Persuasive Rhetoric and Fallacies

What is the best definition of "persuade"?

• To use reasoning or arguing to get someone to do or believe something

• To yell at another person until they agree with you

• To beg and plead to get your way

What is a fallacy?

• A mistaken belief or argument that lacks evidence

• What you will argue in a debate

• When you try to convince someone about a point

Which is NOT an example of a circular argument?

• The President of the United States is a good leader because he is the leader of the country.

• We should protect endangered animals because it is important to help threatened wildlife survive.

• These facts are true because they are in Fred's diary. Fred's diary is true because it contains these facts.

• You can't go to law school because your dad is a criminal.

What is a premise?

• a commonplace assertion

• your thesis in an argument

• the idea that is used as evidence

What is a connotation?

• The argument that you make at the beginning of a debate.

• A type of logical fallacy.

• The feeling you can get from a word meaning.

What connotation does the word disgusting have?

• Positive

• Negative

What is a caricature?

• any type of comic strip

• drawing or writing an exaggerated description of someone

• a self portrait

What example uses loaded language?

• The Supreme Court has just flinched from its responsibility to stop the unjust jailing of two journalists―not charged with any wrongdoing―by a runaway prosecutor who will go to any lengths to use the government's contempt power to force them to betray their confidential sources.

• The Supreme Court has just refused to exercise its power to stop the jailing of two journalists―not charged with any wrongdoing―by an independent prosecutor who will use the government's contempt power aggressively to force them to reveal their confidential sources.

Which of the following is not a leading question?

• How fast was each car going when the accident happened?

• How fast was the red car going when it smashed into the blue car?

All of these are fallacies. Which is NOT an example of a false assumption?

• Fairies make flowers bloom, my garden does not have any flowers, so there are no fairies in my garden.

• Sarah has red hair, Sarah has a lot of friends so, therefore, people with red hair have a lot of friends.

• My science class is easy and my friend who is in chemistry says her class is so easy it is boring, so all science-oriented classes are easy.

• McDaniel roots for a British football team. Clearly he’s unfit to be a police chief in Texas.