1、English Rhetoric and WritingThe Rhetorical Triangle&The Rhetorical Appeals The rhetorical triangle Writer(or speaker)Context Reader(or audience)The Writer(speaker,painter,blogger,photographer)nWho you are;nWhy you are competent to speak on the issue;and nWhere your authority comes from.The Reader(th
2、e people that the rhetor addresses)nWhat emotion do you want to evoke?Fear,trust,loyalty.?nDo you have shared values you want to draw on?nHow do your audiences beliefs fit with your message?The Context(the content and the circumstances of communication)nHave I presented a logical,well-constructed ar
3、gument?nHow do I support my claims?nWhat evidence do I have?nWhat are the counterarguments?Example:nConsider an everyday problem of persuading others:you want someone to close a window.e.g.1)Could I impose by asking you to close that window?2)If youre not too busy and wouldnt mind doing me a favor,I
4、d sure like to have that window closed.3)Please shut the window.4)Hey,buddy,shut that window.5)Shut the windows right now.6)Must you always leave the window open like that?7)Youd better shut that window.8)If you dont shut that window right now,Ill never speak to you again.9).I hope you wont mind shu
5、tting the window.10).I know youre busy,but could you possibly take the time to shut that window?11).Shut that window.12).From now on,I expect that window to be kept closed.13).That window needs to be shut,doesnt it?14).Youve been leaving the window open a little too much,dont you think?15).“Its quit
6、e cold in here,Jeeves.”“Ill shut the windows,madam.”Summarize:nThe best way to say“Shut the window”depends on context on who your listener is,what your relationship with the listener is,where you are,how you want to present yourself.nRhetoric is choice in a context.The three points on the Rhetorical
7、 Triangle relate directly to the three classic appeals.nEthos Building trust by establishing your credibility and authority(Speaker/Writer)nPathos Appealing to emotion by connecting with your audience through their values and interests(Audience)nLogos Appeal to intelligence with well-constructed and
8、 clearly argued ideas(Context).16)Dont you think it would be more comfortable in here if we closed that window?(persuade by offering good reasons)17)Since our country is faced with an energy crisis;we should all pitch in and keep the windows closed to conserve heat.(persuade by emotional appeal)18)J
9、ohnny,shut that window immediately,and then return to your seat.(persuade by authority)The Three Rhetorical Appeals Ethos,Pathos,and LogosuLogos(Greek for word)means persuading by the use of reasoning.uEthos(Greek for character)means convincing by the character of the author.uPathos(Greek for suffer
10、ing or experience)means persuading by appealing to the readers emotions.Author and EthosnFor Aristotle,the writers ethos meant the degree of credibility or trustworthiness that authors establish with the audience through their writing.nThrough tone,an authors character and attitude toward his/her au
11、dience and subject becomes clear to the audience:this forms the basis of the authors ethical appeal.Two kinds of ethosInvented EthosSituated EthosInvented ethos develops in the discourse by the tone and attitude the speaker/writer takes toward his audience and subject.Situated ethos relies largely o
12、n the speakers pre-existing reputation.Bill Clintons ethical character and personal characterDennis RodmanMichael JordanethosGood senseGood characterGood willExample:the Checkers SpeechBackground of Checkers Speechn In 1952,Eisenhower chose a young senator from California named Richard Nixon as his
13、vice presidential running mate.By late summer,as a number of newspapers began charging that Nixon had been the recipient of an illegal slush fund(收买基金，贿赂基金),Eisenhower considered dropping Nixon from the ticket.Nixon persuaded Eisenhower to let him appear on TV,which in 1952 was fairly new,to explain
14、 his financial dealings over his lifetime and in the process exonerate(证明无罪;使.免罪)himself.Excerpt:the Checkers SpeechI was born in 1913.Our family was one of modest circumstances and most of my early life was spent in a store out in East Whittier.It was a grocery store-one of those family enterprises
15、.The only reason we were able to make it go was because my mother and dad had five boys and we all worked in the store.I worked my way through college and to a great extent through law school.And then,in 1940,probably the best thing that ever happened to me happened,I married Pat-who is sitting over
16、 here.We had a rather difficult time after we were married,like so many of the young couples who may be listening to us.I practiced law;she continued to teach school.Then in 1942 I went into the service.Let me say that my service record was not a particularly unusual one.I went to the South Pacific.
