Premium Essay

Rhetorical Devices

Submitted By
Words 270
Pages 2
The process of analyzing the rhetorical devices employed in websites has opened our eyes to the ubiquity of these devices throughout the websites of media outlets. These outlets, including social media websites like Twitter and news sites like CNN, are where modern day American citizens get their information from. A lot of biased websites, like Fox News and Breitbart, use specific rhetorical appeals on their webpage to evoke reactions in their readers and convince them that certain falsehoods are reality. For example, Breitbart News often uses inflammatory rhetoric to allow the emotional reactions of its readers to outweigh the logical ramifications of the content of the articles. Studying and writing about how these rhetorical devices affect

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Identifying Rhetorical Devices

...Chris Weigant Throughout the article are many rhetorical devices such as a hyperbole, dysphemism, and many others. The rhetorical devices throughout this article could be categorized by short phrases and ways that the author is trying to get his point across. However, there are also rhetorical devices used throughout the article that are just making assumptions on the topic. This article gets the point of the author across very clearly; I believe this is where the rhetorical devices he come in. by using all these diverse rhetorical devices it helps the writer to say what he wants and lets the reader to be more on his side of the issue at hand. For example, the authors’ statement that “my invitation must have gotten lost in the mail,” this is not an actual statement but is sarcasm in the paper creates a rhetorical device. This statement is considered an exaggeration because he is overstating or embellishes what he really means to say. Rhetorical devices if used in an accurate way are designed to convince a reader to agree with one side of an issue rather than the other. Each type of device gives a different effect and shows opinions or someone’s thoughts in different ways. So the author used these devices to show his point of view and to persuade his readers to agree with him. It is good to make your reader agree with you but also to show the other side of the issue as well. The author of this article used the rhetorical devices to persuade the reader to his side but also pointed...

Words: 288 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Devices In The Crisis By Thomas Paine

...An important letter-one that convicts, encourages, reprimands, persuades-is not an important letter because of words written, or the above average vocabulary, but rather what makes it important is the heart behind the words, and the tone of the voice speaking the vocabulary; rhetorical devices. Boldly, rhetorical devices are what makes a letter an “important” letter. A message can possibly be crossed without them, but rhetorical devices are what give the message its meaning. One example of rhetorical devices furthering an argument past just words is the letter, “The Crisis”, written by the influential Thomas Paine, using aphorisms, juxtaposition, and rhetorical questions. Thomas Paine uses the aphorism twice in his letter to the colonists....

Words: 902 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

All Over But The Shoutin Analysis

...cinematic, and Bragg exemplifies an awareness of time. “All Over but the Shoutin'” is a haunting memoir about the struggle of accepting a parent who has abandoned his own flesh and blood. It emphasizes on both personal history and on the historical context in which the events took place. The memoir hooks the reader and peaks their interest, further forcing them into inquiring for more. The author recalls when, as a teenager, he paid a final visit to his dying father. He explained how hard it was visiting him for the first and last time since he left, and how difficult it was to confront his abandonment. Through strong diction and tone, rhetorical devices, and the conflict shown, Bragg displays the theme of being trapped between forgiving and hating his father. Before Bragg allows the reader to fully...

Words: 1239 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Stylistic Devices

...Stylistic devices Repetition and Variation |stylistic device |definition |translation |example |effect | |alliteration |recurrence of initial sound |Alliteration |“The fair breeze blew, |to convey auditory images | | | | |the white foam flew.” | | |accumulation |series of expressions (adjectives, cliches, |Anhäufung |“He came, saw, fought and won” |to make the language livelier | | |examples, images) that contribute increasingly to | | | | | |meaning | | | | |anaphora |repetition of first word(s) of line/clause |Anapher |In every town, in every house...

Words: 1262 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Devices

...Lillian Avila Mrs. Monson English III CP 8 March 2024 Act of devices Persuasion has been going on forever, both positively and negatively. In the article “To my loving parents; your expectations are crushing me” author Peggy Chen uses many rhetorical and literary strategies and techniques to impact the reader and further her message. These include logos, pathos, and anaphora. By including these devices in her writing, she could impact readers in a way they might not have thought about before. One rhetorical device author Peggy Chen used in her article is the use of Logos. Throughout the article, there were many different ways in which logos were shown. A quote from the text that shows this device would be “At 13, I was juggling the responsibility...

