Rhetoric

We make choices when deciding to write something, whether we’re aware of them or not. Everything you read and listen to – a novel, a news article, a podcast – is peppered with rhetoric. In all forms of communication, you have an underlying message to understand.

Picture the writing you consume each day. You’re probably seeing social media posts, scholastic material, books, articles, blogs, and the list goes on. Given how much we consume, it’s beneficial to understand the purpose behind that content and the rhetoric used.

Rhetoric has Power, Pixabay

What is Rhetoric?

Rhetoric is at the heart of effective communication. As a writer or speaker, you will be making choices -- using rhetoric -- that has an intended effect on your audience. Understanding rhetoric can help you know which choices will be best.

The concept of rhetoric dates back to the Greeks when Aristotle came up with three modes that can be used to convince someone to do something. These are known as Aristotle's Rhetorical Appeals -- they are pathos, logos, and ethos. We’ll go over these below, but first, picture your own experiences with writing.

Aristotle's appeals help you to effectively persuade, Pixabay

What is your thought process before and while you are writing? What do you hope your audience will do with the information you give your audience? Do you want your audience to learn something, feel a certain way, or take action?

Rhetoric is about understanding your target audience. Knowing your audience is essential because it allows you to decide how to write something based on the particular audience and particular situation – this is what we call the rhetorical situation.

Rhetoric and Rhetorical Situations

A rhetorical situation is a circumstance, timing, or location that can influence a piece of writing. In other words, what is the background context of the rhetoric being given to the audience? To understand the rhetoric involved, you’ll need to identify the context first. Where is this situation between the writer and audience taking place? This doesn’t always mean the physical location, but it’s a helpful identifier. What is the event or issue at hand, and when and where will it be addressed? Also, notice how the writer might have to adjust their message depending on the situation.

Rhetoric and the Target Audience

Let’s look at some different situations you might encounter when you’re trying to understand the audience.

You are sending a private text to a friend

You are sending a private message to a boss

Notice the potential differences between those two situations. When sending a text to a friend, you might feel like there is a low risk that an outside party will be reading your messages at some point -- this allows you to be unfiltered when speaking to a friend. However, in a work environment, your messages may need to be read by someone else, like your boss's boss, at some point. You would change your tone of voice and choose your words carefully when texting your boss because that’s what the target audience needs.

After identifying the rhetorical situation and making some rhetorical choices, you could conduct a rhetorical analysis. A rhetorical analysis is an essay where you identify and break down each element of rhetoric within that writing and examine if those elements were useful in persuading the audience. A rhetorical analysis aims to explain the what, how, and why those rhetorical choices will affect the audience.

You will probably have to write or have already written a rhetorical analysis essay. An essay might be the standard for rhetorical analysis, but it isn’t the only method. A rhetorical analysis could be presented on a video, a podcast, or in some other writing format besides an essay. Whatever the mode being used in a rhetorical analysis, here’s how you can analyze it for any rhetoric that might be used:

After you’ve looked at these three things, you can determine if the communication from the writer was effective. For example, if you listen to a politician giving a speech, you’ll know that the rhetorical situation will be them in front of a large crowd with the intention to persuade people to vote for them. Pay attention to various choices they make, such as the types of words used or the tone of voice. Then you can ask yourself if those choices are going to be effective for the target audience.

How might the rhetoric change if a politician is speaker to voters versus to other politicians? Pixabay

Types of Rhetoric

When you're looking at what choices the writer is making when addressing their audience, you will look for the rhetorical devices they use. A rhetorical device is a language that is used to affect the audience. A writer can use figurative or metaphorical speech, repetitions, or tone of voice -- among other things -- to influence the audience one way or another.

A rhetorical device will come in several different forms. Three common types of rhetoric used are pathos, logos, and ethos, but there are others. These are all deliberate techniques used to get a specific message to the audience. Each device used evokes some response from the audience. They also aim to make the writer’s point compelling enough for the audience to change their mind or act on something.

Pathos

Pathos appeals to the empathy of a reader. By using pathos, you might get a reader to feel certain emotions like fear, anger, or sadness. Stories that utilize pathos can be personal experiences such as memoirs or testimonials. Using photos is a rhetorical device that is effective for evoking empathy. These devices are meant to appeal to the human side of a story. Stories about refugees or animal shelters often rely heavily on this tactic. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s possible that this tactic can be used as a negative form of rhetoric.

Always be aware of how you use rhetorical devices in your writing, Pixabay

Logos

This type of rhetoric is used for logical arguments and appeals to an audience’s reason. In this scenario, you’re trying to persuade someone with statistics and data. Logos might include charts and graphs to display information. Providing a heavily fact-based article is used to persuade people that their argument is strong. This type of rhetoric also tries to appeal to common sense or prove a point.

Logos will help the audience see the logic in your argument, Pixabay

Ethos

Ethos shows the credibility of the writer. For example, a writer might show their area of expertise by mentioning their degrees, employment history, any publications they’ve written, or hands-on experience. This information helps convey that they are qualified to talk about a topic.

The writer is using their degree in Environmental Science to show that they have the credentials to give an opinion about this issue. Presenting information that makes you more credible is a form of rhetoric that convinces people to trust you more easily.¹

Think about ways you use this in everyday life. Say you need to write a resume for a job. You might list classes you’ve taken or any experience you’ve had to convince the employer that your credentials fit the bill. You can find ways to use each type of rhetoric daily.

Other Types of Rhetoric and Rhetorical Devices

There are many other types of rhetoric, but kairos, simile, and hyperbole are some of the popular ones that can be used.

Kairos

This type of rhetoric means that the writer must consider the timing. A writer should take into account when and in what context they will deliver information. A writer should also consider the appropriateness of the information being given. Is it the right time to deliver that particular message? For example, you could save a juicy tidbit of a story for the end of an article or use appropriate comedic timing in your speech.

When you give information is just as important as what information you give, Pixabay

Simile

A simile is extremely common rhetorical device, and for a good reason. It draws a simple comparison between two unrelated things using “like” or “as”. Using a simile emphasizes something, making a subject interesting and descriptive.

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is a figure of speech that uses an exaggerated claim or story to get a reaction from the audience.

This rhetoric device is another popular one because it puts a strong emphasis on something. Hyperbole can add a shock factor to a piece of writing that draws in the audience, but it is not meant to be taken literally.

Different types of rhetoric motivate everyone differently. It’s important to understand what kind of rhetoric will inspire your audience.

Rhetoric and the Rhetorical Question

Another popular rhetorical device is the rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is a type of question that is usually a persuasive tool to get a reaction, but not an answer, from the audience.

Since rhetoric is used to persuade someone to do something, what can you persuade someone to do by asking a rhetorical question? This type of question is asked to prove a point, not to get an answer; asking a rhetorical question might spark a discussion. The critical point here is that the answer to the question is already in the question. It was merely asked for the effect of drawing attention to something.

The opposite is true in this case, but it was asked to point out that it’s annoying when people show up late.

Examples of Rhetoric

Rhetoric surrounds every day. When you open a book, click on a news article, or turn on the TV, rhetoric is there.

Understanding rhetoric isn’t just important for things you may write in the future. It’s also important because it allows you to recognize when rhetoric is being used on you. Next time you’re reading a book or article online, see if you can notice some of the rhetoric used for you, the target audience. Did they achieve their goal?