AP English Language · Lesson 3

Writer’s choices and appeals

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A rhetorical choice is any decision a writer makes to reach the audience: which evidence to use, what to put first, which words to pick, what tone to take, even what to leave out. Rhetorical analysis asks what a choice does for the purpose with this audience, not just what it is.

Three classic appeals name what a choice draws on. Ethos builds the writer’s credibility: relevant experience, fairness to the other side, membership in the audience’s community. Pathos draws on the audience’s emotions and values: a vivid story, an image of what could be lost. Logos appeals to reason: numbers, cause and effect, a comparison that makes sense.

One choice can do more than one thing. A firefighter who says “I have carried children out of houses whose smoke alarms had no batteries” builds credibility and stirs feeling at once. The strongest answer names the choice exactly and ties it to this audience, not just to a label.

Writers also build common ground by stressing values they share with the audience, and they choose a persona, the version of themselves they present: the worried neighbor, the expert, the plain-spoken friend.

Trap A label is not an analysis

Saying “the writer uses pathos” explains nothing by itself. Say which detail stirs which feeling in which audience, and how that feeling moves the audience toward the writer’s purpose.

Worked example Easy

Original passage written for Peakscor practice. A sentence from a letter that a dentist sent to parents at a local elementary school:

In eighteen years of practice, I have filled thousands of cavities in children’s back teeth, and nearly all of them started in the grooves that a sealant would have covered.

The phrase “eighteen years of practice” mainly appeals to

  1. the parents’ fear that their children will feel pain at the dentist
  2. the dentist’s standing as someone who knows the subjectAnswer
  3. a comparison between two groups of children
  4. the parents’ loyalty to their children’s school

How to solve it

  1. Ask what the phrase tells the reader about the writer.
  2. Eighteen years shows experience, so it builds trust in what she says next.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Incorrect. Fear of pain might come from a description of a toothache, but this phrase only states how long she has worked.
  • B. Correct. Long experience gives the dentist authority, which is an appeal to credibility.
  • C. Incorrect. A comparison between two groups would set them side by side; this phrase gives one length of time.
  • D. Incorrect. Loyalty to the school is not mentioned; the phrase is about the dentist’s own career.

Worked example Medium

Original passage written for Peakscor practice. Two sentences a student, Ravi, drafted for a speech asking the student council to pay for a second water-bottle filling station:

Sentence A: According to the counter on its side, the one station we have is used about 400 times a day, and there is often a line between classes.

Sentence B: Nobody should have to choose between being thirsty and being late to class.

Which statement best describes how the two sentences appeal to the council?

  1. Sentence A builds Ravi’s credibility as an expert; Sentence B gives a statistic
  2. Both sentences rely mainly on numbers to prove that the one station is overused between classes
  3. Sentence A offers a measured fact; Sentence B appeals to the council’s sense of fairnessAnswer
  4. Both sentences mainly tell a personal story about Ravi’s own thirst

How to solve it

  1. Sentence A: a number from the station’s counter appeals to reason.
  2. Sentence B: “nobody should have to choose” appeals to a value, fairness, so the pair works on reason and values together.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Incorrect. Sentence A cites the station’s counter, not Ravi’s expertise, and Sentence B contains no statistic.
  • B. Incorrect. Only Sentence A has a number; Sentence B makes its point through a value, not data.
  • C. Correct. Sentence A reports a count from the station itself, and Sentence B frames the problem as an unfair choice no student should face.
  • D. Incorrect. Neither sentence tells a personal story; Ravi never describes his own thirst.

Explain Explain it

Task verbs: identify, explain

A strong sentence of analysis has three parts: the choice, named or quoted exactly; its effect on the audience; and the link to the purpose. For example: by opening with the number of students turned away from last year’s summer program, the writer gives the school board a fact it can check, which makes the request look practical rather than sentimental.

Explain Your turn

A hospital nurse writes to the city council to ask for a crosswalk signal outside the emergency entrance. She writes: “I have worked nights in that emergency room for eleven years, and I have watched visitors run across four lanes to reach a parent or a child.” Explain two ways this sentence could help persuade the council: one through what it says about the nurse, and one through what it describes.

Write it, then compare. Nothing you type here is saved or graded.

Compare with a model answer

A full answer does this

  • Explains how her eleven years of night work could make the council trust her
  • Explains how the image of visitors running across four lanes supports the request

Model answer

Her eleven years of night shifts in that emergency room make her a credible witness: she is reporting what she has seen many times, not guessing. The picture of visitors running across four lanes to reach a parent or a child shows the council a real danger at that exact spot and makes members feel for people who are already frightened, so a signal seems both needed and humane.

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