Investigation Into the Language and Rhetorical Devices Used in Political Speeches

There are numerous ways to structure a passage. Many authors structure their passage to organize and convey a meaning. In “How to Be Presidential”, the main essential structure that Edward G. Lengel utilizes to determine that George Washington deserved to become America’s first president is chronological order.

In this paper I am going to discuss the rhetorical appeals, as well as the argumentative structure, audience and purpose set forth by George W. Bush in his September 27 speech in Flagstaff, Arizona. More specifically I will refer to the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos, and explain how they are used to gain the support and attention of the audience and further the further the purpose of the speech. As I explain these appeals I will also give an insight into the argumentative structure and why it is apparent in this particular speech.

In Mark Twain’s, “A Presidential Candidate,” Twain makes a modest proposal for his own desire to run for the presidency. He comes forward with all of his wrongdoings unlike most candidates who choose not to reveal personal shortcomings while running for office. His use of rhetorical devices and various strategies throughout his proposal help achieve the purpose and humor of the selection. Several devices which accomplish the humor of this piece include details, irony, and tone.

So, the Republican National Convention is finally over! And I may sound like a broken record, but this really, bothered me. As you all have probably heard already, the whole thing was basically about fear.

This paper is about the understanding of the Rhetorical Structures as they pertain to audience, purpose, and context and how they affect the argument of whether taxes should be raised on higher income brackets in order to fund social programs for at-risk and underserved, low income children. I will discuss the relationship between the audience, purpose, and context to the context of the argument.

At the beginning of the speech, he says that “”that your [the American people’s] union and brotherly affection may be perpetual;[and] that the free Constitution, which is the work of your [the American people’s] hands, may be sacredly maintained,” (Washington 1) The anaphora “that your” stresses that Americans, although individuals, are ultimately a nation united by liberty and a love of a republican constitution that he hopes will endure (Washington 2). Later in the speech, he focuses more on “we,” including himself in the description. This equalizes the speaker and the audience under a common identity, which acts as another appeal to patriotism. The repetition of “we” is used especially when talking about unity. He writes that “if we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance,” (Washington 6). He creates a common American identity that consolidates the emerging factions he cautions against, specifically quelling ideological and regional tension. This is an especially effective rhetorical tool, as it communicates the importance of staying united, and foresees issues America will

The main issue from the video (Undecided Voters) is that. undecided voters will believe anyone.And it's easy to convince or persuaded them. The methods of persuasion used in this clip are. Pathos, Because the undecided voters felt an emotional attraction to Louie’s statements. The main arguments of this clips were mainly. Undecided voters well believe anyone that they like

We can only do as much, or as well, as we know to do; and if that does not work, then one must ask: What am I to do? That is an excellent question, for it holds value for those who are willing and able to reveal its answer. The value of a well-formed question is found in the answer that it holds; that is, if by raising that question, we are able to behold the answer within it. Although I consider philosophical, theological, and rhetorical questions to be valuable when seeking insight and understanding, these are questions that are not meant to illicit a response, and therefore, they have no practical value. The only value of such questions is that they leave us open to other questions which may hold the answer. For example, when wondering

Former President Barack Obama performed a speech in response to a mass shooting that happened in a community college in Oregon. This speech included other gun related incidents which occurred during his time in office in 2015 regarding Umpqua Community College and Roseburg. After giving his condolences and love to those who felt loss in their hearts, Obama gave a powerful argument regarding gun control and how we, as Americans, should fight and strive for better gun laws. While Obama gave a moving speech, I could not help but feel it fell short in its argument while conducting a thorough critique. Obama appealed to his audience utilizing pathos and ethos with ease but fell short for those in the audience looking for logos or specific facts within his performance. I will be taking this opportunity to delve further into an analysis of this speech and both its heights and pitfalls.

The political cartoon depicts a middle-aged parent telling his daughter that he loves her, but he loves fossil fuels more. Published on August 10th of 2017, the cartoon is produced in the wake of an ongoing worldwide debate, regarding the usage of fossil fuels. Intense emotional appeal, pathos, is used to emphasize the devastating problem that is the intensive usage of fossil fuels. Specifically, the author appeals to parental instinct, the instinct to protect your children at all costs. The child portrayed in the cartoon is a metaphor for the entire young generation. Due to the fact that the well-being and security of the child is dependent upon the future economy, the child also acts as a metaphor for the future workforce,. In the cartoon,

On September 11, 2001, the Islamist terrorist group known as al-Qaeda launched a series of terrorist attacks on the United States of America, specifically in the New York City and Washington D.C areas. Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes with the intention of using them as suicide attacks that would crash those planes into designated buildings, or targets. Two of the four passenger jets were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, both of which collapsed entirely within two hours of being hit. The third plane was crashed into the Pentagon, and the west side of the building, which is the

It is very common among the United States’ political sphere to rely heavily on T.V. commercials during election season; this is after all the most effective way to spread a message to millions of voters in order to gain their support. The presidential election of 2008 was not the exception; candidates and interest groups spent 2.6 billion dollars on advertising that year from which 2 billion were used exclusively for broadcast television (Seelye 2008.) Although the effectiveness of these advertisements is relatively small compared to the money spent on them (Liasson 2012), it is important for American voters to think critically about the information and arguments presented by these ads. An analysis of the rhetoric in four of the political

Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr. and Fannie Lou Hamer all delivered powerful, persuasive speeches that will go down in history. The use of these creative individuals’ language and persuasion played a pivotal role within the civil rights movement. We can observe this in the speakers’ rhetoric devices like ethos, logos and pathos.

Democrat or republican? You have always just chosen what you believed, right? Well, the choice you make could actually be based on how your brain functions! In How Politics Breaks Our Brains, and How We Can Put Them Back Together, Brain Resnick uses studies and experiments, strong credible figures, and a weak personal life experience to argue his claim that people have a partisanship side of them that is built into the brain. This causes decisions to be made on a biased mind. These points give a shaky but over-all strong argument that the general audience can agree with.

President Barack H. Obama has been always using rhetorical strategies in his political speeches. He used these strategies to present important pointes and views of his in front of public. Delivering points and views properly and logically got him to be the president in the first place. President Obama used mostly ethos and pathos yet some logos to deliver his inaugural and the state of union speeches. Being that, he was able to reach audience emotionally and make the speech flow efficiently while he preserved his credibility. Each speech has own audience that differ from the other. In the inaugural speech the audience was the public and therefor the speech was short and used sort sentences that are easy to understand. On the other hand, the state of union speech audience was mostly the congers members and therefore the language was more specific and filled with political terminology. Both speeches will be discussed upon context and using ethos, pathos and logos consecutively.