Rhetorical Analysis: The Argument Culture

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“We have new arrivals for spring season. What about this new style checked sweater? This sweater is vastly popular nowadays because many popular actresses are wearing this in several TV dramas. I think this sweater would be great for you because it matches with your sky-blue skirt. Also we are making an allowance of 40% for this item. It would be good for you, ma’am.” You can often see this situation in every shop, but this shop assistant gives prominence to that new style sweater by saying that it is a low risk of trend style, considering guest’s figure, and also letting guest know that it’s on sale. Even if the guest does not buy that sweater, this shop assistant is proficient in selling. Because she knows exactly what guests want. There are three things that Aristotle said that those are basic skills in persuading people. Ethos,Pathos,Logos. He said when people decide to do something, they rationally make a judgment and there always has to be reason. Therefore, explaining with some examples or quoting an expert opinion would be very successful idea in those reasons. So now we can see that Deborah Tannen, the author of ‘The Argument Culture’, shows us the way of using Aristotle’s three skills: interesting to readers by using her career indirectly, compelling readers to follow her writing structure so that making the reader’s pathos her own. So through this rhetorical analysis, I will observe and analyze her writing structure, what is the point that she wants to tell readers and what is her main skills among three Aristotle’s persuasion skills. Deborah Tannen, the author of “The Argument Culture”, is good at persuading persons. She persuades readers, pointing problems of tradition debate that most people following without thinki... ... middle of paper ... ...the readers just understand and be comprehensible about my words with no reason. Knowing and seeing each other between readers and writers would lead the essay into communication world. In this way, if we understand mechanism of persuasion and make the best us of that, it is going to be easy to draw interest and persuade readers. Works Cited Tannen, Deborah. “The Argument Culture.” The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers. Custom Ivy Tech edition. Ed. Stephen Reid. Upper Saddle River, NewJersey:Pearson ,2011. 403-407. Print. Tannen, Deborah. "The Power Of Talk: Who Gets Heard And Why." Harvard Business Review 73.5 (1995): 138-148. Business Source Complete. Web. 3 Mar. 2014. Tannen, Deborah. You Just Don't Understand : Women And Men In Conversation / Deborah Tannen. n.p.: New York : Morrow, c1990., 1990. Valdosta State University GIL Catalog. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

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