English
What are rhetorical devices, and what do ethos, pathos and logos mean?
Quick answer
Rhetorical devices are techniques used to persuade or move an audience, such as rhetorical questions, anaphora and antithesis. Ethos, pathos and logos are the three appeals behind them.
In one sentence
Rhetorical devices are the tools of persuasion: ways of arranging and choosing words so that an audience listens, remembers and agrees.
Explained
Rhetoric is the art of persuading people with language. It was studied in ancient Greece and Rome, and the Greek philosopher Aristotle described it in a book called Rhetoric. Today you meet it everywhere: in speeches, adverts, newspaper columns, campaign posters, YouTube videos and the essays you write yourself.
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Aristotle said there are three main ways to persuade, now called the rhetorical appeals:
- Ethos (character): make the audience trust you. As a nurse who has worked nights for fifteen years, I know what tiredness does to a person. Experience, expertise, honesty and fairness all build ethos.
- Pathos (emotion): make the audience feel something. Picture a puppy shivering alone on a cold doorstep. Stories, vivid images and emotive words create pathos.
- Logos (logic): make the audience think it through. If every pupil saves one plastic bottle a day, our school of 800 saves 800 bottles every school day. Facts, examples, numbers and clear reasoning are logos.
Many teachers add a fourth idea, kairos: the right moment. A speech about road safety lands best the week a new crossing opens.
Rhetorical devices are the specific techniques that carry these appeals. Most of them work through repetition, contrast or involving the listener. The ones you meet most in school:
- Rhetorical question: a question asked for effect, not for an answer. Who wants to breathe dirty air?
- Hypophora: asking a question and answering it yourself. Why act now? Because tomorrow is too late.
- Anaphora: repeating words at the start of sentences or clauses. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds… (Winston Churchill, 1940).
- Epistrophe: repeating words at the end. …government of the people, by the people, for the people (Abraham Lincoln, 1863).
- Tricolon (rule of three): three parallel words or phrases. Veni, vidi, vici: I came, I saw, I conquered (Julius Caesar).
- Antithesis: opposite ideas in matching grammar. That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind (Neil Armstrong, 1969).
- Chiasmus: the second half reverses the first (A B, B A). Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country (John F. Kennedy, 1961).
- Parallelism: matching grammatical patterns, which make ideas easy to compare and remember (see parallel structure).
- Hyperbole and litotes: exaggeration (I've told you a thousand times) and understatement by denying the opposite (not bad at all meaning very good).
- Direct address and inclusive pronouns: you, we, us, together, which pull the audience onto the speaker's side.
- Allusion: a brief reference to a famous story, person or text. Our tiny club is a David facing Goliath.
- Sound devices such as alliteration: Clean, cheap and convenient.
Rhetorical devices overlap with the figurative language you study in poems. The difference is mostly purpose: a literary device makes writing vivid or beautiful; a rhetorical device is chosen to persuade or move a real audience. Hyperbole, for example, can be both.
Examples
| Device | Example | Effect on the audience |
|---|---|---|
| Rhetorical question | Do we really want our parks covered in litter? | Makes listeners answer "no" in their heads, so they half-agree already. |
| Anaphora | I have a dream that… I have a dream that… (Martin Luther King Jr., 1963) | Builds rhythm and emotion; the key phrase becomes unforgettable. |
| Tricolon | Reduce, reuse, recycle. | Three beats feel complete and are easy to remember. |
| Antithesis | It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. (Charles Dickens) | The contrast shows a world full of extremes. |
| Chiasmus | We don't live to eat; we eat to live. | The reversal surprises and sounds wise. |
| Ethos | As your team captain for three seasons… | Gives the speaker authority. |
| Pathos | Every night, this dog waits by the door for an owner who never comes home. | Stirs sympathy, so the audience wants to help. |
| Logos | A refillable bottle used every school day replaces hundreds of plastic ones in a year. | Gives a reason the audience can check. |
Worked analysis: in We shall fight on the beaches… we shall never surrender, Churchill uses anaphora (we shall repeated). The repetition sounds determined and unstoppable, and we includes the whole nation, so listeners feel they are part of the fight. That is pathos carried by repetition, at a moment (kairos) when Britain needed courage.
Common mistakes
- Spotting but not explaining. "He uses a rhetorical question" earns little. Fix: name the device, quote it, explain its effect on the audience and how it serves the speaker's purpose.
