Advanced Placement (AP) English Language and Composition Practice Exam

What role does ethos play in communication?

1. To overwhelm the audience with statistics

2. To convince the audience through emotional appeal

3. To establish credibility and trustworthiness

4. To provide logical evidence

The correct answer is: To establish credibility and trustworthiness

Ethos plays a crucial role in communication by establishing credibility and trustworthiness. When a speaker or writer demonstrates expertise, integrity, and authority on a subject, they enhance their ability to persuade the audience. This trust built through ethos allows the audience to feel more confident in the message being conveyed, making them more likely to accept the arguments presented. A communicator with strong ethos can effectively influence opinions and decisions because the audience is inclined to listen and engage with someone they perceive as knowledgeable and trustworthy. In contrast, overwhelming the audience with statistics may alienate them, while emotional appeals can sometimes lack the necessary grounding in reliability, and logical evidence, although essential, focuses more on rationality than on the personal credibility of the communicator.