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WRITING T O INFL UENC E

Get your own way
Writers use particular methods Tearjerkers Simply the best
to influence their audiences’ opinions. Some words and phrases make Exaggeration is used to emphasize
These are called rhetorical devices. the reader feel an emotion, such a point and to grab an audience’s
Writing that persuades uses more as pain, sadness, guilt, or anger. attention. Exaggeration often
of these techniques than writing Once the reader is feeling this way, includes superlatives, such
that argues. they are often more susceptible as the best, the worst, and the
to persuasion. cheapest. Extreme exaggeration
is called hyperbole.
Repetition rules
Sometimes a word, phrase, or
structure is repeated to make an
idea stick in the audience’s mind, Cats bring comfort I couldn’t live without
and convince them that it’s true. and friendship to the old, my cat. My cat is my
Lists of three are a particularly frail, and lonely. whole world.
common technique.

Rhetorical questions REAL W OR L D
Dogs are loyal. Dogs are
friendly. Dogs are the best! A rhetorical question is a question I’m talking to you
that does not require or expect an
answer. However, it makes the This poster from 1914 was used to
reader reflect on points that he persuade men to join the British
or she may not have considered. army in World War I. It shows Lord
Ask the experts Kitchener, the British Secretary of
State for War, telling the audience
Writers use facts, statistics,
and quotations from reliable and that their country needs them. By
looking directly at the audience
authoritative sources to back
up their points and make them Is a cat fun? Can you play and addressing them with the
word YOU, Lord Kitchener made
sound more convincing. fetch with a cat? a very effective appeal.

According to one recent Getting personal
study at Queen’s Addressing the audience directly
with you will make them feel more
University, Belfast, dog
involved. Using we can form a
owners suffer from fewer relationship between the writer
medical problems than and audience, and encourage
the audience to trust and
cat owners.
believe the writer.

The Ancient Greeks
called the art of using We all know that you
language to persuade don’t have to take cats
for constant walks.
“the art of rhetoric.”