Hello!
Dearest reader,
Hello, and welcome to my English portfolio. All of the papers inside were written for my English 2010 class, though they were intended to be presented in a real world setting. Contained is my rhetorical analysis of Sir Winston Churchill’s speech, We Shall Fight on the Beaches, my report on Homeschooling, a paper detailing my position on Extra-terrestrial life, and my proposal for a network of trails that would follow the canals in Salt Lake County, Utah.
My teacher asked me in the beginning of the course to develop my own definition of the word rhetoric. I, true to being the avid logician that I am, produced a textbook answer, which could never encompass the true nature of rhetoric. Rhetoric is not merely a word, it is not an adjective or a noun, but it is a quality, a physical skill that can be developed, comparable to what was mythically known as the ‘silver tongue’. Rhetoric is a facilitator of change.
Rhetoric is made up of the three Rhetorical elements, Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. These three form a sort
of triangle that is known as Rhetoric. Different uses of rhetoric are accommodated by adjusting the amount of each element you add to the mixture.
One’s skill in the mixture of these elements determines his rhetorical strength, the rhetor’s skill in the production and delivery of his message.
I have seen my own rhetorical strength develop throughout this course. I have been pushed to write stronger messages, to work on my mixture of the three elements, and to adjust my response to accommodate my intended audience. I have thought more about my responses to rhetorical situations that I encounter every day, and the appropriateness of my chosen responses. I have learned to mind my audience a lot more, and I have learned how to accommodate my message to allow it to address a broader audience.
I had many challenges throughout this course. Not the least of which was my lack of concentration and inspiration. There were some papers that I had absolutely no desire to compose. They were simply terrible subjects and terrible genres that I was sure that I would never have to write. In the beginning, I dreaded every moment I spent wasting my precious words in those dreadful sentences; and then, as I continued, I realized that the paper was not so bad anymore. It had taken on a life of its own, and was now something different, something that could change someone in some way or another. In the Churchill analysis, what I and my companions had written could inspire someone or cause them to analyze Churchill’s speeches and become better rhetors themselves, perhaps politicians or great speech writers. My report on homeschooling could cause some young parent to homeschool their child, and thus, in retrospect, I was responsible for the child’s schooling. My position paper on Extra-terrestrial life could prompt some young reader to pursue a career in astronomy, and he may discover another intelligent race. My proposal for a larger bike trail system could be used to prompt the actual building of a bike trail, resulting in the employment of dozens of people who would build a trail that thousands of people would then ride, jog, and walk on, consequently causing them to become more physically fit, saving them from health problems that arise from obesity. With these papers, I thought, I could make the world a better place… and so I wrote them the best way that I could.
And then I had to revise them. I looked back at what I had written, and I saw that some of it was old and withered; some had lost the original shine that I had seen in it. So I trimmed it, ridding it of the old and unnecessary parts, making it all fresh and new. I feel that they shall be revised several more times, and may continue to forever, always adding new ideas and making it better. And so, here in their not-so-final state, are my
papers.
Please enjoy,
Trevor Pratt
Hello, and welcome to my English portfolio. All of the papers inside were written for my English 2010 class, though they were intended to be presented in a real world setting. Contained is my rhetorical analysis of Sir Winston Churchill’s speech, We Shall Fight on the Beaches, my report on Homeschooling, a paper detailing my position on Extra-terrestrial life, and my proposal for a network of trails that would follow the canals in Salt Lake County, Utah.
My teacher asked me in the beginning of the course to develop my own definition of the word rhetoric. I, true to being the avid logician that I am, produced a textbook answer, which could never encompass the true nature of rhetoric. Rhetoric is not merely a word, it is not an adjective or a noun, but it is a quality, a physical skill that can be developed, comparable to what was mythically known as the ‘silver tongue’. Rhetoric is a facilitator of change.
Rhetoric is made up of the three Rhetorical elements, Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. These three form a sort
of triangle that is known as Rhetoric. Different uses of rhetoric are accommodated by adjusting the amount of each element you add to the mixture.
One’s skill in the mixture of these elements determines his rhetorical strength, the rhetor’s skill in the production and delivery of his message.
I have seen my own rhetorical strength develop throughout this course. I have been pushed to write stronger messages, to work on my mixture of the three elements, and to adjust my response to accommodate my intended audience. I have thought more about my responses to rhetorical situations that I encounter every day, and the appropriateness of my chosen responses. I have learned to mind my audience a lot more, and I have learned how to accommodate my message to allow it to address a broader audience.
I had many challenges throughout this course. Not the least of which was my lack of concentration and inspiration. There were some papers that I had absolutely no desire to compose. They were simply terrible subjects and terrible genres that I was sure that I would never have to write. In the beginning, I dreaded every moment I spent wasting my precious words in those dreadful sentences; and then, as I continued, I realized that the paper was not so bad anymore. It had taken on a life of its own, and was now something different, something that could change someone in some way or another. In the Churchill analysis, what I and my companions had written could inspire someone or cause them to analyze Churchill’s speeches and become better rhetors themselves, perhaps politicians or great speech writers. My report on homeschooling could cause some young parent to homeschool their child, and thus, in retrospect, I was responsible for the child’s schooling. My position paper on Extra-terrestrial life could prompt some young reader to pursue a career in astronomy, and he may discover another intelligent race. My proposal for a larger bike trail system could be used to prompt the actual building of a bike trail, resulting in the employment of dozens of people who would build a trail that thousands of people would then ride, jog, and walk on, consequently causing them to become more physically fit, saving them from health problems that arise from obesity. With these papers, I thought, I could make the world a better place… and so I wrote them the best way that I could.
And then I had to revise them. I looked back at what I had written, and I saw that some of it was old and withered; some had lost the original shine that I had seen in it. So I trimmed it, ridding it of the old and unnecessary parts, making it all fresh and new. I feel that they shall be revised several more times, and may continue to forever, always adding new ideas and making it better. And so, here in their not-so-final state, are my
papers.
Please enjoy,
Trevor Pratt