- Mixing up anaphora and epistrophe. Fix: anaphora is at the start (think A for at the beginning); epistrophe is at the end.
- Thinking ethos means ethics. Ethos is about the speaker's credibility, not about right and wrong in general.
- Treating any question as rhetorical. A rhetorical question expects no answer. What time does the match start? is a real question.
Step by step
Step by step
- Find the purposeWho is speaking, to whom, and what do they want the audience to think or do?
- Read for patternsLook for repetition (anaphora, epistrophe, tricolon), contrast (antithesis, chiasmus) and questions.
- Name the device and quote itUse the exact term and a short quotation.
- Name the appealDoes it build trust (ethos), stir feelings (pathos) or give reasons (logos)?
- Explain the effectWhat does the audience feel or think, and how does that help the speaker's purpose?
A sentence pattern for essays: The speaker uses [device] in “[quotation]” to [effect], which helps persuade the audience that [purpose].
Practice questions
Name the device or appeal
Try each one, then check your answer.
- “Do we really want our children breathing dirty air?”
Show answer
A question asked for effect: rhetorical question (with pathos). - “As a doctor who has worked in emergency rooms for twenty years, I can tell you this is dangerous.”
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Builds trust through experience: ethos. - “If every pupil in our school of 800 saves one bottle a day, that is 800 fewer bottles every school day.”
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Reasoning with numbers: logos. - “We will rebuild. We will recover. We will return.”
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We will at the start of each sentence: anaphora (also a tricolon). - “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
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The second half reverses the first: chiasmus. - “Reduce, reuse, recycle.”
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Three parallel words: tricolon (rule of three), with alliteration on re-. - “Why should we act now? Because tomorrow will be too late.”
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A question the speaker answers: hypophora. - “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
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Small step against giant leap: antithesis. - “Your essay is not bad at all” (meaning it is very good).
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Understatement by denying the opposite: litotes. - “I've told you a thousand times!”
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Deliberate exaggeration: hyperbole. - “Think of the puppies shivering in the cold tonight, alone and hungry.”
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Emotive picture to stir sympathy: pathos. - “Together, we can make our town cleaner.”
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We and together include the audience: inclusive pronouns (direct address). - “Our little club is a David facing the Goliath of the big leagues.”
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A reference to the Bible story: allusion (with a metaphor). - “…government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
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The people repeated at the end of each phrase: epistrophe (also a tricolon). - Rewrite as a tricolon: “Walking to school is good for you.”
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For example: Walking to school is cheap, healthy and good for the planet. - Which appeal does a celebrity advert mainly use, and why can it be weak?
Show answer
Ethos: it borrows the celebrity's popularity, but fame is not expertise, so the trust may not be earned.
Questions people ask
What are rhetorical devices in simple words?
They are tricks of language used to persuade: asking questions that need no answer, repeating key words, setting opposites side by side, or speaking to the audience as we.
What do ethos, pathos and logos mean?
They are Aristotle's three ways to persuade. Ethos appeals to the speaker's credibility, pathos to the audience's emotions and logos to logic and evidence. Strong speeches usually combine all three.
What is kairos?
Kairos means the right or opportune moment. It asks whether the message suits the time, place and audience: the same speech can succeed one week and fail the next.
What is the difference between rhetorical devices and literary devices?
They overlap, and some (like hyperbole or alliteration) are both. Literary devices are usually discussed for their artistic effect in stories and poems; rhetorical devices are discussed for how they persuade a real audience in speeches, adverts and arguments.
How many rhetorical devices are there?
There is no fixed number: classical handbooks name well over a hundred figures of speech. In school you need about ten to fifteen of the most common ones, used confidently.
How do you identify rhetorical devices in a speech?
Read or listen for patterns: repeated words, groups of three, opposites, questions and words like we and you. Then ask what each one makes the audience feel or think.
How do you remember ethos, pathos and logos?
Link each to a question. Ethos is about the speaker: can I trust you? Pathos shares a root with sympathy and empathy: how do I feel? Logos is in logic: does it make sense?
Quick quiz
Rhetorical devices (and ethos, pathos, logos)
Check what you know with 5 quick questions.
Question 1 of 5
Ethos is an appeal to…
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Persuasive writing tries to convince the reader to agree with a view or take an action, using clear reasons, evidence and carefully chosen language.
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