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Persuasive writing techniques
Persuasive writing techniques
- July 2, 2021
- Written by Luke Quinn
- 3 years ago
- No Comments
Persuasive writing techniques – as taught to 12 - 13 year olds
When I have maths and science homework questions I always ask my Dad. But when I have Geography, French, Art or English questions I go to Mum.
I’m Luke, my Mum is Karen – she does marketing which pretty much means she writes stuff all day. Next week I have an English exam on persuasive writing and now Mum is making me write some blog thing to apparently help with my learning.
When we use persuasive writing
When you want to put across an alternative argument or get a wider audience to have the same view point as you, or simply believe your message – persuasive writing is a useful technique. If you only have written words of course, most people just believe what they watch on TikTok!
Earlier in the year I did an elective in marketing so I think I can see why my mum wants me to write this. As a key element to marketing is persuading people to believe in your message.
How to remember what to include in persuasive writing
Here’s the acronym we use in school as a check list for writing techniques to use in persuasive writing: AFOREST
A – Alliteration and anecdotes
Alliteration is using the same sound at the start of connected words. So, ‘my mum makes marketing mischief’ is using alliteration as five consecutive words all start with the ‘m’ sound.
You can use a short story to give your writing meaning and bring it to life. ‘Colin the seagull who’s slowly being poisoned by the plastic in the fish that he’s eating bobs wearily on the waves as he looks for his next meal’. This is an example of anecdote.
F – Facts and figures
A fact is something that can be proved to be correct. ‘I am 13’ is a fact. I can prove it.
Figures are numbers and they can be presented as whole numbers or fractions to help show size and scale.
O – Onomatopoeia and opinion
Do you know how some words sound like the word they are describing, like; pop, woof, bang, crash, snap, ooze. These words are all onomatopoeic they help create connections and make writing memorable.
Everyone has and is entitled to an opinion, it’s something you think but isn’t necessarily true. I think my mum is ridiculously unfair because she is making me write a blog on my inset day. That’s my opinion.
R – Repetition and rhetorical questions
Repetition is repeating words and phrases. Poetry often uses repetition. You can create rhythm and focus attention to a single point with repetition.
Asking a question that doesn’t need an answer is a rhetorical question. You can use it as a title technique or in the body of your writing.
E – Emotive language and exaggeration
You can use powerful words that can influence feeling or create an emotional response. Words like traumatise, devasted, melancholy, ecstatic and brave are all examples.
‘Ah this blog is taking years to write.’ Is an exaggeration as I only started it twenty minutes ago.
S – Similes, statistics and sibilance
Similes are comparatives that use ‘like’ or ‘as’ – so the boy is a fierce as a lion is a simile.
Statistics are different to figures because they give data in a bigger volume, they are often used to show portions of a whole.
You can use alliteration with just ‘s’ and this is sibilance. So, ‘some stories start slowly’ is an example of sibilance.
T – Triples
Three is the magic number when it comes to connecting points. It’s also one of the songs mum sings when she cooks (that’s an anecdote!).
So, there’s my blog and revision for my exam next week. Wish me luck.