Subscribe

7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 3 of 15

Persuasive Power

Ethos, pathos, logos and fallacies

What your child practices

Identifying appeals to credibility, emotion and logic; spotting weak reasoning like bandwagon, false cause and slippery slope; and judging which evidence and rebuttals are strongest.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 7.8(E); 7.9(G) · persuasive appeals and logical fallacies

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Ethos appeals to credibility (trust me, I’m an expert). Pathos appeals to emotion. Logos appeals to logic, facts and numbers.
  2. Fallacies are weak reasoning: bandwagon (everyone does it), false cause, slippery slope (one step leads to disaster).
  3. The strongest evidence is specific, relevant and from a reliable source.

Example: A speaker mentions years of coaching experience so the audience will trust their advice. Which appeal is this? The speaker is building trust, not using feelings or numbers. Trust in the speaker is credibility. Answer: Ethos (credibility)

Persuasive Power in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 3 of 15 in 7th grade English Language Arts, after Tone & Mood and before Clauses & Sentences.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which logical fallacy does this argument use?

    You can't trust Ravi's idea for the science fair. He's always late for class.

    • Either-or (false dilemma)
    • Attacking the person (ad hominem)
    • False cause
    • Bandwagon
    • Slippery slope

  2. Question 2

    Which logical fallacy does this argument use?

    Ever since the new principal arrived, it has rained more often. The principal must be bringing bad weather.

    • False cause
    • Slippery slope
    • Bandwagon
    • Attacking the person (ad hominem)

  3. Question 3

    Which sentence is a claim, not evidence?

    • The city's two bike lanes each carry about 800 riders a day.
    • A survey found that 62% of residents would bike more if lanes were safer.
    • Our city should build more bike lanes.
    • Bike traffic on Elm Street doubled after a lane was added.

  4. Question 4

    Which logical fallacy does this argument use?

    Everyone in Grade 7 is switching to this study app, so it must be the best way to learn.

    • Slippery slope
    • Attacking the person (ad hominem)
    • Bandwagon
    • False cause
    • Either-or (false dilemma)

  5. Question 5

    Which logical fallacy does this argument use?

    I wore my lucky socks, and then our team won the game. The socks made us win.

    • Attacking the person (ad hominem)
    • False cause
    • Hasty generalization
    • Either-or (false dilemma)
    • Bandwagon

  6. Question 6

    Which persuasive appeal does this mostly use?

    Picture the empty playground, the silent swings, the kids with nowhere to play. Vote to keep our park open!

    • Ethos (credibility)
    • Logos (logic and evidence)
    • Pathos (emotion)

More 7th grade