Mother Tongue by Amy Tan
Jade Peters
Peters 1
Mrs. Chambers
English III AP
10 December 2014
Rhetorical Analysis
Writer, Amy Tan, in her essay, “Mother Tongue,” explains that different types of English affect someone’s response and attitude. Because Tan wrote this essay about her mother, she mainly describes the responses her mother gets with her broken English. Tan’s purpose is to show how broken English speakers are dissuaded from preferfecting it and how they are looked down up in society. She adopts an informative tone in order to show society how badly broken
English speakers are treated.
Tan introduces her essay by proposing that different speaking patterns are shown with different people. Her use of inductive reasoning is found through her anecdotes with her mom’s
English skills. She uses inductive reasoning in order to show how her mother speaks English, how her husband speaks English, and how she herself, speaks English with her mom and society.
Her use of inductive reasoning proves her point that different people use different forms of language. Tan continues her essay by explaining that broken English speakers are looked down upon in society. She helps prove her claim of mistreatment by using enumeratio constantly throughout her essay. She uses enumeratio in order to emphasize the mistreatment her mother received and show the things she had to do to finally get decent service. Her use of enumeratio results in sympathy for Amy Tan’s mother and other people who don’t speak good English.
Peters 2
Tan advances her essay by ascribing that language heard in our surroundings have an effect on an individual. She mainly uses first person personal pronouns to describe how hearing broken English from her family led her to be worse at English than math or science. She uses first person personal pronouns in order to express her trouble with English class as she was never able to choose an answer with sangfroid. She uses these pronouns to show that she
Peters 1
Mrs. Chambers
English III AP
10 December 2014
Rhetorical Analysis
Writer, Amy Tan, in her essay, “Mother Tongue,” explains that different types of English affect someone’s response and attitude. Because Tan wrote this essay about her mother, she mainly describes the responses her mother gets with her broken English. Tan’s purpose is to show how broken English speakers are dissuaded from preferfecting it and how they are looked down up in society. She adopts an informative tone in order to show society how badly broken
English speakers are treated.
Tan introduces her essay by proposing that different speaking patterns are shown with different people. Her use of inductive reasoning is found through her anecdotes with her mom’s
English skills. She uses inductive reasoning in order to show how her mother speaks English, how her husband speaks English, and how she herself, speaks English with her mom and society.
Her use of inductive reasoning proves her point that different people use different forms of language. Tan continues her essay by explaining that broken English speakers are looked down upon in society. She helps prove her claim of mistreatment by using enumeratio constantly throughout her essay. She uses enumeratio in order to emphasize the mistreatment her mother received and show the things she had to do to finally get decent service. Her use of enumeratio results in sympathy for Amy Tan’s mother and other people who don’t speak good English.
Peters 2
Tan advances her essay by ascribing that language heard in our surroundings have an effect on an individual. She mainly uses first person personal pronouns to describe how hearing broken English from her family led her to be worse at English than math or science. She uses first person personal pronouns in order to express her trouble with English class as she was never able to choose an answer with sangfroid. She uses these pronouns to show that she