Kōkiri Learn

Background reading · English

How persuasive speakers hook an audience

Six techniques you can spot, name and use, and when each one backfires.

Persuasive writers choose every word for its effect on a particular audience. Once you can name the techniques, you can spot them and use them yourself.

Six techniques

  • Rhetorical question: a question that doesn't need an answer. 'Would you want to learn in a freezing classroom?' It makes the listener answer in their head.
  • Inclusive pronouns: 'we', 'us', 'our'. They make the audience feel part of the same team.
  • Repetition: repeating a word or phrase so it sticks.
  • Rule of three: ideas in threes feel complete: 'safer, warmer, fairer'.
  • Hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration for effect.
  • Contrast: putting two things side by side to sharpen the difference.

    • When techniques backfire

    Too much hyperbole and people stop trusting you. Rhetorical questions can sound bossy. Match the technique to the audience: what works on your classmates may annoy the principal.

    Culture and connection

    Speakers in Aotearoa often open with a mihi or use a whakataukī to connect with their audience. Use these respectfully and only when you understand them.

    Sources and further reading

    Written for Kōkiri Learn students in our own words. Check facts against the sources.

    Used in: Voices That Move Us