… Search

Photograph your local culture, help Wikipedia

and win!

Rhetorical device
Article Talk

… … …

In rhetoric, a rhetorical device, persuasive

device, or stylistic device is a technique that
an author or speaker uses to convey to the
listener or reader a meaning with the goal of
persuading them towards considering a topic
from a perspective, using language designed
to encourage or provoke an emotional display
of a given perspective or action. Rhetorical
devices evoke an emotional response in the
audience through use of language, but that is
not their primary purpose. Rather, by doing so,
they seek to make a position or argument more
compelling than it would otherwise
be.[1][page needed]

Modes of persuasion

Sonic devices

Word repetition

Word relation

Discourse level …

Discourse level rhetorical devices rely on

relations between phrases, clauses and
sentences. Often they relate to how new
arguments are introduced into the text or how
previous arguments are emphasized. Examples
include antanagoge, apophasis, aporia,
hypophora, metanoia and procatalepsis.

Amplification/Pleonasm …

Amplification involves repeating a word or

expression while adding more detail, to
emphasise what might otherwise be passed
over.[14][page needed] This allows one to call
attention to and expand a point to ensure the
reader realizes its importance or centrality in
the discussion.

But this revolting boy, of course,

Was so unutterably vile,
So greedy, foul, and infantile
He left a most disgusting taste

Inside our mouths...

— Roald Dahl, Charlie and

the Chocolate Factory)

Pleonasm involves using more words than

necessary to describe an idea. This creates
emphasis and can introduce additional
elements of meaning.[19]

I heard it with my own ears.

I should have found in some

place of my soul

A drop of patience.

— Shakespeare Othello 4.2

Swerve not from the smallest

article of it, neither in time,
matter or other circumstance.

— Shakespeare Measure for

Measure 4.2

Antanagoge …

Antanagoge involves "placing a good point or

benefit next to a fault criticism, or problem in
order to reduce the impact or significance of
the negative point".[6]

Within the infant rind of this

weak flower

Poison hath residence, and

medicine power.

— Shakespeare Romeo and

Juliet 2.3)[20]

One scenario involves a situation when one is

unable to respond to a negative point and
chooses instead to introduce another point to
reduce the accusation's significance.

We may be managing the

situation poorly, but so did you
at first.

Antanagoge can also be used to

positively interpret a negative
situation:

When life gives you lemons,

make lemonade.[5]

Apophasis …

Apophasis is the tactic of bringing up a subject

by denying that it should be brought up.[21] It is
also known as paralipsis, occupatio, praeteritio,
preterition, or parasiopesis. {{quote| There's
something tells me, but it is not love,
I would not lose you; and you know yourself,
Hate counsels not in such a quality.
|Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice 3.2)

This device has a number of effects that make

it quite useful in politics. Donald Trump, for
instance, has been noted to frequently use
apophasis when attacking his political
opponents.[22][23]

Aporia …

Aporia is the rhetorical expression of doubt.[6]

The most famous example of this is
undoubtedly Hamlet's soliloquy, which begins:

To be or not to be, that is the

question.

— Shakespeare Hamlet 3.1

Another example is in Antony's famous speech

at Caesar's funeral, which includes examples
such as: {{quote| Did this in Caesar seem
ambitious? When that the poor have cried,
Caesar hath wept. |(Shakespere Julius Caesar
3.2)

When the rhetorical question posed is

answered, this is also an instance of
hypophora.

Diasyrmus …

Rejecting an argument through ridiculous

comparison.[24]

Derision …

This involves setting up an opposing position

to ridicule without offering a
counterargument,[1][page needed] such as:

You believe we should vote for

him? I've got a bridge to sell
you.

No reason for why one should

not vote for him is given. It is
merely implied that it would be
gullible to do so.

Enthymeme …

Syllogism which omits either one of the

premises or the conclusion. The omitted part
must be clearly understood by the reader.
Sometimes this depends on contextual
knowledge.

Mark'd ye his words? He would

not take the crown;
Therefore 'tis certain he was not
ambitious.

— Shakespeare Julius Caesar

3.2

the premise implied is that no ambitious person

would refuse the crown)

They say it takes hundreds of

years to build a nation.

Welcome to Singapore.

— Singapore Tourism Board

campaign

to arrive at the omitted conclusion that

Singapore is exceptional, the visitor must know
that Singapore has but a short history of 50-
odd years as an independent nation)

Hyperbole …

Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration.[6] This

can be for literary effect:

The brightness of her cheek

would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her
eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region
stream so bright

That birds would sing and think

it were not night

— Shakespeare Romeo and

Juliet 2.2)

His face was as the heavens...

His legs bestrid the ocean: his
rear'd arm
Crested the world... realms and
islands were

As plates dropp'd from his

pocket.

— Shakespeare Antony and

Cleopatra 5.2)

Or for argumentative effect:

Her election to Parliament

would be the worst thing to ever
happen to this country!
[1][page needed]

Hypophora …

The use of hypophora is the technique

whereby one asks a question and then
proceeds to answer the question. This device
is one of the most useful strategies in writing
essays to inform or persuade a
reader.[14][page needed]

Can honour set to a leg? No. Or

an arm? No. Or take away the
grief of a wound? No. Honour
hath no skill in surgery, then?
No. What is honour? A word.
What is in that word honour?
What is that honour? Air. A trim
reckoning! Who hath it? He that
died a' Wednesday. Doth he feel
it? No. Doth he hear it? No. 'Tis
insensible, then? Yea, to the
dead. But will it not live with the
living? No. Why? Detraction will
not suffer it.

