A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices

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To go directly to the discussion of a particular device, click on the name below. If you know these already, go directly to the Self Test. Of course, I modestly recommend my book, Writing with Clarity and Style, Second Edition, that contains all 60 of the devices discussed below, and many sidebars on style and writing effectiveness. Get a copy from Amazon.com here: Writing With Clarity and Style, Second Edition. The book has been newly updated, expanded, and improved for 2018. As a bonus free gift to purchasers of the book, a supplement is available for download that contains hundreds of examples of the devices as used in the Bible. Get the supplement here (requires Adobe Reader).
 

Alliteration Antithesis Climax Epizeuxis Metanoia Polysyndeton
Allusion Apophasis Conduplicatio Eponym Metaphor Procatalepsis
Amplification Aporia Diacope Exemplum Metonymy Rhetorical Question
Anacoluthon Aposiopesis Dirimens Copulatio Sentential Adverb Onomatopoeia Scesis Onomaton
Anadiplosis Apostrophe Distinctio Hyperbaton Oxymoron Sententia
Analogy Appositive Enthymeme Hyperbole Parallelism Simile
Anaphora Assonance Enumeratio Hypophora Parataxis Symploce
Antanagoge Asyndeton Epanalepsis Hypotaxis Parenthesis Synecdoche
Antimetabole Catachresis Epistrophe Litotes Personification Understatement
Antiphrasis Chiasmus Epithet Metabasis Pleonasm Zeugma

 


36. Epithet is an adjective or adjective phrase appropriately qualifying a subject (noun) by naming a key or important characteristic of the subject, as in “laughing happiness,” “sneering contempt,” “untroubled sleep,” “peaceful dawn,” and “lifegiving water.” Sometimes a metaphorical epithet will be good to use, as in “lazy road,” “tired landscape,” “smirking billboards,” “anxious apple.” Aptness and brilliant effectiveness are the key considerations in choosing epithets. Be fresh, seek striking images, pay attention to connotative value. Epithets which have become so common that they are clichés should be avoided in your writing. Fresh, creative, and apt epithets can be an effective, attention getting usage.

transferred epithet is an adjective modifying a noun which it does not normally modify, but which makes figurative sense:

    • At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth of thieves and murderers . . . . –George Herbert

    • Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold / A sheep hook . . . . –John Milton

    • In an age of pressurized happiness, we sometimes grow insensitive to subtle joys.

The striking and unusual quality of the transferred epithet calls attention to it, and it can therefore be used to introduce emphatically an idea you plan to develop. The phrase will stay with the reader, so there is no need to repeat it, for that would make it too obviously rhetorical and even a little annoying. Thus, if you introduce the phrase, “diluted electricity,” your subsequent development ought to return to more mundane synonyms, such as “low voltage,” “brownouts,” and so forth. It may be best to save your transferred epithet for a space near the conclusion of the discussion where it will be not only clearer (as a synonym for previously stated and clearly understandable terms) but more effective, as a kind of final, quintessential, and yet novel conceptualization of the issue. The reader will love it.

37. Hyperbaton includes several rhetorical devices involving departure from normal word order. One device, a form of inversion, might be called delayed epithet, since the adjective follows the noun. If you want to amplify the adjective, the inversion is very useful because, as you know, the last word or words in a sentence take on the most emphasis:

    • From his seat on the bench he saw the girl content-content with the promise that she could ride on the train again next week.

But the delayed epithet can also be used by itself, though in only a relatively few cases:

    • She had a personality indescribable.

    • His was a countenance sad.

Some rhetoricians condemn delayed epithet altogether in formal writing because of its potential for abuse. Each case must be tested carefully, to make sure it does not sound too poetic, or worse, to corny:

    • His was a countenance friendly.

    • These are rumors strange.

And especially make sure the phrase is not affected, offensive, or even disgusting:

    • Welcome to our home comfortable.

    • That is a story amazing.

I cannot give you a rule (why does “countenance sad” seem okay when “countenance friendly” does not?) other than to consult your own taste or sense of what sounds all right and what does not.

A similar form of inversion we might call divided epithets. Here two adjectives are separated by the noun they modify, as in Milton’s “with wandering steps and slow.” Once again, be careful, but go ahead and try it. Some examples:

    • It was a long operation but successful.

    • Let’s go on a cooler day and less busy.

    • So many pages will require a longer staple, heavy-duty. style.

