Lesson video

Welcome to today's English lesson.

I'm Mrs. Crompton.

Our focus today is to look at the use of rhetorical devices and designing the main body of our viewpoint essays.

You will need a pen and paper.

Take a moment to make sure you've cleared any distractions away and have everything you need to hand and you will need your planning and also the draught of your introduction and conclusion.

To begin with then, a reminder of our success criteria and today we are particularly going to focus on the organisation.

We're going to start placing everything together and the vocabulary for a fact, it's the use of the linguistic devices that we will consider.

By the end of the session, you will have a complete response and within our response this is the plan that we have been following so we've written the introduction and conclusion.

Today, we're going to concentrate on the middle parts.

So we are going to think about the logos, the pathos, and moving into tying everything together.

Now before we begin, just a quick reminder, this is subject terminology list of the things that we find in non-fiction texts.

The choice of nouns and adjectives, verbs, adverbs, use of figurative language, and repetition, use of pronouns, listing, anaphora, emotive language.

These things are now your tool kits.

From having looked at all the writers, I now want you to think about how you're using this range of techniques within your own work.

In particular, the final four, using pronouns, use of they, them, we, us, creates that sense of alliance and allegiance of conflict.

Using listing in threes, we've seen already in the model answer.

Anaphora, the repetition of the beginnings of sentences for impact, and the use of emotive language.

Those are things that I just want to foreground to you.

Pause at this point if you want to get a recap on any of these skills.

What we're also going to do, is to introduce a few more rhetorical devices that I'm going to encourage you to experiment with today.

So what we will do is read through everything, have a look at it, and then you will have opportunity to pause and take any further notes.

So first of all, the idea of analogy.

Analogy is where you explain one thing in terms of another to highlight the ways that they are alike.

She's as pale as a ghost.

So that is an example of analogy.

Moving across, we have antithesis.

This is where you make a connection between two things and it's done for emphasis and deliberate effect.

Let's just look at the example.

"That's one small step for a man, "one giant leap for mankind", said by Neil Armstrong supposedly as he stepped onto the moon for the very first time.

"That's one small step for a man, "one giant leap for mankind".

And what we've got is the individual to the global experience and that could be really useful technique for us.

So consider the technique and also the positioning.

It occurs to me that might go well in our conclusion.

Amplification, the repetition of a word or expression for emphasis, often using additional adjectives to clarify the meaning.

Learning, real learning, takes time.

So you can see a technique there, we've got a big fancy name there in amplification, it's the type of thing you're probably doing quite naturally within your writing but is useful to consider amplification as a possible technique.

It's an additional adjective included to add emphasis and clarify the meaning.

And finally, allusion.

This is where you make a reference to an event, place, or person, that is well known to make a point.

I can't do that, I'm not Superman.

So Superman, we all know what we have in our mind when we think of Superman, strong, brave, can solve anything and then we've got the allusion, I can't do that, I can't be like that person.

Okay, pause at this point to take any further notes that you require.

What I want you to have is a knowledge of analogy, antithesis, amplification, allusion, because we are going to use that in the next part of the lesson.

So let's have a little look at the plan again and remind ourselves that we are going to be looking at building the middle part of our response.

So we are going to be thinking about how we can write our second paragraph, what here is described as point one, the logos, and then move into the pathos.

In particular, what I want us to consider is this idea that even though this is viewpoint essay, we still want to have a sense of a building response.

A response that's not just tied together but it increases in terms of its impact and its validity as an argument so that by the time we get to the pathos section, and by using that really dramatic emotive technique we are really building to the climatic point of our essay.

And by doing so, that will increase the ethos at the end, the trustworthiness of our argument, the credibility.

Okay, so this is what we're trying to achieve.

That thread that will connect everything together.

Let's have a look at the following ideas, paragraph two, we need to present our key ideas and we are going to use logos in that section because we want to establish credibility.

Pathos in the middle, create the climax.

Ethos at the end, appeal to the big picture also the readers trustworthiness.

Remember that little twist that we want to put in with the idea of ethos and start testing their moral stance.

So this what we're aiming to do.

Just a recap on that and now let's start thinking about purpose and tone, so the kairos, and thinking about, well, if I want to achieve that effect, if I want to communicate points in a logical, reasonable, rational way, what types of techniques might suit that desire within my writing? If I then want to create a more emotional response, what techniques can I select to help me do that? That's where the pathos comes in.

And then with the ethos, how might I choose appropriate rhetorical techniques to then really support the idea of testing a moral stance while broadening the scope of my essay? And what I've got in pink are some suggestions.

So have a little look for a moment.

I've suggested that if you want to establish a relationship and to really reinforce your ides, personal pronouns, you, me, them, ours, we, might be a good technique.

Listing might be useful, and amplification might be useful.

Moving on for pathos, how about using emotive language, anaphora, maybe similes or metaphors, and then finally at the end, maybe antithesis.

I hinted earlier that antithesis, the "one small step for man "one giant lead for mankind", is the kind of thing that would suit a conclusion.

Thinking about using direct address, that final appeal.

Maybe using listing, that memorable pattern of three.

Pause if you wish at this point and then we will have a look at this in application.

Okay, let's play with these techniques because that's what writing is all about.

It's about trying things out and then finding the tools that suit you the best that you enjoy using.

So we're going to write the second paragraph.

And we're going to focus on logos, establishing our view point and giving our reasons as to why we have whatever viewpoint we have to our statements.

I want you at this point to reread your introductions so that we are linking through, that thread will be nice and strong, and what I've got here are some suggestions.

You don't have necessarily use personal pronouns, listing, and amplification.

Those are suggestions of the types of technique that I think could fit in here, and I also want it to be an opportunity for you to challenge yourself and use a technique that you've never used before.

So don't just repeat what you know you've got in the bag.

Try something new.

But your focus is to establish your key points in a credible manner.

I'll go back to the first screen, hand over control to you, pause, complete your second paragraph or the second section if you have done an introduction that involved two smaller paragraphs.

So second section, work through the screen, pause, and I'll be waiting for you with the next step.

And welcome back.

So now we're ready for the middle section.

Remember we want create a climatic moment.

Here we've got middle paragraphs and what I want in the central paragraphs is this feeling that we've really clinched our points of view and presented it to the reader.

What we need to think about is perhaps using techniques such as emotive language, experimenting with something like anaphora, or using figurative techniques.

So again, over to you.

You take control.

Make sure you're constantly linking through.

Keep that thread running through your answer.

Soon as you've finished, then you can resume the video.

And welcome back again.

So we've got lots of bits, let's put them together.

What we're going to do now is to critique and review all of our work and also refine.

So this is the bit where we can make little edits where we will suddenly see, "oh, if I just move that word in from there "into there so that creates a little bit more cohesion".

So what I would like you to do now is to reread all of your response, take a different coloured pen and I want you to think about how it threads together.

Remember the arrows.

They're our piece of thread that hold the argument together, that create the credibility to the viewpoint response.

You are then going to be able to check against the success criteria, and also as another form of check, I've included the model response just so that you can compare and contrast and see how your piece of writing matches up to a piece of writing that got top level marks when examined.

Okay? All right, it's over to you.

I will be waiting for you when you have completed that and you will have your final essay.

Welcome back.

So, thank you for your focus today.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at viewpoint writing and the writing process itself.

The Five Stages has been helpful to you in ensuring that you are producing carefully crafted responses.

All that remains for me to say is don't forget to complete your exit quiz and enjoy the rest of your learning today.