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How do persuasive techniques and rhetorical strategies work in non-literary texts?

Identify and analyse persuasive techniques (ethos, pathos, logos) and rhetorical strategies (repetition, parallelism, rhetorical question, anecdote, statistics) in QCE Year 11 English non-literary texts

Q: Year 11 SAC HSC: Analyse the persuasive techniques in the following: 'For thirty years I have worked in classrooms like yours. I have taught children who could not read, children who would not eat, and children whose parents could not afford uniforms. And the question we must ask, the only question that matters, is: what kind of country watches this and does nothing?'

A Year 11 response. **Ethos (authority appeal).** "For thirty years I have worked in classrooms like yours" establishes the speaker's authority through extended professional experience. The reader is invited to defer to expertise. **Pathos (emotional appeal).** The tricolon "children who could not read, children who would not eat, and children whose parents could not afford uniforms" sequences three intensifying images of student hardship. Anaphora ("children who") concentrates emotional weight. **Rhetorical question.** "What kind of country watches this and does nothing?" demands self-reflection without providing the answer. Forces the audience to position themselves morally. **Antithesis and emphasis.** "The question we must ask, the only question that matters" elevates this issue above all alternatives, narrowing the field of legitimate response. **Conclusion.** Together these techniques position the audience as moral citizens with a shared obligation. Ethos establishes credibility; pathos creates urgency; the rhetorical question demands action. Markers reward identification with Greek terminology, the explicit chain from technique to effect, and quoted textual evidence.

A focused answer to the QCE English Unit 1 dot point on persuasion. Defines the Aristotelian appeals (ethos, pathos, logos), catalogues the major rhetorical strategies (repetition, parallelism, anaphora, tricolon, rhetorical question, anecdote, statistics), and works the QCAA-style speech analysis task with a worked extract.

Generated by Claude OpusReviewed by Better Tuition Academy6 min answerUpdated 2026-05-19

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What this dot point is asking

QCAA wants Year 11 students to identify and analyse persuasive techniques and rhetorical strategies in non-literary texts (speeches, opinion pieces, advertisements).

The Aristotelian appeals

Aristotle's "Rhetoric" (c. 350 BCE) identified three appeals at the heart of persuasion. Still useful for analysis.

Ethos (credibility). Speaker's authority, expertise, character. "As a doctor of $30$ years..." "I have known this family since..."

Pathos (emotion). Audience's feelings. Vivid imagery, anecdote, emotive vocabulary, urgency.

Logos (logic). Reasoned argument. Evidence, statistics, deductive reasoning, examples.

Strong persuasive texts combine all three.

Rhetorical strategies

Repetition. Same word or phrase repeated for emphasis.

Anaphora. Repetition at the start of consecutive clauses. "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields..." (Churchill).

Epistrophe. Repetition at the end. "...of the people, by the people, for the people" (Lincoln).

Parallelism. Parallel grammatical structures across multiple clauses.

Tricolon. Three-part lists. "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".

Antithesis. Paired opposites. "Not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" (JFK).

Rhetorical question. Question that expects no answer; positions the audience to supply the implied answer.

Anecdote. Short illustrative story. Personalises the abstract argument.

Statistics. Numerical evidence. Effective when paired with anecdote and ethos.

Allusion. Reference to shared cultural texts (Bible, Shakespeare, national history).

Hyperbole and understatement. Exaggeration and its opposite.

Direct address. Speaking directly to the audience using "you".

Inclusive pronouns. "We", "us", "ours" creates shared identity between speaker and audience.

Modality and assertiveness

Persuasive writers calibrate modality:

High modality ("must", "will", "absolutely") for moral imperatives.
Low modality ("might", "could") for tentative possibilities the audience completes.

Visual and multimodal persuasion

In multimodal texts (advertisements, films, posters):

Composition (rule of thirds, gaze direction).
Colour symbolism.
Typography (serif for tradition, sans-serif for modernity).
Music and sound effects.
Editing rhythm.

How to analyse persuasive texts

Standard three-step:

Identify the technique in a specific quotation.
Name it using rhetorical terminology.
Account for effect: how it positions the audience, what response it invites, why it is effective in this context.

Common traps

Listing techniques without effect analysis. "Identify and explain" prompts always require effect.

Mislabelling. Anaphora is repetition at the start; epistrophe is at the end. Tricolon needs three; pairs are antithesis or parallelism.

Forgetting visual modality in multimodal texts. Ad analyses require visual evidence as well as verbal.

In one sentence

Persuasive texts use Aristotle's three appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) together with rhetorical strategies (repetition, anaphora, parallelism, tricolon, antithesis, rhetorical question, anecdote, statistics) to construct authority, urgency and reasoning; effective analysis identifies the technique in a specific quotation, names it correctly, and accounts for its effect on the audience.

Past exam questions, worked

Real questions from past QCAA papers on this dot point, with our answer explainer.

Year 11 SACAnalyse the persuasive techniques in the following: 'For thirty years I have worked in classrooms like yours. I have taught children who could not read, children who would not eat, and children whose parents could not afford uniforms. And the question we must ask, the only question that matters, is: what kind of country watches this and does nothing?'

Show worked answer →

A Year 11 response.

Ethos (authority appeal). "For thirty years I have worked in classrooms like yours" establishes the speaker's authority through extended professional experience. The reader is invited to defer to expertise.

Pathos (emotional appeal). The tricolon "children who could not read, children who would not eat, and children whose parents could not afford uniforms" sequences three intensifying images of student hardship. Anaphora ("children who") concentrates emotional weight.

Rhetorical question. "What kind of country watches this and does nothing?" demands self-reflection without providing the answer. Forces the audience to position themselves morally.

Antithesis and emphasis. "The question we must ask, the only question that matters" elevates this issue above all alternatives, narrowing the field of legitimate response.

Conclusion. Together these techniques position the audience as moral citizens with a shared obligation. Ethos establishes credibility; pathos creates urgency; the rhetorical question demands action.

Markers reward identification with Greek terminology, the explicit chain from technique to effect, and quoted textual evidence.