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Persuasive Text Metalanguage

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Persuasive Text Metalanguage

Metalanguage is the vocabulary we use to discuss how language works. In persuasive writing, terms such as ethos, pathos and logos help us explain how a writer builds credibility, appeals to feelings or uses reasoning. Identifying a technique is only the first step: consider what response it may encourage in its audience.

Part A: Key terms

Match each term to its definition, then apply your understanding to the questions.

1.Match each persuasive metalanguage term with its definition.

Ethos
Pathos
Logos
Rhetorical question
Emotive language

An appeal intended to influence an audience’s feelings
Word choices intended to prompt a strong emotional response
A question posed to make a point rather than to receive an answer
An appeal based on the writer’s credibility or authority
An appeal that uses reasoning or evidence

2.Select all the pronouns that can create an inclusive sense of shared involvement in a persuasive appeal.

we
us
our
they
them

3.A campaign repeats the phrase “Choose clean streets” at the end of several sentences. What is the most likely purpose of this repetition?

To make the central message stand out and remain memorable
To provide a detailed explanation of the campaign’s evidence
To establish the writer’s professional qualifications
To make every sentence a question

Part B: Analyse a persuasive excerpt

Read the original excerpt below. Use precise metalanguage and refer to words from the text in your responses.

“How many more clear nights must we lose before we act? Bright outdoor lights spill across our suburbs, hiding the stars from curious young eyes. Let us choose shielded lights and switch off what we do not need. Small changes can protect a view that belongs to all of us. Will you help keep the night sky shining?”

4.Identify three different persuasive techniques in the excerpt. For each, name the technique and quote a brief example from the excerpt.

5.Explain how the inclusive pronouns in the excerpt may influence its audience. Refer to at least one example.

6.Examine the sentence “Bright outdoor lights spill across our suburbs, hiding the stars from curious young eyes.” Identify its sentence type and explain how its structure develops the idea.

Part C: Create and extend

Apply persuasive techniques deliberately, then explain your choices.

7.Write a persuasive paragraph of four or five sentences encouraging teenagers to make time for reading. Include at least one rhetorical question, emotive language, an inclusive pronoun and a complex sentence containing a subordinate clause.

8.Choose one technique from your paragraph and explain why it may be effective for the teenage audience you addressed.

9.In the sentence “Although online platforms help friends stay in touch, frequent scrolling can interrupt face-to-face conversations”, identify the main clause, the subordinate clause and the subordinating conjunction.