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Persuasive/argumentative
writing
Natasha Thomas, Contributor
Hello
students. I hope you are on target
in your preparation for the external
examinations.
How
was your discussion on the comprehension
passage I had set for you in last
week's lesson? Did you feel the intensity
of the scene as you read it? Check
your answers with mine.
| 1.
B |
5.
C |
| 2.
A |
6.
D |
| 3.
B |
7.
B |
| 4.
C |
8.
C |
Were
all of your answers correct? If not,
reread the passage with the answers
in mind.
Today,
I will begin our lesson on persuasive/argumentative
writing.
Persuasive
speech or writing aims at convincing
the reader to agree with a particular
viewpoint. It is supported by evidence
and relies on persuasive devices to
make its appeal.
The
main focus of persuasive language
is the audience, reader or listener.
In persuasive discourse, the writer
makes use of content, rhetorical devices,
structure and language. All the choices
are guided by consideration of the
audience.
I
am sure you are familiar with the
following strategies writers or speakers
use to persuade their audience:
- Use
of evidence
- Use
of analogy
- Use
of contrast
- Use
of repetition
- Use
of reliable sources
- of
authority
- Appeal
to emotion
- Use
of rhetorical question
- (a
question which does not require
a verbal response)
- Direct
personal appeal
- Irony/sarcasm
- Hyperbole
(overstatement)
- Pun
(a play on words)
- Metaphors
and similes.
Over
the last few months, many Jamaicans
have been inspired by the slogan 'Yes,
we can!'.
If
you've been following American politics
recently, you would have realised
that this slogan was very popular
in the campaign of the current president
of the United States of America, Barack
Obama.
He
is, indeed, an excellent public speaker.
The next time you hear him or even
one of our own politicians speak,
try to identify the persuasive strategies
which he or she uses.
In
the meantime, read the following extract
taken from a famous speech by Martin
Luther King Jr and identify the strategies
he employed:
I
say to you today, my friends, that
in spite of the difficulties and frustrations
of the moment, I still have a dream.
It is a dream rooted in the American
dream.
I
have a dream that one day this nation
will rise up and live out the true
meaning of its creed: "We hold
these truths to be self-evident; that
all men are created equal."
I
have a dream that one day on the red
hills of Georgia, the sons of former
slaves and the sons of former slaveowners
will be able to sit at the table of
brotherhood.
I
have a dream that one day, even the
state of Mississippi, a desert state
sweltering with the heat of injustice
and oppression, will be transformed
into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I
have a dream today.
This
is our hope. This is the faith with
which I return to the South. With
this faith we will be able to hew
out of the mountain of despair a stone
of hope. With this faith we will be
able to transform the jangling discords
of our nation into a beautiful symphony
of brotherhood. With this faith we
will be able to work together, to
struggle together, to go to jail together,
to stand up for freedom together,
knowing that we will be free one day.
Isn't
this a powerful speech? How many persuasive
strategies were you able to identify?
Here
are a few which are found in the extract:
- Repetition
of "I have a dream".
This was used to emphasise Dr King's
vision of racial freedom and togetherness.
- Direct
personal appeal - for
example, his reference to "my
friends" in the first line.
- Metaphor
- for example "table of
brotherhood" to paint a
picture of unity between the races
in the context of a common understanding.
- Antithesis
(the balance of two contrasting
words, phrases, sentences or ideas)
- for example, "a desert
sweltering with the heat of injustice
and oppression will be transformed
into an oasis of freedom" and
"... we will be able to hew
out of the mountain of despair a
stone of hope".
Dr
King makes a contrast between the
oppressive situation of racial segregation
and the freedom of racial liberation.
In
next week's lesson, we will look at
how you can write your own persuasive
pieces. Have a productive week!
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Local
workmen team up with students
from the University of South
Carolina to do repairs on the
canteen at Coke's View Primary
School in Westmoreland, which
was destroyed by Hurricane Gilbert
in 1988.
- Photo by Dalton Laing
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Natasha
Thomas is a teacher at Glenmuir High
School, May Pen.
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