Rhetorical Modes: Answers!

1. Definition
2. Classification
3. Narrative
4. Example
5. Process Analysis (although after we discussed this in class, this might not make sense!)
6. Description

Rhetorical Modes: Luck

1. Simply stated, luck is good fortune. It brings success. Where luck comes from, exactly, is unknown. Luck is also considered to be chance. If something happens to someone by chance, and that something is a good thing, that is luck. It is also looked at as one's overall circumstances or conditions in life. Luck can be viewed as something that happens randomly, or something that we can bring upon ourselves.

2. Luck appears in several ways. For instance, if someone were to win a game the first time they had ever played it, the other players would blame it on the fact that they had beginner's luck. With sheer dumb luck, something happens accidentally and not on purpose (but ends with a good result). When Harry Potter and Ron Weasley knock out a troll by themselves in their first year, Professor McGonagall says it was because of sheer dumb luck. Luck can also be used as more of an adjective, as in happy-go-lucky, describing someone who is carefree and optimistic. Fortunately, for people like me, there is the luck of the Irish. People of Irish heritage will be lucky in their endeavors. Unfortunately, there is also bad luck. This is when everything decides not to go your way.

3. I love lucky days. I mean, who doesn't like things to turn out in their favor? Especially when your chances seemed really low to begin with? I remember towards the end of the summer, I was hanging out with my friends Jessie and Maddy in the afternoon. We wanted our chill sesh to continue through the night, but they both had to work. Poop. I sat at home feeling lonely. Kaylee and Kasey, my neighbors/BFFLs, were also busy. *buzz buzz* My phone got a text-Jessie: "Hey! Rush Creek was slow, so they don't need me. Still wanna hang?" "Heck yes!" I respond. Jess makes her way on over when I get another text-Maddy: "I got off work early!" "No way! Come over, Jess is too!" YES. A night of Emily listening to music and watching YouTube vids by herself turns into a friend-hang-sesh with pretzels and nutella. In other words: Luck at its finest.

4. Inside The Ralph hockey stadium at the University of North Dakota, a quote on the wall says, "I find the harder I work, the luckier I get." This can be seen in many different ways and through many different people. The students who study and work diligently earn the cliche "straight-A-student" title. Athletes who train, condition and push themselves to the highest level are the varsity-starters and even professional sports players. Both of these scenarios result in favorable outcomes, which is what luck is supposed to bring you to.

5. Some see luck as an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that leads to a favorable outcome. In this sense, luck is just sprung upon us randomly, we do not control it. Luck is chance. Others, however, like the anonymous quote above from UND, believe that we can create luck ourselves. These favorable outcomes are a result of the time and energy we put forth into achieving them. Luck always ends in good fortune, but the rest of the exact idea of luck can be your own philosophy.

6. Your math teacher makes the two hardest problems on the test extra credit. That English assignment you didn't do? Your teacher didn't even check it. The kid at your lunch table has extra cookies from his APUSH dinner party, and you get one. Whatever the scenario may be, your conscience goes YES! Or maybe you even stand up and exclaim "YES!" to everyone around you. You may begin to wonder if you're in a dream because everything is going your way when you least expect it to. You feel cheerful and optimistic. You own the world.

A Family Story

My sister and I were one year old and it was mid December. My mom and dad were invited to a "Multiples Parents" holiday party. Parents of twins, triplets, etc, brought their children all dressed up in matching outfits (well, at least my mom did) and probably gushed over how cute and look-a-likeish everyone was. My mom had the two of us dressed and ready to go and put us down for our naps. My mom was off to the party and my dad was going to come later. All he had to do was wait for us to wake up and then come to the party (and bring us, of course).

A few hours later, my dad arrived to the party with the two of us. My mom looked at us and exclaimed, "Paul! What happened to their cute outfits? Why did you change them? Ugh...and what's that smell?"
"Well..."

My dad had walked into our room when he heard we were awake, and to his surprise, we were covered in poop. Natalie had taken off her diaper and thrown it into my crib. It landed on my head. My had to quickly bathe me and changed both of our outfits.

Thanks to my sister, I was the smelly one for the rest of the night. My parents tried to avoid letting people hold me at the party so they wouldn't have to suffer my stench. Twin sisters. They'll get the best of ya. Even when you're one.

Visual Argument: Reese's Peanutbutter Cups!

Agent: Reese's Peanut Butter Cup company. They're excited about this new product. You can see this from the exclamations, "new!" and "actual size!" This informs the customer of the new twist on the product, with the intention of showing how convenient it is. you can see the convenience again from the "actual size!", and also "unwrapped mini cups."

