Analyzing a Speech:

Persuasive Rhetoric for Speakers

English – Ms. Hall

Rhetoric: the art of communicating ideas

Persuasive Rhetoric: reasoned arguments in favor of or against particular beliefs or courses

of action

Three Basic Types of Persuasive Appeals:

1. Logical: (Head) rational arguments supported with objective/factual evidence
a. Deductive Reasoning: begin with a generalization or premise and continue
with examples of facts that support the premise.
b. Inductive Reasoning: begin with examples or facts and draw a conclusion
from them.
2. Emotional: (Heart) appeals to feelings and uses specific examples of suffering, or
potential threats; may include loaded language, which is rich in connotations and
vivid images.
3. Ethical: (Soul) moral values which call forth the audience’s sense to “do the right
thing”—ethics, justice, and virtue.

Techniques/Styles of Persuasion:
1. Elevated Language: Formal words and phrases that convey a serious tone
2. Rhetorical Questions: questions asked for effect rather than answers; speakers
use these to show that answers to their questions are obvious
3. Repetition: repeating a point to show the audience its importance
4. Parallelism: a form of repetition in which ideas of equal worth have the same
grammatical form; parallel construction conveys a regular rhythm and shows the
relationship among ideas as equivalent.

Speech: __________________________________
Instructions: Locate the sentences/phrases from the speech which help to make it
effective. Identify the type of appeal and various devices used.
Logical Appeals Emotional Appeals Ethical Appeals
HEAD HEART SOUL
“It makes SENSE to …” “Doesn’t this make you FEEL …” “It’s the RIGHT thing to do.”