Rhetorical devices and appeals

0:00- [David] Hello, readers. I wanna talk to you about rhetoric, the art of persuasion. Everyone's got a point of view, right? But if I've got a perspective and I've got an argument that I wanna advance from that perspective, how do I do it? Understanding the tools of persuasion will not only give you the power to craft effective arguments, but it'll also give you the power to break down and analyze the arguments of others.

0:26In this video, I'll cover both rhetorical devices and appeals. And maybe you've heard of these and maybe you haven't, and that's fine. Let's get started with figures of speech. Now, we call these figures of speech rhetorical devices, because they are essentially simple machines that make meaning.

0:42Comparison is a rhetorical device, which means that similes and metaphors are rhetorical devices. "She was as clever as a fox. He was a demon on the basketball court." We're using these improbable comparisons to make a point. She was very clever, he was an unbelievably ferocious player.

0:59These people were not literally foxes or demons or whatnot, but the comparison helps drive home the writer's point. Hyperbole or overstatement is also a pretty common rhetorical device. "My dad makes the best enchiladas in the galaxy." Are they literally the best enchiladas?

1:16Who can say, that's so subjective. But the writer is trying to indicate that they think their dad makes really spectacular enchiladas. That's what I think a galactic enchiladas look like, they got Hatch Chile sauce and Saturn's rings, you know, for a little extra kick.

1:33It's valuable to recognize rhetorical devices to understand when they're being used. It makes you both a stronger writer and a stronger reader. Are there obscure ones? Sure, tons of them. I'm not gonna tell you to remember apophasis, which is the rhetorical device where you call attention to something by saying you won't mention it, which is what I did just now.

1:54Even if you don't know the names of the more obscure devices, you may be able to pick up on the persuasive strategies that an author is using. Those are examples of devices, and they're relatively easy to identify. What can be tougher to identify at a glance are rhetorical appeals where the language of a given part of the text is meant to appeal to a different kind of thinking, logic, authority, emotion.

2:21Let's start with the first one, appeals to logic are logos. A bar graph is an appeal to logos, use of statistics is an appeal to logos. Appeals to emotion use pathos. I might call a puppy crying in the rain pathetic, because I feel pity imagining such a thing.

2:39"Oh, look at him. Don't you wanna support your local animal shelter now? The animal shelter near my hometown is called Orphans of the Storm, which, come on, you don't wanna save the orphan puppy?" Pathos. Appeals to authority fall under ethos. "Hey, you can trust me, I'm important.

2:59I know what I'm talking about, I have a radio voice." This video itself is on Khan Academy, a trusted nonprofit brand for education. There's a kind of inherent appeal to ethos in every KA video, article, or exercise. We're hoping that you trust us to teach you something, right?

3:17There's a little bust of me, David, trusted educator, hopefully. That's a basic primer on rhetorical devices and appeals, those elements of writing and speech that make your arguments more persuasive and compelling. Remember the three rhetorical appeals, logos is logical, pathos is emotions, and ethos is authority.

3:36I hope that I, your efficacious, cheery, and well-vetted instructor have driven home for you that with the power of rhetoric, not only can you convince anyone of anything, you can learn anything too. David out. Oh, man, is my catchphrase itself a repeated rhetorical device?

3:56I think it is. What's its effect? Discuss amongst yourselves. This video is over.