Words: 417 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Devices

...through the emotions the Puritans felt during the sermon. Throughout Edwards’ sermon, he establishes the use of the rhetorical devices ethos, pathos, and logos to enlighten his congregation on his mission to convert the “unborn”. The first rhetorical device found and analyzed is pathos. Edwards used pathos to reach down into the hearts of his audience and make them feel some sort of emotion. According to the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) handout, pathos is the “appeal to the audience’s emotions,” and can be represented through “humor”, “imagery”, and “figurative language” (“Using” 13). An example from “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is when Edwards stated “ten thousand more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours” (42). This example gave the audience the emotion of fear. He did not...

Words: 954 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Device

...Another rhetorical device which also ties in with the previously discussed one is that both campaigns deliberately focused on utilising very emotional language. The emotional approach aims to change people’s feelings and motivations rather than just using the informative way which relies heavily on trying to change people’s opinions by using statistics to shock or surprise them. In this case, both sides tried to make their campaigns as personal as possible to gather the most votes from the British public. When Boris Johnson revealed that he was part of the Leave campaign, he said in his speech on February 21 “I will be advocating Vote Leave - or whatever the team is called, I understand there are a lot of them - because I want a better deal for the people of this country, to save them money and to take control.”....

Words: 300 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Rhetorical Devices

...Anaphora Repetition of one or more words at the head of consecutive phrases, clauses, or sentences: “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Analogy The comparison of two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining and clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one."Pupils are more like oysters than sausages. The job of teaching is not to stuff them and then seal them up, but to help them open and reveal the riches within. There are pearls in each of us, if only we knew how to cultivate them with ardor and persistence." Amplification An expansion of detail to clarify a point: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” Asyndeton Absence of conjunctions: “We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.” Distinctio A definition or clarification of a term: “What we will be seeking . . . will be large, stable communities of like-minded people, which is to say relatives.” Epistrophe The repetition of a word at the end of each phrase or clause: “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Expletive A single word or short phrase, usually interrupting normal syntax, used to lend emphasis to the words immediately proximate to the expletive. "In short, the cobbler had neglected his soul." Hypophora A figure of speech in which the speaker asks a question and...

Words: 356 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Obama Rhetorical Devices

...Presidential candidate, Barack Obama was placed in a scandal that hugely affected the way the American voters could possibly feel about him. In an effort to address these conflicts throughout the country, he uses different rhetorical devices and explains these issues in a way that all americans can relate to and understand. When faced with the conflicts involving Rev. Wright, he has to speak to the audience in a way where nobody would be offended or believe that he is choosing sides. Barack Obama’s speech in the 2008 election reveals how differently American voters can feel about certain topics just because of what they see in media despite the differences of opinions between the parties. Obama was put in a difficult position to persuade and...

Words: 966 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Sometihing

...Moore−Parker: Critical Thinking, Ninth Edition 5. Persuasion Through Rhetoric: Common Devices and Techniques Text © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2009 Chapter Persuasion Through Rhetoric 5 It’s just the way things are: Images and impressions tend to sell more products than good arguments do. At least some of the images are fun. Common Devices and Techniques W hen the military uses the phrase “self-injurious behavior incidents” regarding detainees at Guantánamo Bay, it means what most of us call “attempted suicides.” In fact, when the word “detainees” is used, it means what most of us call “prisoners.” “Waterboarding” sounds at first like something you’d expect to see young people doing on a California beach, not a torture technique that involves forced simulated drowning. Less remarkable, perhaps, but possibly more relevant for most of us, we’ve heard the term “downsized” used when someone is fired or laid off. “Ethnic cleansing” covers everything from deportation to genocide. What we have to say may be important, but the words we choose to say it with can be equally important. The examples just given are cases of a certain type of linguistic coercion—an attempt to get us to adopt a particular attitude toward a subject that, if described differently, would seem less attractive to us. Words have tremendous persuasive power, or what we have called their rhetorical force or emotive meaning—their power to express and elicit images, feelings, and emotional...

