Lesson OneDefining Rhetoric

Neijiang Normal University - Week One - Brent A. Simoneaux

“A piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work.”

Plagiarism 剽窃 \`plā-jə-,ri-zəm\ (noun) :

Defining RhetoricAncient Greece

Rhetoric 修辞学 \`re-tə-rik\ (noun) :

“The skill of using language in speech or writing in a special way that influences or persuades people”

Rhetoric 修辞学 Extrapolating Meaning

1. A skill, an art2. Making choices

Five Assumptions About Rhetoric

1. Rhetoric is both a field of humane study and a pragmatic art; that is, we can read about it as well as practice it.

2. The practice of rhetoric is culturally determined.

3. When we practice rhetoric, we use language to ‘induce cooperation’ in an audience.

Five Assumptions About Rhetoric

4. The purpose of rhetoric, inducing cooperation, involves more that mere persuasion, narrowly defined. Discourse ( 演说 ) that affects an audience, that informs, moves, delights, and teaches, has a rhetorical aim.

5. Rhetoric implies choices, for both the writer and the audience.

Subject

Purpose Audience

The Writing Triangle

Audience is usually the most difficult to make choices about when writing in a foreign language.

We must read in order to understand how to make these choices.

The Writing Triangle

Subject: What you are writing about; your writing assignment

Purpose: Why you are writingAudience: Who your reader is

Writing is the skill of conscientiously making choices based on the writing triangle.

The Writing Triangle

The Writing Triangle

ExampleSubject: the door

Purpose: to persuade someone to shut the doorAudience: a friend

Sentence: “Hey, man. Shut the door, will ya?”

The Writing Triangle

ExampleSubject: the door

Purpose: to persuade someone to shut the doorAudience: a student

Sentence: “Please shut the door.”

The Writing Triangle

ExampleSubject: the door

Purpose: to persuade someone to shut the doorAudience: my son

Sentence: “How many times do I have to tell you? Shut the door!”

This semester, we will be learning how to identify the elements in the writing triangle and learning how these elements affect the choices

we make when we are writing.

The Writing Triangle

Next WeekMaking Choices:

The Dimensions of Language

The Writing AssignmentWrite one or two paragraphs in which you describe and/or explain to one of your classmates your like

or dislike for writing in English.Length: 100 - 200 words

Due at the beginning of next week’s class.

The Reading AssignmentPreview Chapter 2, pgs 17-28 for next week’s class