason (logos) 2) emotion (pathos) 3) ethics and morals (ethos)

ETHOS"Ethical Appeal"

Credibility and Character

Through...

• Appropriate language, sounding unbiased, using expertise, correct grammar and syntax

PATHOS"Emotional Appeal"

Greek for "suffering" and "experience"

The reader has to TRUST the writer

Through...

• sympathy, pity, anger

LOGOS"Appeal to Logic"

Through...

• Facts, statistics, historical and literal analogies, citing authorities

Rhetorical devicesWriters often use rhetorical devices to communicate.

figures of speech (metaphor, simile, personification)

sound devices (alliteration, assonance, consonance)

Rhetorical means to do with persuasion and effective

speaking and writing.

Device is just another way of saying ‘technique’.

RepetitionAlliteration Metaphor and simileAudience involvement Quotes Facts and statistics

Rhetorical devices include:

Do you know what rhetorical devices are?

We use rhetorical devices to write or speak persuasively.

The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe:

Meant in croaking "Nevermore.”

Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"

Shall be lifted---nevermore!

Repeating important words or phrases can indicate to the reader that they are important. They help to make the writing more persuasive and make certain words or phrases stick in the reader’s head.

© HMSO

Repetition

Alliteration is where two or more words begin with the same letter.

You should take up juggling because it is fantastic fun.

Can you fill in these sentences with alliterative words?1. The ____ weather made me feel _____ _______!2. ____________ is a ______ _______ _________3. I can’t believe how _______ ______ ______ was!

Alliteration

A metaphor is where one thing is said to be something else.

A simile is where one thing is said to be the same as or like

something else.

Decide whether the quotes below contain metaphors or similes.

I wandered lonely as a

cloud(Wordsworth)

Juliet is the sun (Shakespeare,

Romeo and Juliet)

simile metaphor

Metaphor and Simile

Your writing can be more effective if you draw the audience into the topic.

I know that many of you have endured the misery of over-cooked school dinners…

Audience involvement

Why do you think it is so much more effective to talk directly to your

audience/reader?

Using the words of famous people can enhance your meaning.

As John F. Kennedy once said:

Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for

your country.

Quotes

However, you have to make sure that your quote is relevant and that it makes sense to begin with! You should also choose someone to quote from whom your audience is likely to know and respect.

Facts and statistics help to show that what you are saying is backed up by more than just your opinion.

A University of Neasden study showed that 85% of people surveyed thought that homework was a waste of time.

Facts and statistics

Opinion of homework

useful

quiteuseful

waste oftime

You can combine these devices.

A University of Neasden study showed

that 85%, I repeat, 85% of people

surveyed thought that homework was as dull

as a dreary, dirty dungeon.

Rhetorical devices

Which devices has Megan used above?

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied?’ We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police

brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot

gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of our cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating ‘For whites only’. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied

until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

repetition

simile

rhetorical question including the audience

fact

Martin Luther KingIn this famous speech, how has Martin Luther King made his meaning so effective?

Find the Rhetorical Devices in MLK’s SpeechThere are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied?’ We can never be

satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never

be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of our cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating ‘For whites only’. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a

Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and

righteousness like a mighty stream.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied?’ We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police

brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot

gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of our cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating ‘For whites only’. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied

until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

repetition

simile

rhetorical question including the audience

fact

Martin Luther KingIn this famous speech, how has Martin Luther King made his meaning so effective?

Here is an edited version of the speech with some of the rhetorical devices removed. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights when they will be satisfied. They say they can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of police brutality, as long as their bodies, tired after travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities, as long as their children are faced with signs stating ‘For whites only’. The Negro in Mississippi still cannot vote and a Negro in New York still believes he has nothing to vote for. They will not be satisfied until they get justice.

Which version is more powerful?

Martin Luther KingHow effective would Martin Luther King’s speech have been if he hadn’t used rhetorical devices?

Can you name the rhetorical devices Churchill uses in the speeches below?

…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…

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: it is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be…

repetition

audience involvement

rhetorical question

metaphor

Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee-I have thee not and yet I see thee still!Art thou not, fatal vision, sensibleTo feeling as to sight? Or art thou butA dagger of the mind, a false creation,Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?I see thee yet, in form as palpableAs this which now I draw…

Which rhetorical devices does Shakespeare use?

What effect do they have?

Macbeth’s soliloquyRead Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 2, Scene 1.

Choose your speech topic!

You will write a speech (roughly 250 words long) which aims to convince your audience of your point of view on the subject. Use at least 5 rhetorical devices – refer to the handout.

•Aliens might be real•Convince voters to elect you as Class President•Reality TV is making us stupid•The school day should start later

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