Rhetorical terms · AP English Language, SAT Reading and Writing, ACT Reading
Pathos
Pathos: An appeal to the audience's emotions, values or imagination to make them more receptive to an argument.
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What it means
Pathos works by making an audience feel something that supports the writer's purpose: compassion, outrage, pride, fear, hope. Vivid stories, concrete images and charged word choices are common ways to create it.
Pathos is a legitimate form of argument. Used well, it helps an audience care about evidence they might otherwise ignore. It becomes manipulative when the emotion replaces reasoning.
Example
Before citing the number of families affected by a plant closure, a writer describes one father packing his tools into his truck for the last time. The image makes the statistic that follows feel personal.
On the exam
Say which emotion is created, in which audience, and what that emotion makes them more willing to accept. 'This appeals to pathos' on its own earns little.