Persuasive writing language devices, Part 1. Persuasive writing is writing that
aims to convince the reader of an idea or an opinion, and often to take action.
To be persuasive, we must make careful word choices. There are a number of
language devices which allow us to be more persuasive. This video series will
explain the following language devices. This video, part 1, we'll look at emotive
language, modal verbs, involving the reader, and rhetorical questions. Number 1:
emotive language. Using emotive language means using words that are designed to
evoke emotions and make people feel a certain way. If we can make people feel a
certain way, we're likely to be able to make them think a certain way; to agree
with us. Let's look at an example of a newspaper headline to see the difference
emotive language makes. 'Mob of fans invades pitch.' Emotive language has been
used to make us feel strongly about the actions of the fans. How do you think the
writer of this headline wants us to feel? Positively or negatively? Let's rewrite
the headline removing the emotive language. 'Football fans run onto pitch.'
Can you hear the difference, or rather 'feel' the difference? The emotion has been
removed. Here's another example of a sentence containing emotive language.
'A courageous woman escaped shark-infested waters after her boat capsized.' And another:
'The dog was abandoned in a filthy street.' Can you spot the emotive
language that has been used? In the first sentence, the word
'courageous' works to make us feel sorry for the woman, and 'infested' makes the
waters seem very dangerous. In the second, 'abandoned' and 'filthy' are examples of
emotive language used to make the reader feel sorry for the dog.
Number 2: modal verbs. Modality refers to how likely something is to happen.
Low modality- not so likely; high modality- very likely. Words like 'may' and 'might' are
low modality. Words like 'will' and 'must' are high modality. How does this relate
to persuasive writing? Well, by carefully selecting words based on their modality,
we can adjust the level of certainty of events to suit our argument. Let's say
we're arguing for a set of traffic lights to be installed at what we think
is a dangerous intersection. It would be more persuasive for us to tell the
reader accidents 'will' continue, rather than accidents 'might' continue, or
accidents 'may' continue.
Number 2: involving the reader. We should talk to the reader. We can do this
using personal pronouns such as you 'your', 'we', 'our', as well as words like 'together'.
Involving the reader creates a connection between the author and the
reader. It makes the issue more personal, making it more important to the reader.
Here's a letter written trying to persuade the local council to build a
library. Here's one sentence from the letter.
Our children will miss out on valuable opportunities if a library is not built.
As well as the modal verb 'will', the author used the personal pronoun 'our'.
Because of this, the reader makes a connection to their child. They won't
want their own child to miss out.
Number 4: rhetorical questions. These are questions that aren't supposed to be
answered. They're asked for effect; to illustrate a point, or to make the reader think.
Let's go back to the letter in which the writer was arguing that a
library should be built. Look at the next line.
It reads: 'Can we really afford not to build a library?' This is a rhetorical
question. The author wants to make a point that the benefits of the library
will far outweigh the cost. Sometimes rhetorical questions point out
the obvious. For example: 'Don't you want to give our children the best future possible?'
This is a rhetorical question because the author isn't expecting an
answer because the answer is obvious; everyone wants children to have the best
future possible. In this way, the writer can turn the reader around to agreeing
with their argument. Using emotive language and modal verbs, involving the
reader, and asking rhetorical questions will help you to be more persuasive.
In Part 2, we will cover: using evidence, repetition, adjectives and adverbs, and
alliteration. Hope to see you there.
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