Rhetorical Devices and Structuresor

How to sound really convincing and eloquent to win people over to your side!

Rhetoric

• Definition: Using language effectively to please or persuade.

wordnetweb.princeton.edu

Rhetorical Structures

• How an author or speaker arranges what they will say in order please or persuade better.

• Two Types:– Repetition– Parallelism

Repetition• Using the same words frequently to emphasize a

message or point

Parallelism• Repeating a grammatical structure or set of wordsExample: Martin Luther King “I Have a Dream” Speech

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’”

“I have a dream that one day the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.”

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Rhetorical Devices

• Techniques used to persuade better

• Two Types:– Analogy– Restatement

Analogy

• Shows a comparison between two unlike things• Can be metaphors “table of brotherhood” MLK• Can be similes “freedom is like a beautiful kite

that can go higher with the breeze” GH Bush

• Can be SAT problems: Hat is to head as shoe is to _____.

Restatement• Expresses the same idea but in different words to

help explain a point better

• Example: “The United States will continue to offer any assistance we can as Japan continues to recover…”

• “We are heartbroken by the unfolding tragedy in Japan.”Obama, 14 March 2011

• Different words, same message: restated like your conclusion paragraphs!

Summary

• Repetition: Using the same words frequently to emphasize a message or point

• Parallelism: Repeating a grammatical structure or set of words

• Analogy: Shows a comparison between two different things

• Restatement: Expresses the same idea but in different words to help explain a point better