Persuasion Terms

• Logos- The process of reasoning that uses logic, numbers facts and data.

• Pathos- When the writer appeals to the reader’s emotions

• Ethos- The writer tries to persuade the audience to respect and believe him; shows credibility and gives ethical appeal:

• Kairos- The writer or speaker builds a sense of urgency trying to persuade the audience to act now.

• Argumentation- Writer attempts to prove the validity of a point of view or an idea by presenting reasoned arguments.

• Persuasion- An attempt to convince someone through appeals to reason and emotion:

• Rhetoric- The art of speaking or writing as a means of communication or persuasion; the art of using language to persuade:

• Syntax- The arrangement of words in a sentence.

• Thesis- The main idea of a piece of writing; Subject + Opinion = _____________:

• Generalization (stereotype)- When a writer bases a claim upon an isolated example or asserts that a claim is certain rather than probable.

• Diction- Word choice of a writer or speaker.• Denotation- The dictionary and literal meaning

of a word:• Connotation- Emotional, contextual, or cultural

meaning attached to a word, the implied meaning:

• Euphemism- A more acceptable and usually more pleasant way of saying something that might be inappropriate or uncomfortable.

• Deductive- Arguments that go from general to specific.

• Inductive- Arguments that go from specific to general.

• Syllogism- An argument that consists of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.

• Understatement- Used when a speaker wants to make a situation seem less strong or important than it really is.

• Red Herring- A distracter that draws attention away from the real issue.

• Refutation- The act of determining that something is false

• Concession- Admitting that a point in an argument is right

• Antithesis- A figure of speech in which words and phrases with opposite meanings are balanced against each other.

• Anaphora- The repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences or lines.

• Parallelism- A balance of two or more similar words, phrases, or clauses.

• Hyperbole- An exaggeration.