Persuasive texts go beyond just presenting arguments; they aim to sway the reader's emotions and beliefs. They use various techniques to achieve this.
▸ Persuasive Techniques — Techniques used to convince an audience, such as rhetorical questions (asked for effect), emotive language (words that trigger strong feelings), rule of three (three words/phrases for impact), statistics, anecdotes (short personal stories), and direct address (speaking directly to the reader).
Example: Rhetorical question: 'Can we afford to remain silent?' Emotive language: 'Innocent children are suffering.'
Identifying these techniques helps you understand how a text is trying to influence you and allows you to evaluate its effectiveness and potential bias.
✎ Activity: In pairs, find examples of at least three different persuasive techniques in the article 'Every Vote Is a Voice'. Discuss how each technique is used to persuade the reader.
• Complete the activity described and discuss your answer with a partner or teacher.
Expected outcome: Learners can explain what they practised and connect it to the lesson objective.
Audio narration — reads aloud, works offline
In your own words, summarise the main idea of this lesson.