Assessing Language
By the end of this Module reading, you will be able to
• recognize emotional appeals
• identify loaded language
• assess persuasive language
• evaluate the tone, words, and expressions authors use to be persuasive
• recognize an Ad Hominem fallacy
Emotional Appeals
An emotional appeal is when someone tries to manipulate your emotions to win an argument
as opposed to using facts and logic. An emotional appeal is often successful by using loaded
language or sharing an emotional story.
Please have look at the following paragraphs, and let’s assess their emotional appeals together.
(1) Free tuition in Canada is a stupid idea. It will make students take forever to finish their
degrees. It will also cost taxpayers through the roof to provide complete strangers with a post-
secondary education. I never went to college, and I became successful through hard work. My
brother, on the other hand, is a lazy know-it-all, with a fancy degree that he doesn’t even use.
(2) Free tuition in Canada is a smart idea. It will motivate young people to pursue a post-
secondary education. Our society will then have a bright, higher educated workforce with the
necessary skills to contribute meaningfully. I can’t help but think of my classmate Dave in high
school who always had a 98% average across his math courses. He could’ve become a
successful engineer, but because he had to struggle his whole life to support his family, he
couldn’t invest the time and tuition needed to attend university.
Assessment of language
The previous two paragraphs argue about free tuition in Canada. They have the opposing point
of view and they both use strategies to emotionally persuade the audience. Loaded language
can be seen in both paragraphs. Argument (1) uses words like stupid, “through the roof” (really
high amount), and complete strangers to be persuasive. The paragraph also provides an
emotional story of a lazy brother. Argument (2), on the other hand, uses words like smart,
bright, and successful. There is also an emotional story of a classmate who couldn’t afford
tuition despite being very smart.
To identify emotional appeals, try to specify if the words and examples used in an argument are
used to make you feel a certain way. In the previous paragraphs, we can notice attempts at
making the reader feel angry, sad, or frustrated.
Looking at words more closely…
While two or more words may have the same dictionary definition, they often have different
connotations. Connotations are the feelings or ideas we associate with words. These feelings and ideas
are based on how the words are typically used in certain communities, cultures or contexts.
Example 1:
Which of the following underlined words has a negative (-) connotation and a positive (+) connotation?
a. My aunt is nosey; she always asks me questions.
b. My aunt is curious; she always asks me questions.
Explanation:
Someone reading the first sentence may assume that aunt’s questions are irritating, while the second
sentence may appear as more positive. The words “nosey” and “curious” are alike, but their
connotations are entirely different.
Nosey has a negative connotation for being prying or meddlesome. A nosey person
is someone who doesn’t mind his or her own business.
Curious has a positive connotation for being genuinely interested in a subject or someone’s well-being.
A curious person wants to learn more about a given subject or wants to know how they can help you.
Example 2:
Which of the following underlined words has a negative (-) connotation and a positive (+) connotation?
a. My uncle is cheap; he never pays full price at the market.
b. My uncle is thrifty; he never pays full price at the market.
Answer:
Cheap has a negative connotation for being selfish with money. A cheap person may never split a bill
with friends or spend money on other people.
Thrifty has a positive connotation for being wise with money. A thrifty person will always try and find
the best price on a purchase and spends the time making the most out of their wealth.
Tone is the attitude, atmosphere, or mood of a piece of writing. Authors often use a specific tone for
their writing as a strategy to connect with the audience and become more persuasive.
Example for Describing Tone:
Read the following passage about allowing women to fight in combat. Pay close attention to the
author’s expressions, words, and connotations. How does she attempt to influence the reader’s
emotions? Underneath the passage, select the answer that best describes the tone of the passage.
Passage #1
I admire tough fighting women as much as anyone. Their leadership skills are as
good as men’s. They have important roles to play in war, and they’ve been on
the front lines – and dying – for years. But please, people. Let’s get real. Women
cannot equal men in ground combat, the kind of dirty, brutal stuff that
(fortunately) makes up a very minor part of modern military life, especially post-
Afghanistan.
(Adapted from Wente, 2013)
a. frustrated
b. humorous
c. unsympathetic
d. compassionate
Explain your answer by providing textual evidence: In this passage, the author demonstrates a
frustrated tone. The evidence for this is when she states, “But please, people. Let’s get real”. Instead of
providing a detailed explanation, the author relies on demonstrating her frustration in order to persuade
her readers.
Steps to Assessing language in a short passage
Step 1: Underline words, expressions and connotations in the passage that indicate the author’s
tone.
Step 2: Choose word(s) from the chart (or online) to describe the tone of the author based on
the words you underlined.
Step 3: Evaluate how persuasive the author’s argument/claim is by explaining your description
of tone with the textual evidence you underlined in the passage.
The following passages are examples from articles. Read the paragraph below each passage paying
particular attention to the underlined words used to evaluate the tone.
Passage #2
“Am I dependent on my phone? Absolutely. I’m also dependent on toilets and
light bulbs. I can live without them, just as I can live without my Android, but it
would suck. Giving up my phone because it’s so useful would be like
abandoning my car for going fast. It’s just doing its job.”
(Adapted from Brown, 2012)
Evaluating Tone: Brown (2012) attempts to persuade his audience by using a humorous tone. The
author makes an amusing comparison of cellphones to toilets and light bulbs, which emphasizes the
commonality and dependency of cellphone use as any other household item. The author also uses the
word “suck” to indicate how his life would be like without his cellphone. This informal expression helps
the author minimize the serious issue of cellphone addiction.
Passage #3
“Once an intern, it is difficult to take a stand against one’s mistreatment.
Interns don’t feel like they have the freedom to speak freely about their
working environment. No matter how distasteful their fake-job, few interns
would risk the rewards (graduating to full-time, a glowing reference) or harm
their reputation for being “agreeable” by speaking out. Working for free to
wipe down a urinal is very different from the glamourized activities of the
“creative class.”
(Adapted from De Peuter et al., 2012)
Evaluating Tone: The authors’ tone in this passage is negative and pessimistic. They use negative
language like “mistreatment”, “distasteful”, and “fake-job” to describe internships. Using the example
of wiping down a urinal also reflects the authors’ cynical attitude in how they perceive internship work.
Although there may be some truth to their assessment of internships, their language is too extreme and
their bias is too obvious to be taken seriously. The authors’ could have employed positive language and
hopeful examples that could demonstrate the positives of internship work.
Please click here to apply the strategies learned above to write a short paragraph assessing the
language of a piece of writing.
