Olivia Wolf COMM401 Study Guide Kristjana Maddux Rhetoric many different definitions of rhetoric Isocrates that which of all the faculties which belong to the nature of man is the source of most of our blessings o Can be taught o Can be used as a tool of leverage blessing it can get you things Plato rhetoric is the knack of producing pleasure in the audience o Just telling the audience what they want to hear Aristotle Let rhetoric be defined as an ability in each case to see the available means of persuasion Cicero rhetoric is speech designed to persuade Kenneth Burke The use of language as a symbolic means of including cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols Campbell and Burkholder persuasive discourses written and oral encountered face to face or through the electronic or print media that seek to affect attitudes and actions Richard Weaver We have no sooner uttered words that we have given impulse to other people to look at the world or some small part of it our way Llyod Bitzer rhetoric is a mode of altering reality not by the direct application of energy to objects but by the creation of discourse which changes reality through the mediation of thought and action o Change reality though the use of language o Way we talk changes the way we think and act Rhetorical Criticism analyzing and explaining the persuasive functions of public discourse Interpretive Claims What does it do How does it work Creates fear evoking Descriptive Claims What does it look like What is it made of What are its parts emotion Evaluative Claims How does it do its job Is it good bad likeable Building on an interpretive or descriptive claim Rhetorical Situation A response to a situation giving it an answer will make it significant only rhetorical if it can be altered by discourse a natural context of persons events objects relations and an exigence which strongly invites utterance Exigence the problem that needs to be solved the imperfection in the situation something that can be fixed with rhetoric an imperfection marked by urgency Audience agents of change people who can change the situation Constraints negative aspects that holds the speaker back Resources positive aspects that will give the speaker credibility and help to win Persuasive field all other messages that are out circulating that might impact the the audience over rhetorical exchange Medium how the message is transmitted ex In person television Setting specific place the message is being given ex A constraint that in lecture the setting is a large hall so the message is being given to so many people not just me personally Parts of Speech Noun word that names a person place thing or abstraction ex an idea like justice or peace courage or bravery o Common describes one or more members of a class of things ex Elk o Collective give a name to a group or collection of things ex Flock o Concrete identifies something perceivable by the senses ex bottle flower movie squad audience fence tree o Abstract name a quality or idea ex Shame anger virtue o Proper names capitalized ex NY Washington Obama Verb word or group of words that asserts something about the subject of a sentence describe an action or express an identity or state of being o Intransitive does not need a direct object or complement to complete the meaning of the sentence ex John fell NOT John hit o Transitive requires something else needs a direct object or a complement to complete the meaning of the sentence ex John hit NOT John fell o Finite always marked for tense and agree with the subject or noun phrase in which they are related ex Joe went to college to avoid the draft went is the finite verb because it agrees with the subject Joe singular and the tense past o Non Finite Infinitives add to before the verb ex I would like to respond to your question Participles add ing to a verb acting like an adjective ex smiling losing winning Gerunds add ing to a verb BUT only functions as a noun ex Learning is an easy process for some Adjectives describe or limit a noun or a pronoun Adverbs modify verbs other adverbs and in some cases adjectives and entire sentences ex She responded immediately Preposition indicates the relation of a noun or pronoun to some other word in the sentence ex He put the coat in the closet o After as at before from in of on over through to under up with Conjunctions join words phrases and clauses o Coordinate joins words phrases and clauses of equal importance or rank ex and but or for o Subordinate connect a subordinate clause with the main clause of a sentence ex after as because before if in order that since though unless until when where while ex When in Rome do as the Romans Subject identifies an entity about which something is asserted Predicate makes a comment about the subject provides information about the subject or describes what the subject did or did not do Object o Direct do something to direct objects ex The owner fired the coach o Indirect indicate whom or for whom something is done ex She gave the dog popcorn Types of Sentences Simple one independent clause Compound two independent clauses Complex one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses Compound Complex two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses Independent clause coordinating conjunction and but or so yet Dependent clause subordinate conjunction Noun Style vs Verb Style Noun style contains A LOT of to be verbs was is were are am A LOT of prepositions preposition noun over the moon under the car dull monotonous repetitive Verb style active verbs faster pace featured action Parataxis vs Hypotaxis Parataxis no ranking ex I came I saw I conquered Hypotaxis creates ranking through the relationship between dependent clauses to independent all complex and compound complex sentences ex Because I came then I saw and I conquered Asyndeton vs Polysyndeton Asyndeton few connectors Polysyndeton many connectors ex and Case Studies Anita Hill 1991 Exigence Clarence Thomas an alleged sexual harasser was about to be confirmed to the Supreme Court Audience Government FBI Senate Senate have the authority to confirm him as a Supreme Court Justice Women are NOT the audience because the issue isn t about solving sexual harassment problems in the work place and even so it is not just women s problems to solve these problems Media potential agents of change because of the way that they might impact the senate which can affect the exigence can really go either way