— Shakespeare Henry IV,

Part 1 5.1

Innuendo …

This device indirectly implies an accusation

without explicitly stating it.[1][page needed] This
can be combined with apophasis.

I know you aren't an alcoholic,

but I did notice you've replaced
all the bottles in your liquor
cabinet.

Metanoia …

Metanoia qualifies a statement or by recalling

or rejecting it in part or full, and then re-
expressing it in a better, milder, or stronger
way.[6][7][page needed] A negative is often used
to do the recalling.

All faults that may be named,

nay, that hell knows...

— Shakespeare Cymbeline
2.4

He was the best of men - no, of all humanity.

Procatalepsis …

By anticipating and answering a possible

objection, procatalepsis allows an argument to
continue while rebutting points opposing it. It is
a relative of hypophora. Procatalepsis shows
that concerns have been thought
through.[14][page needed]

'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!'

you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please
explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to
do?
How used they keep themselves
contented

Before this monster was

invented?'

— Roald Dahl, Charlie and

the Chocolate Factory

Understatement …

Understatement, or meiosis, involves

deliberately understating the importance,
significance or magnitude of a subject. This
means the force of the description is less than
what is expected, thus highlighting the irony or
extreme nature of an event.[14][page needed]

The war situation has developed

not necessarily to Japan's
advantage.

— The Hirohito surrender

broadcast

Benvolio: What, art thou hurt?

Mercutio: Ay, ay, a scratch, a

scratch.

— Shakespeare Romeo and

Juliet 3.1

Mercutio dies of his wounds shortly after.

The captain's announcement onboard British

Airways Flight 9 has been described as 'a
masterpiece of understatement':[25]

Ladies and gentlemen, this is

your captain speaking. We have
a small problem. All four
engines have stopped. We are
doing our damnedest to get
them going again. I trust you are
not in too much distress.[26]

A subtype of understatement is litotes, which

uses negation:

Heatwaves are not rare in the

summer.

Irony and imagery …

Irony …

Irony is the figure of speech where the words

of a speaker intends to express a meaning that
is directly opposite of the said words.[5][6]

Here, under leave of Brutus and

the rest -
For Brutus is an honourable
man;
So are they all, all honourable
men -
Come I to speak in Caesar's
funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and
just to me:
But Brutus says he was
ambitious;

And Brutus is an honourable

man.

— Shakespeare Julius Caesar

3.2

Antony attacks Brutus's character and that of

his co-conspirators

Metaphor …

Metaphor connects two different things to one

another. It is frequently invoked by the verb to
be.[5][6] The use of metaphor in rhetoric is
primarily to convey to the audience a new idea
or meaning by linking it to an already familiar
idea or meaning. The literary critic and
rhetorician, I. A. Richards, divides a metaphor
into two parts: the vehicle and the tenor.[27]

In the following example, Romeo compares

Juliet to the sun (the vehicle), and this
metaphor connecting Juliet to the sun shows
that Romeo sees Juliet as being radiant and
regards her as an essential being (the tenor).

But soft, what light through

yonder window breaks?

It is the East, and Juliet is the

sun.

— Shakespeare Romeo and

Juliet 2.2

Personification …

Personification is the representation of

animals, inanimate objects and ideas as having
human attributes.[5][6]

In the following example Romeo personifies

love as being blind yet able to enamour
someone.

Alas that love, whose view is

muffled still,

Should without eyes see

pathways to his will!

— Shakespeare Romeo and

Juliet 1.1

In another example:

The gray-eyed morn smiles on

the frowning night

— Shakespeare Romeo and

Juliet 2.3

Simile …

Simile compares two different things that

resemble each other in at least one way using
like or as to explain the comparison.[5][6] For
example, the as... as construction as compared
to metaphor which is direct equivalence.

In the following example, the nurse compares

Romeo's manners and behaviour to a lamb.

I'll warrant him, as gentle as a

lamb.

— Shakespeare Romeo and

Juliet 2.5

Another example can be seen in a conversation

between Emilia and Othello.

Othello: She was false as water.

Emilia: Thou art rash as fire,
To say that she was false. Oh,
she was

heavenly true!

— Shakespeare Othello, 5.2

Metonymy …

Metonymy is a figure of speech where a thing

or concept is referred to indirectly by the name
of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing
meant.

Examples:

- "crown" to denote king or queen.

- Oval Office or Washington to refer to the

President of the United States of America.

Synecdoche
…
A synecdoche is a class of metonymy, often by
means of either mentioning a part for the
whole or conversely the whole for one of its
parts. Examples from common English
expressions include "suits" (for
"businessmen"), "boots" (for "soldiers") ("pars
pro toto"), and "America" (for "the United
States of America", "totum pro parte").

See also

References

External links

Last edited 20 minutes ago by Disco…

RELATED ARTICLES

Chiasmus
Reversal of grammatical structures in su…

Isocolon
Figure of speech

Glossary of rhetorical terms

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless

otherwise noted.

Terms of Use • Privacy policy • Desktop