Activity 3: Analysis of Letter by Kaixuan (09)

The writer started off with ethnic appeal which makes reader believing himself an expert in the field and bothers to continue to read the letter.

The writer used his son as an example in the result of gun ownership causing deaths. This can effectively create emotional appeals. As Pathos emphasis "experience", it will give the reader a perspective viewed from the one writing the letter.

Apart from all the statistics which weighed why the law on gun ownership should be changed politically, John reasoned why it is not correct to mention owning a gun as a self-defense excuse. He also reasoned why having a gun means more assaults and more risks of injuries and death.

John gives logic behind his point of view. He gives supporting evidence like gun misuse, homicides and why it is not justifiable that having a gun can prevent intruders.

Activity 3: Analysis of Letter by Lim Hao Yang (11)

In the first sentence, John uses Pathos to appeal to the emotions of the Congressman by first complimenting him. This makes him feel better and will more likely accept the proposal. John also uses Ethos to make himself more credible, saying that he has experienced such problems listed.

In the second paragraph, by using the phrase “fairly straightforward”, John makes the problem seem so clear. Following that, he uses Logos to appeal to the logical side of the Congressman, through the use of many statistics. By using “Did you know”, he make the Congressman think that it is alright to change his mind as he was not informed about some facts. He then ended the paragraph with, “It is much higher now.” This approach uses Pathos, where the consequences are pushed to the unknown, to make the problem seem much bigger.

In the third paragraph, John introduces another problem — still related, but from another perspective. This uses Ethos to make himself look more just and credible. He then uses Logos to make a counter-argument and then relating it to his stand. He continues by using “Did you know” again to show more statistics.

In the fourth paragraph, John, using Logos, states another reason that is against his point, but uses makes it the minorities that agree to this reason. He then uses statistics to cancel out that reason.

In the fifth paragraph, John uses Ethos, Pathos and Logos to show statistics. These statistics are very accurate — even showing the raw data that was collected. This makes it seem more reliable. He then uses Ethos, by penning down the researchers’ names and the company that published the work, which were all famous. The big numbers in the statistics, using Pathos, makes the Congressman feel that the problem is very severe, and should be solved immediately.

In the sixth paragraph, John repeats his point, in the first paragraph, about the problem being very personal to him. He then uses Pathos to make the Congressman feel responsible for all such cases that will happen in the future — a responsibility too big to handle — through the question, “Do you want to be responsible for supporting legislation that would make more such incidents occur?”

In the last paragraph, John stated, “Knowing all this, do you really think we can continue to allow citizens to buy guns so easily?” This appeals to his emotions, conveying the message that if he does not do something about it, he is rather foolish. He then proceeded to blow up his designation by using “as citizens of the United States” He emphasises his first point in this paragraph by using the word, “unquestionably”.

Activity 3: Analysis of Letter by Sun Jie Min (18)

Pathos:
The author is a father of a gun-related murder victim, which makes the letter even more appealing and persuasive.

Ethos:
The author used Ethos by complimenting the reader and being polite in the introduction. He also made the reader feel sorry for all the victims of gun-related murders. Furthermore, the author made the reader think carefully about the decision whether to support the gun control legislation, by "saying" that he would be responsible.

Logos:
There is a lot of Logos used in this letter. The author gave a lot of logical facts about how many people were victims of gun-related murders, that 60% of murder victims in the U.S. in 1994 were killed with firearms, etc.