Rhetorical Devices

What are rhetorical devices? Specific techniques authors/speakers use to enhance their arguments and make their writing effective Writers and speakers use rhetorical devices within the language in order to emphasize, explain, or unify ideas, and often to persuade.

Repetition the repeated use of a word, phrase, or clause more than once for emphasis

Repetition Example: The curfew law should be repealed – repealed immediately in fairness to the community, the police, and the students. Example: The judge commanded, stamping his mallet on the table, “Order in the court, order in the court.”

Parallelism Repetition of the same grammatical form to express equal, or parallel ideas. A noun is paired with a noun, a phrase with a phrase, a clause with a clause, and so on.

Parallelism Example: I came, I saw, I conquered Example: This week, the Riverdale High School student council had to cancel its annual charity Bowl-a-Thon – not because of a lack of interest, not because of a shortage of funds, and not because of a failure to sign up enough enthusiastic volunteers.

Rhetorical Question Rhetorical questions are questions that are not meant to be answered but are asked for effect Example: Should students who are out late because of school events be jailed or fined? Should such school activities be dropped?

Argument by Analogy Draws a parallel between basically dissimilar events or situations Example: if the curfew law aims to reduce youth crime, it mistakenly targets the wrong hours. It is much like shutting the corral gate after the horses have escaped.

Loaded Words Carry strong emotional associations Example: Our baseball team won the tournament, pulverizing the Brantley County Herons in the final

Antithesis contrasts two ideas Ex: That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Armstrong’s words strike a concise contrast between individual advancement and humanity’s vast progress Example: Charm is a physical, temporary, shallow pleasure; merit is a deeper, lasting, and admirable inner quality Notice the balanced rhythm and the repeated grammatical forms.

Antithesis To identify and analyze antithesis, look for striking phrases that balance two related but opposing statements in order to reveal a truth such as “To err is human, to forgive divine” Ask yourself: Are the contrasting statements memorable for their brevity, timelessness, or cleverness? Are the ideas logical? Do they enhance meaning?

Rhetorical Devices Quick Check Review You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. How could you covert this sentence into one or more rhetorical questions? How could you convert it into a different parallel construction?

Rhetorical Devices Quick Check Review You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. How could you covert this sentence into one or more rhetorical questions? Must learning to give come before learning to love? How could you convert it into a different parallel construction? You can give. You can love. You can love to give. But you must give to love.

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. Quick check review You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. What rhetorical device is being used in this statement? Why?

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. Quick check review You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. What rhetorical device is being used in this statement? Antithesis Why? It contrasts two different things: giving without love and loving without giving