The study is concerned with Al-Aswany’s political opinion articles that have been published since 2011 until 2014. The study is concerned with argumentative persuasion. It aims at examining how the use of argumentative strategies, presuppositions and directives persuade the reader into accepting the proposed arguments and analyzing the degree of persuasion present in the text. Moreover, the study aims at examining whether there is an attempt to manipulate the reader. The data used, in this study, are drawn from Al-Aswany’s opinion articles that have been published in Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. The researcher has selected two articles from each year: 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. All in all, eight selected articles are gathered for a qualitative analysis. The findings of the study show that his articles are highly persuasive as he, extensively, uses cognitive directives, establishes a common ground through the use of topos of reality and presuppositions, evokes empathy towards the protesters and the revolutions through humanitarianism and justice while raising a feeling of threat/danger from Mubarak’s old regime. Furthermore, even though the texts are highly persuasive, to claim that there is a manipulation from Al-Aswany's part , using these linguistic tools and models, can not be strongly suggested.
