Rhetorical Analysis on Deborah Tannen's Argument Culture

How can people best respond to conflicts is a question commonly asked by people going through a difficult situation without any knowledge of how to respond properly to a certain conflict. The reality is: there is no solid answer to this question. It all depends on what your conflict is, and of course in what position you are. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a conflict is an active disagreement, as between opposing opinions or needs[1], and according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary the definition of conflict is: a struggle for power[2] , so without a doubt, what people want as a result in a conflict is to have power over the problem, to have control.

Overall, the essay seemed to lack flow as a result of a noticeable absence of transition words. The essay had bad syntax. Each paragraph seemed to be scenario after scenario and each sentence seemed to be idea after idea. For example, in the first paragraph, the list consisted of multiple sentences, instead of just one sentence with commas. “But they are few: Being mistaken for a wheat field by a cloud of locusts. Being buried alive”...“Interviews from film festivals.”, this seemed like an awful way to list ideas. In addition, the fourth paragraph of the essay was made up of only 2 sentences, one

Introduction Conflict is inevitable in any personal relationship or among members of any group. While we encounter many types of conflict in our lifetime, we often look for ways to avoid conflict. So, why do we run away from dealing with our conflict? It is often because many of us fear the conflict will escalate into a situation we will not be able to sustain. “As conflicts escalate, they go through certain incremental transformations. Although these transformations occur separately on each side, they affect the conflict as a whole because they are usually mirrored by the other side. As a result of these transformations, the conflict is intensified in ways that are sometimes exceedingly difficult to undo” (Pruitt, and Kim 89). We

In the article “Taking a ‘War of Words’ Too Literally”, Deborah Tannen defines “argument culture”, as “the best way to get anything done”. Debating is when “Issues are routinely approached by having two sides stake out opposing positions and do battle. This sometimes drives people to take positions that are more adversarial than they feel-and can get

Deborah Tannen's book, The Argument Culture, is a compelling piece that looks at the perceived "argument culture" that is permeating the United States and the West in general. I do agree with what Ms. Tannen is saying, that there is a form of argument culture, but I think it could

Tannen’s reader can now see the repeated pattering of arguments and the human response to it. The repetition appeals to the reader's emotions through not only the reflection on the story, but that the reader can see this “ritual” take place in their own lives and then take a minute to look at the big picture. Tannen made the reader realize that it is not the stories that is the problem it how people feel about the problem. Tannen just wanted to make known that people can have their own opinions. why do we have to fight about what is right or wrong all time. The anecdotes and repetition she was trying to make get inside the reader's mind see each point as logical and

Have we become a world that has forgotten how to listen and debate? Why are people so quick to argue? Everyone wants to prove their point these days. In “The Argument Culture,” Deborah Tannen discusses how today’s society no longer honors the noble American tradition of debate. She explains how we no longer want to take the time to listen to both sides and definitely not all sides of an issue. We have become a society that would rather fight and argue, often to the point of violence.

I came from a high school where all my closest friends were athletic like me, were loud and vulgar like me, and extremely prideful like me. The athleticism inspired an extremely competitive bond between us. Our pride wouldn’t allow us to lose to each other in any event. Anything was a competition; racing down the street, a better grade on a test, how much food we ate during lunch are all examples. Needless to say, if any of my buddies and I shared the same class we would fight for the teachers and peers attention by attempting to be the funniest and most importantly, the loudest. Whenever the teacher would hold a class discussion I would always try to be the first one to shout out an answer, and sure enough a buddy of mine would routinely

In Deborah Tannen’s book, “The Argument Culture,” she states our society has become an argument culture, where “a culture of critique” can oversimplify, distort or filler out important aspects of a debate. In an online thread posted on “The Blaze” website page under an article that reads, “Teacher: Deport

Stephanie Ericsson categorizes the many ways people lie on a daily basis. She uses a mixture of facts, quotes and opinions to capture the severity of telling a lie. Her article has enabled me to understand the thought process that goes behind telling a lie. She justifies minor lies by using ethos and stating that minor lies prevents hurt feelings and that it is normal to lie. Stephanie frequently asks rhetorical questions to make readers think of the matter at hand. She also uses anaphora to seem more relatable and understanding to her readers. I tell minor lies on a daily basis but I did not realize that there is so many different types of lies. i and many other people often rationalize with ourselves to make our lies seem less harmful when

The art of quoting and summarizing an argument is one of the main skills to acquire when it comes to writing a successful piece of work. In the book, They Say I Say the art of inserting quotations is mentioned to be one of the highest mistakes made by writers. Many insert a quote that has no frame of introduction or background information which is considered a “hit and run quote.” Readers need to be able to comprehend not only the writings, but the background information and quotes from another author writing in order to have the whole work cohesive. Dire necessity for the writer is to go back to the initial text and truly understand the background from which they are quoting to make sure their audience understands the quote and why

In this excerpt, Deborah Tannen speaks anecdotally about her observations of behavioral and communicative differences between boys and girls in peer groups that are sex-separate. I’m going to assume she’s talking about all-boys and all-girls schools. Deborah Tannen describes girls as typically inclined to choose one female friend with whom they’ll build a strong and exclusive bond that revolves around secretive conversation. She goes on to generalize boys as being much more willing to socialize with a broader peer group in the form of playful activities, and to use those activities to exhibit their skill, verbally express their knowledge, and to establish their rank in a pecking order.

E.S.E.D. Rough Draft Nothing feels better than enjoying a sport and, in return, receiving recognition for all the hard work and determination. There has been a controversy on whether kids should be recognized for just participating in the sport and playing a little to no role on the team. Vivian Diller believes that kids should not be given such awards, as it will have negative effects on them, while Lisa Heffernan argues that kids should be given participation awards because it will have a positive effect on them. Their different point of views results in a disagreement among values, definitions, and priority between the two writers.

Americans Can Solve More Problems by Using Dialogues As an Alternative to Debates In the excerpt by Deborah Tannen entitled, The Argument Culture: Moving from Debate to Dialogue Tannen speaks about the oppositional nature of public discourse. She expressed her thoughts on how we are determined to seek certainty by using arguments from two different standpoints, as if there are no additional angles that can be examined. Oftentimes, there are more than two sides of an issue, but due to the way society has taught us, we only look at issues from two extreme perspectives. I find Dr. Tannen to be extremely intelligent in her observations of how people communicate using debates and opposition as a means to express what we believe to be true. Although Americans habitually view issues from only two extreme points of view, dialogue solves more problems than debates because it does not cause division among people as frequently as debates does.

Words are powerful, and they are one of the primary ways we use to create perspective on our reality. The impact a single phrase or sentence can hold, could change millions of those around us, or even in ourselves. In this case, why do we as a whole, use