Words: 15202 - Pages: 61

Free Essay

Identifying Rhetorical Devices

...James Dawson Week 5 assignment Identifying Rhetorical Devices The Search for Opportunity The bottom line is that our education system in West Virginia is struggling. We are consistently ranked at the bottom of lists that we don't want to be on, and rarely make an appearance on the top lists in education. President John F. Kennedy said that "all of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talent.” Public charter schools are simply another way to give parents choices in education for their children. The students in this state deserve every opportunity to have an exceptional education that will prepare them for success in our global economy. In the above article one of the first rhetorical devices I found was the weaselers affect. Where the author states “We are consistently ranked at the bottom of lists that we don't want to be on, and rarely make an appearance on the top lists in education.” The author is making an argument without specifying what these lists are and what their actual rankings are on the top list in education which may also be considered a proof surrogate. This also gives the author a way out if anyone challenges the statement. The others were euphemism and dysphemism. Both of the other devices were used in downplaying the benefits of charter schools where it stated “Public charter schools are simply another way to give parents choices in education for their children.” And also “The students in this state...

Words: 762 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Twain

...ironies as those produced by transposing a Yankee to King Arthur’s Court). It seems clear when retracing the development of Twain’s style through his career that his use of irony—always one of his key rhetorical devices—becomes increasingly heavy- handed the older and the angrier he became. Huck’s “failure” is innocent; that of the con- gregation in “The War-Prayer” is not. Albert Bigelow Paine quotes Twain as writing on New Year’s Eve 1900-01: A GREETING FROM THE NINETEENTH TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY I bring you the stately nation named Christendom, returning, bedraggled, besmirched, and dishonored, from pirate raids in Kiao-Chou, Manchuria, South Africa, and the Phil- ippines, with her soul full of meanness, her pocket full of boodle, and her mouth full of pious hypocrisies. Give her soap and a towel, but hide the looking-glass. (Europe xxxiv) Here, only the adjective “stately” tells us that the intended tone is irony, before Twain starts hammering home his point; and it is precisely the behavior of Christendom in the Philippines that would lead, in 1904-5, to the barely disguised fury that makes “The War- Prayer”’s irony so unsubtle. Unsubtle is not the same as ineffective, of course, but insidi- ousness usually serves irony better. It was still Twain’s only appropriate rhetorical device, however, given that irony is inherently dualistic: it says or implies one thing, it means another; it has a stated (often false) meaning, and a silent (true)...

Words: 419 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Devices In The Crucible

...hundreds a very dark time in American history was taking place. In this time period over two hundred people were tried and around twenty people were killed for practicing witchcraft. However, these people were innocent and they were killed in painful and gruesome ways, such as crushing and drowning. Many people would make accusations against an innocent person out of malice, which would in return lead to the accused’s death. Two reverends who lived in New England during this time were John Hale and Cotton Mather. Both of these men have very strong, however very different opinions about the trials and wrote essays about them. In Hale’s essay, "A Modest Inquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft" , he uses rhetorical...

Words: 1249 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Mlk Rhetorical Devices

...Rhetorical Analysis of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” Speech Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights activist who boldly called an end to racism in the United States. On August 28, 1963 he delivered a speech in front of more than 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial; a speech that became famous for its inspiration; a speech that was a defining moment for the American Civil Rights Movement; a speech plainly known as “I Have a Dream.” This infamous speech was so influential and moving because of the many rhetorical devices and appeals used that effectively related to the emotions and knowledge of the common people. Techniques used so beautifully and words spoken so genuinely that the hearts of those listening...

Words: 1152 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Skateboard Rhetorical Devices

...Title of Your Report Being able to ride a skateboard is such an amazing sport to take part in! However, just like any other piece of transportation it is made up of many parts, and the RZR Special Edition Year 3349 has its own special, futuristic parts. Each individual piece is important and essential to the skateboard. From the wheels, to the board, grip tape, and wheel bearings. In our infomercial David and I adopt the rhetorical appeals pathos and logos to further support our claim the the parts of our skateboard can easily win any other plain skateboard. To add we both also adopt the rhetorical devices tone, juxtaposition, and mood. In our infomercial, David and I use an enthusiastic tone in our language and voice to set an...

Words: 364 - Pages: 2