17、I guess Im entitled to a couple of battle stars.I got a couple of letters of commendation but I was just there when the bombs were falling and then I returned.I returned to the United States and in 1946 I ran for the Congress.Jackie Joyner-KerseeI always knew I could run fast,but without Mr.Fennoy,I
18、 would have never know I could run so far.-Jackie.Joyce-KerseenOur home was on Piggott street,across from a liquor store and a poll hall.But it was also near a recreation center,where Mr.Fennoy was a volunteer.n Even though I was too young,I had no other place to go,so Mr.Fennoy let me come to the c
19、enter and run.Soon I could catch the older girls,and soon after that I was passing them.nNion Fnnoy gave a young girl named Jackie a place to play.But today many kids arent given that chance.You can help give a child the opportunity to play.To learn now,please call 1-800-929-play.Establish Ethos in
20、academic essaysnFollowing M.L.A/A.P.A.formatnCiting reliable sourcesnUsing I or we with identifiers nFixing up the organizationnUsing Standard EnglishAudience and pathosn Pathos,Greek for emotion,indicates an appeal to the emotions of an audience,or,as Aristotle puts it,Creating a certain dispositio
21、n in the audience”.The ad:Help Stop a Different kind of Child AbusenThis abuse is merciless.It preys on innocent,fragile lives and brutalizes them with utter poverty with constant hunger with relentless diseases with no hope for even a basic education.nAs hard as parents of children like this strugg
22、le,they simply cant make the ravages of poverty go away.nBut you can help.You can ease the pain.Became a Save the Children sponsor and help stop the horrible abuse that poverty that inflicts on children.nPlease call nOne other thing I probably should tell you because if we dont theyll probably be sa
23、ying this about me too,we did get something a gift after the election.A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog.And,believe it or not,the day before we left on this campaign trip we got a message from Union Station in Baltimore sayin
24、g they had a package for us.We went down to get it.You know what it was?It was a little cocker spaniel dog in a crate that hed sent all the way from Texas.Black and white spotted.And our little girl Tricia,the 6-year old named it Checkers.And you know,the kids,like all kids,love the dog and I just w
25、ant to say this right now,that regardless of what they say about it,were gonna keep it.Excerpt from Nixons“checkers”speechnIn April of 1963,a young,relatively unknown minister left his home and church in Atlanta,Georgia to help his friends and colleagues protest nonviolently against segregation and
26、discrimination in Birmingham,Alabama.That minister,Martin Luther King,Jr.,was arrested and held in jail.While in jail,several priests,rabbis,and ministers published a letter in the Birmingham newspaper,calling this young ministers actions unwise and poorly timed.Their letter suggested that King and
27、other civil rights leaders should just wait,that the life was bound to get better for American blacks,if they just waited.In response to that editorial,King wrote one of the greatest pieces of literature in English,his Letter from Birmingham Jail.Background of Letter from Birmingham JailExcerpt of L
28、etter from Birmingham JailnWe have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our constitutional and God-given rights.The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward the goal of political independence,and we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward the gaining of a
29、 cup of coffee at a lunch counter.I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say,Wait.But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim;when you have seen hate filled policemen curse,kick,
30、brutalize and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity;nwhen you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society;when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek
31、to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she cant go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television,and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children,and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little
32、mental sky,and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people;when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos:Daddy,why do white people treat colored people so mean?;nwhen you take a cross-country dri
33、ve and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you;when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading white and colored;when your first name becomes nigger,your middle name becomes boy(however old you
34、are)and your last name becomes John,and your wife and mother are never given the respected title Mrs.;when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro,living constantly at tip-toe stance never quite knowing what to expect next,and plagued with inner fears and outer r
