Forms of appeal

Forms of appeal are rhetorical strategies. They are ways of making a speech more appealing and convincing by appealing to emotions (pathos), logical arguments (logos), and trust, authority and shared values (ethos).

In the 2015 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama mainly uses ethos and logos to appeal to the audience and stir a favorable reaction to his arguments. Pathos is present as well but to a smaller de…

...

Logos

The speaker appeals to reason by including logical arguments and factual evidence in his speech. In doing so, he wants to make the Congress realize why his proposed reforms are necessary. Here is one such example of logical reasoning:

By the end of this decade, two in three job openings will require some higher education – two in three. And yet, we still live in a country …

...

Ethos

Barack Obama appeals extensively to trust and authority in his speech. First of all, he establishes himself as a trustworthy figure by reminding the audience of some of the things he achieved during his governing period: “We believed we could reverse the tide of outsourcing and draw new jobs to our shores. And over the past five years, our businesses have created more tha…

...

Pathos

The speaker appeals to feelings like altruism, national pride, hope, etc., to motivate the audience to take action and to make society realize the benefits of unity like in the following examples: “…other nations are now stepping up, and offe…