In today’s society, many qualities in people can be viewed as being selfish. Barbara Ehrenreich does an exceptional job arguing about gratitude being a selfish act. She builds her argument by using transitional phrases, logical appeals, and imagery. Transitional phrases are powerful when authors want to add more information to an argument. One example is, “[Furthermore, it appears that].” This helps build the argument by showing the author has more information to add to her article. She captures the reader’s attention by using transitional phrases. In addition, “...Yet there is a need for more gratitude…” The author persuades the audience by showing she spent time researching the topic. The writer added transitional phrases to show the logic and ideas she has presented in her writing. This shows how important it is to use transitional phrases to strengthen an argument. …show more content…
One example of this is, “...the foundation…gave $5.6 million to Dr. Emmons, the gratitude researcher.” This strengthens the article by showing how much money one person was given for researching gratitude. The writer uses this fact to show how selfish gratitude can be; she does an excellent job grabbing the reader’s attention by showing how selfish this has become. Another example is, “Robert Emmons…argues that it leads to a stronger immune system and lower blood pressure…” The author uses this to persuade the audience of her point by bringing up the other side of the argument. The claim made by the other side is brought down with her argument, grabbing the attention of the audience. People are pulled into the essay which helps the author persuade them of her