Persuasive Devices

Goal Use persuasive language to convince your reader. DEVICES (and an example of each) - Inclusive language: "We all want a cleaner town." - Emotive language: "Innocent animals are suffering needlessly." - Rhetorical question: "How many more warnings do we need?" - Statistics: "Nearly half of students say ..." (only use real figures!) - Rule of three: "It is cheap, simple and effective." - Expert opinion: "Doctors agree that ..." - Modal verbs (strength of position): must, should, need to, will HIGH vs LOW MODALITY - Low: "Maybe we could think about recycling." - High: "We must start recycling now." Persuasive writing usually uses HIGH modality.

REBUTTAL answer the other side

"Some people argue that uniforms are expensive. However, uniforms actually save
families money, because students don't need many different outfits."

PRACTICE

Improve this weak sentence using at least two devices:
"Littering is bad and people should stop."

Show sample answer

"Every day, our beaches are choked with plastic that kills turtles and
seabirds. Isn't it time we all took responsibility and stopped littering for good?"

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