Another form of hyperbaton involves the separation of words normally belonging together, done for effect or convenience:

    • In this room there sit twenty (though I will not name them) distinguished people.

You can emphasize a verb by putting it at the end of the sentence:

    • We will not, from this house, under any circumstances, without an official written order, be evicted.

    • Sandy, after a long struggle, all the way across the lake, finally swam to shore.

You might want to have a friend check your excursions into hyperbatonic syntax, and if he looks at you askance and says, “My, talk funny you do,” you might want to do a little rewriting. But, again, do not mark this off your list just because you might not be always successful at it. In fact, my general recommendation to you is not to abandon the learning, use, and practice of any of these rhetorical devices simply because you can’t get the hang of them immediately. You will find it worth a few months of struggle and trial and error if mastering these techniques can add to the interest and persuasiveness of your writing. You will probably be writing for the next 50 years or more: Spending a few months disappointing yourself as you strive for mastery seems like a small price to pay to set yourself apart as a powerful, clear, convincing writer. And remember, too, that you will only get better as time goes on.



38. Parenthesis, a final form of hyperbaton, consists of a word, phrase, or whole sentence inserted as an aside in the middle of another sentence:

    • But the new calculations–and here we see the value of relying upon up-to-date information–showed that man-powered flight was possible with this design.

    • Every time I try to think of a good rhetorical example, I rack my brains but–you guessed–nothing happens.

    • As the earthy portion has its origin from earth, the watery from a different element, my breath from one source and my hot and fiery parts from another of their own elsewhere (for nothing comes from nothing, or can return to nothing), so too there must be an origin for the mind. –Marcus Aurelius

    • But in whatever respect anyone else is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am just as bold myself. –2 Cor. 11:21b (NASB)

The violence involved in jumping into (or out of) the middle of your sentence to address the reader momentarily about something has a pronounced effect. Parenthesis can be circumscribed either by dashes–they are more dramatic and forceful–or by parentheses (to make your aside less stringent). This device creates the effect of extemporaneity and immediacy: you are relating some fact when suddenly something very important arises, or else you cannot resist an instant comment, so you just stop the sentence and the thought you are on right where they are and insert the fact or comment. The parenthetical form also serves to give some statements a context (stuffed right into the middle of another sentence at the most pertinent point) which they would not have if they had to be written as complete sentences following another sentence. Note that in the first example above the bit of moralizing placed into the sentence appears to be more natural and acceptable than if it were stated separately as a kind of moral conclusion, which was not the purpose or drift of the article.

39. Alliteration is the recurrence of initial consonant sounds. The repetition can be juxtaposed (and then it is usually limited to two words):

    • Ah, what a delicious day!

    • Yes, I have read that little bundle of pernicious prose, but I have no comment to make upon it.

    • Done well, alliteration is a satisfying sensation.

This two-word alliteration calls attention to the phrase and fixes it in the reader’s mind, and so is useful for emphasis as well as art. Often, though, several words not next to each other are alliterated in a sentence. Here the use is more artistic. And note in the second example how wonderfully alliteration combines with antithesis:

    • I shall delight to hear the ocean roar, or see the stars twinkle, in the company of men to whom Nature does not spread her volumes or utter her voice in vain. –Samuel Johnson

    • Do not let such evils overwhelm you as thousands have suffered, and thousands have surmounted; but turn your thoughts with vigor to some other plan of life, and keep always in your mind, that, with due submission to Providence, a man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself. –Samuel Johnson

    • I conceive therefore, as to the business of being profound, that it is with writers, as with wells; a person with good eyes may see to the bottom of the deepest, provided any water be there; and that often, when there is nothing in the world at the bottom, besides dryness and dirt, though it be but a yard and a half under ground, it shall pass, however, for wondrous deep, upon no wiser a reason than because it is wondrous dark. –Jonathan Swift

40. Onomatopoeia is the use of words whose pronunciation imitates the sound the word describes. “Buzz,” for example, when spoken is intended to resemble the sound of a flying insect. Other examples include these: slam, pow, screech, whirr, crush, sizzle, crunch, wring, wrench, gouge, grind, mangle, bang, blam, pow, zap, fizz, urp, roar, growl, blip, click, whimper, and, of course, snap, crackle, and pop. Note that the connection between sound and pronunciation is sometimes rather a product of imagination (“slam” and “wring” are not very good imitations). And note also that written language retains an aural quality, so that even unspoken your writing has a sound to it. Compare these sentences, for instance:

    • Someone yelled, “Look out!” and I heard the skidding of tires and the horrible noise of bending metal and breaking glass.

