1. PREPARE TO BE SCHOOLED …by Ms. Hanzlick!
RHETORICAL DEVICES
PREPARE TO BE SCHOOLED
…by Ms. Hanzlick!

2. What is rhetoric?
the use of language to make your writing creative, smarter and more persuasive

3. How does rhetoric relate to persuasive nonfiction?
because persuade writers use rhetoric to make their writing more persuasive
because using rhetoric is more persuasive than not using rhetoric

4. Rhetorical Devices
a rhetorical device is the name for one of the tricks that writers use to make their writing sound cool and more persuasive

5. 15 Rhetorical Devices
Here is a list of 16 rhetorical devices, some of which you’ve heard before and others you may be learning now for the first time:
anaphora
alliteration
allusion
asyndeton/polysyndeton
chiasmus
hyperbole
metaphor
parallelism
personification
pun
rhetorical question
sarcasm
simile
simple sentence
vernacular
persuasive appeals (logos/pathos/ethos)

6. 1. anaphora
the repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive phrases, sentences, or lines
Example:
“I have a dream….”
MLK, Jr. in I Have a Dream speech

7. 2. alliteration
the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of nearby words
Examples:
“She sold sea shells down by the sea shore.”
Anonymous
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
“The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people….”
MLK, Jr. in I Have a Dream speech

8. 3. allusion a reference to something famous Example:
"And I can pledge our nation to a goal: When we see that wounded traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side.”
George Bush in Inaugural Address, 2000

9. 4. asyndeton and polysyndeton
asyndeton = the omission of and between items in a list
Example:
"There's no nation in the history of the world and no city that has seen more immigrants in less time than America. And people continue to come here in large, large numbers to seek freedom, opportunity, decency, civility.”
Rudy Giuliani, 9/11 speech to the United Nations General Assembly

10. 4. asyndeton and polysyndeton
polysyndeton = the use of and between every item in a list
Example:
“I want my pizza with extra cheese and pepperoni and mushrooms and banana peppers and a side of dipping sauce.”

11. 5. chiasmus
a sentence in which two words in the first half are criss-crossed in the second half
Examples:
“All for one, and one for all!”
from The Three Musketeers
“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
JFK’s Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961

12. 6. hyperbole an exaggeration Example:
“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!”

13. 7. metaphor
a comparison between two unlike things without using the words like or as
Example:
"With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”
MLK in I Have A Dream speech (comparing the current state of our nation to “jangling discords” and the future state of our nation to “a symphony”)

14. 8. parallelism*
a word, group of words or syntactical structure that repeats at the beginning or end of successive phrases
Example:
"...and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Abraham Lincoln in The Gettysburg Address
*asyndeton is a type of parallelism

15. 9. personification
when a nonhuman thing is given human characteristics
Example:
“The spirit of America weeps for a tragedy that denies the very meaning of our land.”
President Lyndon B. Johnson

16. 10. pun
a play on words that exploits the multiple meanings of words or words with similar sounds
Example:
In Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, a cobbler is asked what he does for a living and replies, "A trade sir, that, I hope, may use with a safe conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles."

17. 11. rhetorical question
a question a writer asks but not because he wants an answer
Example:
“To be or not to be?”
from Hamlet by Shakespeare

18. 12. sarcasm a.k.a verbal irony
when the actual meaning of what someone says is the opposite of what is said, as indicated through the use of tone
Example:
If you said, “The government made the genius move to nationalize the school curriculum,” if you actually thought it was extremely stupid

19. 13. simile a comparison b/t two things using “like” or “as” Example:
“Here you are walking around in America, getting ready to be drafted and sent abroad, like a tin soldier, and when you get over there, people ask you what are you fighting for, and you have to stick your tongue in your cheek.”
from “The Ballot or the Bullet” by Malcolm X

20. 14. simple sentence
a very short sentence amongst many long sentences that makes a clear, strong point

21. 15. vernacular
when the speaker uses a form of a language unique to a particular region or group, like slang

22. 16. persuasive appeals logical appeal (logos)
emotional appeal (pathos)
ethical appeal (ethos)