Naming an appeal is the same three questions every time. Ask them in order and the line tells you which lever it's pulling.
The Three Questions
1. Is it leaning on who is speaking? Their credentials, experience, values, honesty. If the persuasion only works because of who said it, it's ethos. Tell-tales: “As a nurse…”, “I've coached here ten years”, “I'll be straight with you.”
2. Is it reaching for a feeling? Fear, hope, pride, pity, guilt, anger. If it paints a picture meant to move you, it's pathos. Tell-tales: vivid images, emotive words, “imagine if…”
3. Is it reaching for the head? Facts, numbers, evidence, cause-and-effect. If you could check it or follow the logic, it's logos. Tell-tales: statistics, “because… therefore”, examples, comparisons.
A Worked One, Slowly
Take this little speech: “As your school captain, I've sat where you sit. Last year, ninety students missed out on a single working drink tap — ninety. Picture lining up parched after PE while the tap dribbles. We can fix this for four hundred dollars.”
Pull it apart, line by line:
- “As your school captain, I've sat where you sit” → ethos (credibility and shared experience).
- “ninety students missed out… ninety” and “four hundred dollars” → logos (numbers, evidence).
- “Picture lining up parched after PE” → pathos (a feeling, an image).
Three sentences, all three appeals — that's a tidy little speech, and now you can hear the machinery in it.