    • Someone yelled “Look out!” and I heard a loud screech followed by a grinding, wrenching crash.

Onomatopoeia can produce a lively sentence, adding a kind of flavoring by its sound effects:

The flies buzzing and whizzing around their ears kept them from finishing the experiment at the swamp.

    • No one talks in these factories. Everyone is too busy. The only sounds are the snip, snip of scissors and the hum of sewing machines.

    • But I loved that old car. I never heard the incessant rattle on a rough road, or the squeakitysqueak whenever I hit a bump; and as for the squeal of the tires around every corner–well, that was macho.

    • If you like the plop, plop, plop of a faucet at three in the morning, you will like this record.

41. Apostrophe interrupts the discussion or discourse and addresses directly a person or personified thing, either present or absent. Its most common purpose in prose is to give vent to or display intense emotion, which can no longer be held back:

    • O value of wisdom that fadeth not away with time, virtue ever flourishing, that cleanseth its possessor from all venom! O heavenly gift of the divine bounty, descending from the Father of lights, that thou mayest exalt the rational soul to the very heavens! Thou art the celestial nourishment of the intellect . . . . –Richard de Bury

    • O books who alone are liberal and free, who give to all who ask of you and enfranchise all who serve you faithfully! — Richard de Bury

    • O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! –Luke 13:34 (NASB)

Apostrophe does not appear very often in argumentative writing because formal argument is by its nature fairly restrained and intellectual rather than emotional; but under the right circumstances an apostrophe could be useful:

    • But all such reasons notwithstanding, dear reader, does not the cost in lives persuade you by itself that we must do something immediately about the situation?

42. Enthymeme is an informally-stated syllogism which omits either one of the premises or the conclusion. The omitted part must be clearly understood by the reader. The usual form of this logical shorthand omits the major premise:

    • Since your application was submitted before April 10th, it will be considered. [Omitted premise: All applications submitted before April 10 will be considered.]

    • He is an American citizen, so he is entitled to due process. [All American citizens are entitled to due process.]

An enthymeme can also be written by omitting the minor premise:

    • Ed is allergic to foods containing monosodium glutamate, so he cannot eat Chinese food seasoned with it.

    • A political system can be just only when those who make its laws keep well informed about the subject and effect of those laws. This is why our system is in danger of growing unjust.

It is also possible to omit the conclusion to form an enthymeme, when the two premises clearly point to it:

    • If, as Anatole France said, “It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly,” then I must propose that the Board of Supervisors in this case is demonstrating human nature perfectly well.

    • The Fenton Lumber Company never undertakes a clearcut until at least eighty percent of the trees are mature, and the 4800-acre stand of pine above Mill Creek will not be that mature for another fifteen years.

Whenever a premise is omitted in an enthymeme (and understood by the reader), it is assumed to be either a truism or an acceptable and non-controversial generalization. But sometimes the omitted premise is one with which the reader would not agree, and the enthymeme then becomes a logical fallacy-an unacceptable enthymeme. What are the omitted premises here, and why are they unacceptable?

    • You can tell this tape recorder is a bunch of junk: it’s made in Japan.

    • He says he believes that Jesus was a great moral teacher, so he must be a Christian.

    • Those kids are from Southern California? Then they must be either crazy or perverted.

It goes without saying that you should be careful in your own writing not to use enthymemes dishonestly–that is, not to use clearly controversial assertions for the omitted premises.

Aside from its everyday use as a logical shorthand, enthymeme finds its greatest use in writing as an instrument for slightly understating yet clearly pointing out some assertion, often in the form of omitted conclusion. By making the reader work out the syllogism for himself, you impress the conclusion upon him, yet in a way gentler than if you spelled it out in so many words:

    • It is essential to anchor the dam in genuine solid rock, rather than in sandstone, and the Trapper’s Bluff area provides the only solid rock for seven miles on either side of the designated optimum site.

    • Yes, it is a beautiful car, but it does not have an automatic hood-ornament washer, and I just will not have a car without one.

43. Climax (gradatio) consists of arranging words, clauses, or sentences in the order of increasing importance, weight, or emphasis. Parallelism usually forms a part of the arrangement, because it offers a sense of continuity, order, and movement-up the ladder of importance. But if you wish to vary the amount of discussion on each point, parallelism is not essential.