35、esentments;when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of nobodiness;then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.-Martin Luther King Jr.nCicero,the Roman statesman and rhetorician,stated that nothing dries so quickly as a tear.Emotion,alone,is seldom enough to give an idea or ar
36、gument enough backing.Logos:Logical Appeals.n Logos appeals to patterns,conventions,and modes of reasoning that the audience finds convincing and persuasive(Covino and Jolliffe 17).In making decisions about the best way to use logos,the writer must answer three questions:nWhat do we believe,think,or
37、 feel in common?nAre the premises,or evidence,for the argument just and appropriate?and nDoes the proper conclusion follow from the assumptions of the premises and what would prevent the audience from accepting the conclusion?(Covino and Jolliffe 17).nIn any nonviolent campaign there are four basic
38、steps:1)Collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive.2)Negotiation.3)Self-purification and 4)Direct action.We have gone through all of these steps in Birmingham.There can be no gainsaying of the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community.Birmingham is probably the most th
39、oroughly segregated city in the United States.Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every section of this country.Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality.There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than any city in this nati
40、on.These are the hard,brutal and unbelievable facts.On the basis of these conditions,Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers.But the political leaders consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation.Martin Luther King,Jr.s Letter from Birmingham Jail.n There are two general
41、ways of reasoning,of generating a logical appeal:induction(归纳)and deduction（推理）.nInduction is the method of reasoning from a part to a whole,from particulars to generals,or from the individual to the universal.nDeduction,the inverse to induction,is the method of reasoning from generals to particular
42、s and is the most common form of reasoning in argument.With deductive logic,the conclusion is a necessary consequence of the premises,based on rules pertaining to valid arguments.The most common type of deductive logic is a syllogism【逻】推论式,三段论(法),which represents deductive reasoning in a pattern con
43、sisting of:a major premise,a minor premise,and a conclusion.The hypothetical syllogism Major premise:If P,then Q If P,then QMinor premise:P Not QConclusion:Therefore Q Therefore not PExample:If the lines of a poem do not rhyme,the poem may be called blank verse;as this poem is rhymeless,you may call
44、 it blank verse.The either-or syllogism Major premise:Either A or B(not both)Either A or BMinor premise:ANot AConclusion:Therefore not BTherefore BExample:We could have driven there or taken a taxi.Unfortunately our car broke down that day,and so we went there by taxi.The categorical syllogism Major
45、 premise:All Ms are PsMinor premise:S is an MConclusion:Therefore S is a PExample:All men are mortal creatures.Socrates is a man.Therefore,Socrates is a mortal creature.nWith inductive logic,coming to a valid conclusion is a bit more tricky:the conclusion is only more or less probable on the basis o
46、f the premises and often not possible to be proven true absolutely.The premises of inductive arguments are based on generalizations,analogies or causal connections.Syllogisms and Enthymemes:The Processes of Logosn A syllogism is the most common type of deductive logic.Aristotle thought of it as the
47、main instrument for reaching scientific conclusions.nan enthymeme,on the other hand,is the rhetorical equivalent of the syllogism(Corbett 73).In fact,Aristotle himself defined an enthymeme as a rhetorical syllogism,saying that enthymeme is to rhetoric as syllogism is to logic(Covino and Jolliffe 20)
48、.enthymeme逻省略三段论法nAn enthymeme is the chief way that logical arguments are built.Most of the time an enthymeme is identifiable by words such as because,since,for,therefore,so,thus,and hence,which signal either the conclusion or the support for an argument.E.g.nPit bulls should be illegal because the
49、y are dangerous animals.One of the ways to test the validity of such a claim,is to break it down into what is known as a syllogism逻三段论法,which proceeds from major premise to minor premise to claim:nDangerous animals should be illegal(major premise)nPit bulls are dangerous animals(minor premise)nPit b
50、ulls should be illegal(claim or conclusion)nAn enthymeme attempts to use the audiences common-sense beliefs to persuade them(Crowley 156).E.g.nJohn will surely fail his calculus exam,because he hasnt studied.nWhere there is smoke,there is fire.Difference:nWhereas the syllogism produces a valid concl
