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Rhetorical Analysis of a Speech: Context, Structure and Devices — Answers

Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 12 text analysis & essays worksheet.

Success TutoringWorksheetsAnswer sheetYear 12 · English · Text Analysis & Essays

Rhetorical Analysis of a Speech: Context, Structure and Devices — Answers

Part A: The rhetorical situation and key devices

Answer each question.

1.Match each part of the rhetorical situation to the speech.
  • speaker
  • audience
  • purpose
  • occasion
  • To pay tribute to the volunteers and inspire listeners to volunteer themselves.
  • A nurse retiring after thirty-eight years, with deep personal authority.
  • The official opening of a new hospital wing named after its volunteers.
  • Hospital staff, officials, volunteers, families and community members at an opening ceremony.

Answer: speaker → A nurse retiring after thirty-eight years, with deep personal authority.; audience → Hospital staff, officials, volunteers, families and community members at an opening ceremony.; purpose → To pay tribute to the volunteers and inspire listeners to volunteer themselves.; occasion → The official opening of a new hospital wing named after its volunteers.

2.Paragraph 3 repeats "The ones who" at the start of several sentences. This device is:
  1. Aantithesis
  2. Banaphora
  3. Chyperbole
  4. Donomatopoeia

Answer: anaphora

Anaphora is repetition at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences.

3.What is the main function of the jokes in paragraphs 1 and 2?
  1. ATo mock the hospital
  2. BTo relax the audience and build warmth and rapport before the serious message
  3. CTo fill the five minutes
  4. DTo show the speaker does not take the occasion seriously

Answer: To relax the audience and build warmth and rapport before the serious message

Self-deprecating, gentle jokes make the speaker likeable and the audience receptive.

4.Paragraph 5 begins "Some people will say..." This is an example of:
  1. Aa concession and rebuttal
  2. Ba call to action
  3. Can anecdote
  4. Da rhetorical question

Answer: a concession and rebuttal

The speaker acknowledges an alternative view (I understand that) and then answers it.

5.The final two sentences of paragraph 7 are effective mainly because they:
  1. Aintroduce statistics
  2. Bend on a short, universal and memorable contrast that links back to the title
  3. Cintroduce a new argument
  4. Dlist the names of volunteers

Answer: end on a short, universal and memorable contrast that links back to the title

We will not remember... We will remember who stayed is balanced, personal and echoes The Ones Who Stayed.

Part B: Tracing the speaker's moves

Answer in full sentences, using short quotations.

6.Trace the structure of the speech. Briefly describe the job of paragraphs 1–2, 3–4, 5, 6 and 7.[3 marks]

Answer: 1–2: a warm, humorous opening that builds rapport and establishes the speaker's long experience. 3–4: the tribute, describing what volunteers do and asserting their value. 5: concession and rebuttal, answering the view that wings should be named after donors or surgeons. 6: specific named examples and a gentle call to action aimed at younger listeners. 7: a universal, emotional conclusion that echoes the title.

7.How does the speaker establish her credibility (ethos) in the opening?[2 marks]

Answer: She mentions being a nurse for thirty-eight years and remembers the old hospital, so the audience trusts her first-hand knowledge. Her modest, humorous tone also makes her seem honest and likeable.

8.Explain the effect of the tricolon in paragraph 5: "Money builds walls. Skill saves lives. Decisions open doors."[3 marks]

Answer: Three short, parallel sentences fairly acknowledge what donors, surgeons and politicians contribute, building a rhythm that the next sentence breaks: "But it is kindness that makes people want to walk through them." The pattern makes the final point about kindness land with greater force.

9.Why does the speaker name individual volunteers, Rose and Arjun, in paragraph 6?[2 marks]

Answer: Specific names and concrete actions make an abstract tribute personal and vivid. The audience can picture real people, which moves them emotionally (pathos) and pays tribute to the volunteers directly.

10.The speaker addresses "the younger ones at the back pretending not to listen". What is the purpose of this?[2 marks]

Answer: A light joke wins over a potentially disengaged part of the audience, and singling them out turns the tribute into an invitation, serving the speech's second purpose of inspiring new volunteers.

11.How does paragraph 7 widen the significance of the speech?[2 marks]

Answer: By saying "every one of us will be in one of these beds", the speaker turns a tribute to others into something personal for every listener, reminding them that they too will one day depend on kindness.

Part C: Your turn

12.How does the speaker use rhetorical techniques to pay tribute to the volunteers and inspire her audience? Write one rhetorical analysis paragraph (8–10 sentences). Refer to the rhetorical situation, the structure of the speech and at least three devices, explaining their effect on this particular audience.[10 marks]

Model answer: Speaking at the opening of a wing named after them, the retiring nurse uses carefully structured rhetoric to transform a formal ceremony into a heartfelt tribute and a quiet call to action. She opens with gentle, self-deprecating jokes about knowing "exactly how long five minutes can feel" and soup in varieties of "hot, warm and regrettable", which relaxes an audience of officials and families while subtly establishing her thirty-eight years of experience. Having won their goodwill, she shifts to tribute, using anaphora in "The ones who sat... The ones who pushed... The ones who knitted" to build an accumulating picture of quiet, ordinary devotion. Her concession that a wing might instead be named after "a donor, or a surgeon, or a politician" anticipates the doubts of some listeners, and the tricolon "Money builds walls. Skill saves lives. Decisions open doors" respectfully acknowledges them before the turn to kindness reframes what truly matters. By naming Rose and Arjun, she makes the volunteers vivid and real, appealing to the audience's emotions. Her playful address to "the younger ones at the back" then turns admiration into invitation, serving her purpose of recruiting new volunteers. Finally, the universal claim that "every one of us will be in one of these beds" widens the speech's significance to each listener, and the closing antithesis "We will remember who stayed" echoes the title, leaving a memorable, moving final image. Through this progression from lightness to tribute to invitation, the speaker ensures her audience leaves not only grateful for the volunteers but considering joining them.

Success criteria:

  • Opens by establishing the rhetorical situation (speaker, audience, occasion, purpose)
  • Traces the structure or shifts in the speech, not just isolated devices
  • Analyses at least three devices with short, embedded quotations
  • Explains effects on this specific audience and links to purpose
  • Uses precise metalanguage (anaphora, tricolon, concession, antithesis, ethos, pathos)
  • Sustained formal register with a linking final sentence
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