Act: Reese's has come out with a new version of their original peanut butter cup product. These are more convenient because they're already unwrapped, saving you time to eat them and are smaller, making it easier to eat since you can eat it in one bite! The "Perfect Popable & Resealable" (it's hard to see, but it's in the top left-hand corner) also shows how the bag is user-friendly and the cups won't go bad. The words "actual size" are small, further getting the message across about the new, smaller size of the peanut butter cups.

Agency: The bag the product is in. The bag is supposed to be convenient and easy for customers to use (Perfectly Popable & Resealable), which can then extend to the actual product itself. This can accompany the "unwrapped mini cups" and the "actual size!". These words also accompany the picture of the multiple Reese's cups since they're shown as the actual size and unwrapped.

Scene: Wal Mart while grocery shopping. Reese's company assumes their customers appreciate low prices everyday, while the text assumes that customers are looking to have a treat this is easy/less time consuming to eat. This text evokes positive feelings. They use exclamation points and the font for "minis" and "actual size!" is short, wide, and almost 3-d looking, making a bubbly/happy feeling, opposed to a tall, thin font with no character.  I feel excited when I look at this product because of the exclamation points, font and bright colors. The white color of the "minis" contrasts well with the orange background, helping that feature to stand out. The word "New!" also stands out because instead of just being on the orange part of the bag, it's on a yellow rectangle. The words "Milk Chocolate" and "Peanut Butter Cups" are a standard font, showing that it essentially is still the same product. This standard font then makes the font of the new features stand out, showing the new twist on the product.

Purpose: This conveys that Reese's new product is user-friendly and easier to eat than other products. Reese's does this to make their product stand out amongst others. The shopper will think, "Hey, this looks way easier to eat than Milky Ways-I don't have to unwrap them and take multiple bites!" This makes the customer excited to purchase and, of course, eat Reese's Unwrapped Mini Cups.

Extended Language: X2 113

• Words I mess up:

beginning: I used to always put in 2 "g"s!
weird: the old "i before e except after c" rule. Gets me every time.
tomorrow: I was never the kid who wrote, "tomarrow", but I would mess up if it should be one "m" with two "r"s or 2 "m"s with one "r". Darn tomorrow.
A common problem is figuring out if it should just be one letter or 2 of the same letter!

• Ol' spell check. I was about to say Ol' reliable, but that's clearly not the case. Whenever I write a paper, spell check will "complain" about the name of the teacher I write on the top of my paper or different authors I mention. Many times though, it says, fragment: consider revising. What the heck? What does that even mean? My sentence was totes not fragmented. It was smooth and beautiful. It also doesn't notice the difference between affect and effect (similar to their, they're, and there). Spell check needs a friend. This friends is grammar check. 
• If there was no uniform spelling, our world would be bonkos. My sister was a Y.E.S. student for a kindergarten class, and they all wrote her letters at the end of the term. Luckily, the teacher wrote underneath some of their "words" so my sister would know what they were trying to say. So, if there was no uniform spelling...Imagine a world filled with kindergartners. Yikes. 
• Even though these "misspelling" are incorrect (obviously), the fact that it's spelled differently makes it seem as if it's an entirely different product. The name gives it its own identity, rather than it just being the commonplace, general object. Misspellings can also add character to a product or store. Toys R Us, for example, is clearly a children's store. Misspellings are common among children, making Toys R Us a kid-friendly environment. Misspellings are also used because that's how the word actually sounds, making it very easy to know the name of the product or store.  

Free Response Blog: Term One. Needs. To. End.

Holy. Schnikes. I'm so ready for this four day weekend! Words cannot describe my excitement. Whenever I'm doing my homework, I drift off into thinking about what I will be doing with all of my free, non-project working time I will have over break. This is what I day dream my weekend will consist of:

1. Parenthood! I'm pretty sure I have 3 or 4 episodes to catch up on.
2. Glee...not gonna lie, I've totally forgotten about this show.
3. KAYLEE! My neighbor/BFF is probably coming home from college over the weekend. I haven't seen her since she left for school in August!
4. Movies...I actually have a long list of movies I need to watch sitting on my dresser. I've been on a Matt Damon/Brad Pitt kick ever since I watched Good Will Hunting and Troy at the end of the summer. Who's gonna be watching all of the Oceans and Bourne movies over break? This girl.
5. Of course...sleep. I can't wait to wake up and not think about the pile of projects sitting there waiting for me. Peace.

Overall, I'm pumped for this weekend so I can do nothing. Absolutely nothing. I will not be mentally straining myself. But until then, I must finish the term strong!

6. I almost forgot! I need to go on Pottermore over the weekend...yes, I'm a hard core HP fan.

Peace out AP Compers.