language devices/SOAPSTone/Fallacy

Fallacy

A deceptive, misleading, or false notion, belief, etc

Ethical Fallacies

Unreasonably advance the writer’s own authority

Ad Hominem (ethical fallacy)

arguments that attack a person’s character rather than their reasoning/argument

Emotional Fallacies

unfairly manipulate the audience’s emotions

Either-Or (emotional fallacy)

requiring the audience to choose between 2 interpretations or actions when in fact there are numerous choices (aka false dilemma)

Logical Fallacies

depend of faulty logic

red herring (logical fallacy)

when a speaker presents a irrelevant piece of information in an attempt to distract their opponent (& audience) from the topic at hand, so that the discussion shifts in another direction

hasty generalization (logical fallacy)

draws conclusions from minimal evidence; leaps to include all instances when at best only some instances provide any evidence (can be stereotypes)

S (1st)?

Speaker

• who is the speaker/voice of the text?

• how does knowing who the speaker helps the audience understand the speaker’s point of view?

O?

Occasion

• what is the time & place? what is the situation that prompted the speech?

• identify the context

A?

Audience

• who is the audience directing their message towards?

P?

Purpose

• what is the message of the speech? why? what does the speaker want the audience to go do/believe?

S (2nd)?

Subject

• what’s the speeches topic, content, & ideas/

Tone?

Tone of voice/attitude

• what is the attitude (neutral, objective, biased, emotional) of the speaker?

• what language does the speaker use to convey his/her tone of voice?

Anaphora

the repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive sentences

• EX) “I have a dream….I have a dream…..I have a dream…”

Asyndeton

the absence of conjunctions between phrases

• EX) “I came, I saw, I conquered”

Epistrophe

the repetition of words at the end of phrases or clauses

• EX) “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”

Tricolon

succession of 3 coordinate items w/ conjunctions

• EX) “The few, the proud, the Marines”

Allusion

brief/indirect reference to a person, place, or idea of historical, cultural, literacy, or political significance

• EX) “This place is like a Garden of Eden.” —- Biblical allusion to the “garden of God'“ in book of Genesis