Advanced Rhetorical Analysis — Drills · Grade 12 English
Chapter: Argument & RhetoricWhat these drills covers
By the end of Advanced Rhetorical Analysis you should be able to:
- I can reconstruct a text's full rhetorical situation — its exigence, audience, persona, and constraints — and explain how those pressures shape its choices.
- I can analyze how style, syntax, and specific devices work with content to produce a precise effect, and judge whether that effect is earned.
2 questions, written answer, each with a worked explanation.
Vocabulary used: rhetorical situation, exigence, persona, syntax, antithesis.
Problem 1
Answer and explanation
Ethos concerns credibility, logos concerns reasons and evidence, and pathos concerns emotions or values. Appeals often work together in the same passage. Show an actual application before considering the method recalled.
Use the criteria to compare your reasoning, not to copy the model’s wording. A supported alternative interpretation may earn full credit.
Response criteria
- Make an accurate, focused claim or revision.
- Use a relevant detail or a clearly explained language choice.
- Explain the relationship and recognize a relevant limit.
Problem 2
Answer and explanation
Ask what the numbers measure and how they were gathered. An appeal to logos can be present even when its reasoning is weak.
Use the criteria to compare your reasoning, not to copy the model’s wording. A supported alternative interpretation may earn full credit.
Response criteria
- Make an accurate, focused claim or revision.
- Use a relevant detail or a clearly explained language choice.
- Explain the relationship and recognize a relevant limit.