Rhetorical fallacies

Scare Tactics

Can cause legitimate fears into panic

Either-or choices

Reducing options by only giving two choices. One may seem for favorable than the other.

Slippery slope

Another scare tactic, aim at causing consequences

Sentimental appeals

Use tender emotions to distract readers from the facts

Bandwagon appeals

Urge people to take the same path everyone else is taking

Appeals to false authority

When someone uses the opinion or position of an unqualified or irrelevant authority, figure to support their argument. EX: Siding, a celebrities opinion on medical training.

Dogmatism

A writer who assumes a particular position is the only one acceptable within a community

Ad hominem arguments

Arguments attacked/ directed at the character of a person rather than at the claims he or she makes

Hasty generalization

Inference drawn from insufficient evidence. EX: bc my Honda broke, all Hondas are junk

Faulty casualty

The fallacious assumption that because one event or action follows another, the first causes the second.

Equivocation

A half truth, argument that gives a lie an honest appearance

Non sequitur

An argument that claims, reasons, or warrants fail to connect logically

Straw man

Argument isn’t really there, much weaker than opponents argument

Faulty analogy

Comparisons are extended, comparing two things that aren’t really alike in the relevant aspects. EX: apples to oranges