AP language and composition mcrawford
Rhetorical samples (1x10 assignment)



Claim (the simple point I want to make): My neighbor Ed is unpleasant, ugly and annoying.

Illustrating Ideas by Use of Example

My neighbor Ed is unpleasant, ugly and annoying.  His appearance makes me uncomfortable.  He has these very obvious hair implants in a neat little row across his forehead—it seems like he and his “doctor” are trying to make hair grow in an area it didn’t likely grow in even before he went bald.   He always keeps his shirt open to display his gold chains.  He always wants to talk to you even when you’re in a hurry.  He asks you a question then before you can articulate your answer he talks over you to tell you his opinion on the subject.

Analyzing a Subject by Means of Classification

One’s neighbors can be classified in terms of how you feel when you see them.  There are the neighbors with whom you exchange greetings but with whom you might not ever have a substantial conversation.  The exchange is pleasant enough but neither party has the time to invest in a more developed relationship.  Most neighbors are like this.  There are others, more rare, (for me at least) with whom you do develop a more friendly relationship.  You have drinks or share meals and you may look after their place or gather their mail when they leave town.  Nice kind of neighbors to have.  There are the neighbors who don’t ever greet anybody.  One might wonder why but they usually don’t bother anybody.  Most troubling are the neighbors like Ed.  When I see Ed out by his garage, I try to avoid walking that way to my car even though it is the shortest route.  I’m glad I only have one neighbor in this category.

Explaining by Means of Comparison

Before I moved to my current address I had a great neighbor.  Clarissa is a retired teacher.  She lived next door.  Now Ed lives next door.  Sometimes I would hear Clarissa singing.  Now I hear Ed yelling at his son.  Once I heard Clarissa yelling, but she was yelling at president Bush on the television, telling him what she thought of his deceptive rhetoric.  I liked that.  Clarissa would come over to play with my dog and bring him treats and we’d have a glass of wine on the patio.  Ed comes over to tell me his opinions on how he can fix education.  He thinks teachers should wear suits and ties.  He thinks this would fix everything.

Using Analogy as an Expository Device

Having a neighbor like Ed is like having a rock in your shoe—only worse.  You can take you shoe off and dump out a painful rock.  You can’t get rid an annoying neighbor.   Maybe it’s more like having a gopher in your garden.  Have you seen Caddyshack with Bill Murray?  But then the gopher was kinda cute, and my neighbor is not even a little bit cute.  So that’s not a good analogy.  Maybe it’s