argument

a process of reasoned inquiry; a persuasive discourse

audience

the listener, viewer, or reader of a text

compound sentence

a sentence that includes at least two independent clauses

context

The circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding a text.

Speaker

the person or group who creates a text This might be a politician who delivers a speech, a commentator who writes an article, an artist who draws a political cartoon, or even a company that commissions an advertisement.

Text

any cultural product that can be "read"- meaning not just consumed and comprehended but investigated; this includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, political cartoons, fine art, photography, performances, fashion, cultural trends, etc.

Ethos

Greek for "character"a. Speakers appeal to ethos to demonstrate that they were credible and trustworthy tospeak on a given topic. Ethos is established by both who you are and what you say.

Logos

Greek for "embodied thought"a. Speakers appeal to logos, or reason, by offering clear, rational ideas and using specific details, examples, facts, statistics, or expert testimony to support

Pathos

Greek for "suffering" or "experience"a. Speakers appeal to pathos to emotionally motivate their audience. More specificappeals to pathos might play on the audience's values, desires, and hopes, on the onehand, or fears and prejudices, on the other.

Purpose

the goal the speaker wants to achieve

SOAPS

a mnemonic device that stands for subject, occasion, audience, purpose, and speaker

occassion

the time and place a speech is given or a piece is written

Subject

the topic of text; what the text is about

Tone

a speaker's attitude toward the subject conveyed by the speaker's stylistic and rhetoricalchoices

Syntax

Sentence structure

rhetorical triangle

a diagram that illustrates the interrelationship among the speaker, audienceand the subject in determining a text

rhetorical question

figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect ratherthan for the purpose of getting an answer

rhetorical appeals

rhetorical techniques used to persuade an audience by emphasizing whatthey find most important or compelling; ethos, pathos, logos

Rhetoric

the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion"(Aristotle); the art of finding ways to persuade the audience