Continuity and Separation, Voices and Viewpoints

00:01 If the central thrust of a passage can be compared to the curvylinear flow of a river, then the individual viewpoints and directions within that passage could maybe be considered the eddies, the ebbs and flows within the overall direction of that river.

00:20 These ebbs and flows within a passage include something that is known as rhetorical devices, established expansions of arguments to open the mind of a listener.

00:32 We'll also examine how authors express their opinion as opposed to when they cite outside authority.

00:38 Lastly, we'll examine when multiple sources are being discussed to support a thesis, or simply being presented as kind of a discussion.

00:48 An author will rarely come right out and state their overall purpose clearly and unequivocally.

00:55 At the bare minimum, an author will use rhetoric to spruce up the writing.

00:59 In everyday language, we might say, rhetorically speaking, what if I were to do A, B or C? This gives us a clue as to the modern usage of the word rhetoric.

01:10 Rhetoric is the examination of a topic from different angles for the purpose of persuasion.

01:16 Rhetoric might mean stating an opponent's argument in outlandishly exaggerated fashion to demonstrate its falsity.

01:24 This is perhaps most similar to how we use the phrase rhetorically speaking in everyday life.

01:30 But simple transitional phrases such as for example, therefore, or consequentially, can also be considered rhetorical.

01:38 These words are not technically necessary to communicate an idea, but they glue a CARS passage together and keep readers engaged.

01:47 We as readers want to feel that the author carefully crafted piece of written communication.

01:52 Rhetoric bridges that gap between otherwise disconnected ideas, and what is occurring inside the mind of the author.

01:59 And what's going on inside the mind of the author is exactly what we want to identify.

02:05 So pay extra attention to small verbal flourishes.

02:09 This will help you to understand the meaning and purpose of the passage as a whole.

02:15 We've been building up to this for a while now, but it's important to recap that not every viewpoint existing in the CARS passage is the author's own.

02:25 At the most basic level, an author might present viewpoints that support their own are those which serve as a foil to refute.

02:34 As such, when you are taking practice passages carefully distinguish when an author is building up their argument through citation of credible and authoritative sources, as opposed to when an author is simply discussing various sources to demonstrate his or her expertise in a given subject area.