    • The concerto was applauded at the house of Baron von Schnooty, it was praised highly at court, it was voted best concerto of the year by the Academy, it was considered by Mozart the highlight of his career, and it has become known today as the best concerto ever written and ever played.

    • At 6:20 a.m. the ground began to heave. Windows rattled; then they broke. Objects started falling from shelves. Water heaters fell from their pedestals, tearing out plumbing. Outside, the road began to break up. Water mains and gas lines were wrenched apart, causing flooding and the danger of explosion. Office buildings began cracking; soon twenty, thirty, forty stories of concrete were diving at the helpless pedestrians panicking below.

    • To have faults is not good, but faults are human. Worse is to have them and not see them. Yet beyond that is to have faults, to see them, and to do nothing about them. But even that seems mild compared to him who knows his faults, and who parades them about and encourages them as though they were virtues.

In addition to arranging sentences or groups of short ideas in climactic order, you generally should also arrange the large sections of ideas in your papers, the points in your arugments, and the examples for your generalizations climactically; although in these cases, the first item should not be the very least important (because its weakness might alienate the reader). Always begin with a point or proof substantial enough to generate interest, and then continue with ideas of increasing importance. That way your argument gets stronger as it moves along, and every point hits harder than the previous one.



44. Diacope: repetition of a word or phrase after an intervening word or phrase as a method of emphasis:

    • We will do it, I tell you; we will do it.

    • We give thanks to Thee, 0 God, we give thanks . . . . –Psalm 75:1 (NASB)

45. Antimetabole: reversing the order of repeated words or phrases (a loosely chiastic structure, AB-BA) to intensify the final formulation, to present alternatives, or to show contrast:

    • All work and no play is as harmful to mental health as all play and no work.

    • Ask not what you can do for rhetoric, but what rhetoric can do for you.

46. Antiphrasis: one word irony, established by context:

    • “Come here, Tiny,” he said to the fat man.

    • It was a cool 115 degrees in the shade.

47. Epizeuxis: repetition of one word (for emphasis):

    • The best way to describe this portion of South America is lush, lush, lush.

    • What do you see? Wires, wires, everywhere wires.

    • Polonius: “What are you reading?” Hamlet: “Words, words, words.”

48. Aposiopesis: stopping abruptly and leaving a statement unfinished:

    • If they use that section of the desert for bombing practice, the rock hunters will–.

    • I’ve got to make the team or I’ll–.

49. Anacoluthon: finishing a sentence with a different grammatical structure from that with which it began:

    • And then the deep rumble from the explosion began to shake the very bones of–no one had ever felt anything like it.

    • Be careful with these two devices because improperly used they can–well, I have cautioned you enough.

50. Enumeratio: detailing parts, causes, effects, or consequences to make a point more forcibly:

    • I love her eyes, her hair, her nose, her cheeks, her lips [etc.].

    • When the new highway opened, more than just the motels and restaurants prospered. The stores noted a substantial increase in sales, more people began moving to town, a new dairy farm was started, the old Main Street Theater doubled its showings and put up a new building . . . .

51. Antanagoge: 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:

    • True, he always forgets my birthday, but he buys me presents all year round.

    • The new anti-pollution equipment will increase the price of the product slightly, I am aware; but the effluent water from the plant will be actually cleaner than the water coming in.

52. Parataxis: writing successive independent clauses, with coordinating conjunctions, or no conjunctions:

    • We walked to the top of the hill, and we sat down.

    • In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. –Genesis 1:1-2 (KJV)

    • The Starfish went into dry-dock, it got a barnacle treatment, it went back to work.

In this last example above, note that a string of very short sentences can be connected by commas when the elements are parallel. Longer sentences and unparallel sentence structures need at least semicolons to connect them.

53. Hypotaxis: using subordination to show the relationship between clauses or phrases (and hence the opposite of parataxis):

    • They asked the question because they were curious.

    • If a person observing an unusual or unfamiliar object concludes that it is probably a spaceship from another world, he can readily adduce that the object is reacting to his presence or actions when in reality there is absolutely no cause-effect relationship. –Philip Klass

    • While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. –John 9:5

54. Sententia: quoting a maxim or wise saying to apply a general truth to the situation; concluding or summing foregoing material by offering a single, pithy statement of general wisdom:

    • But, of course, to understand all is to forgive all.

    • As the saying is, art is long and life is short.

    • For as Pascal reminds us, “It is not good to have all your wants satisfied.”

55. Exemplum: citing an example; using an illustrative story, either true or fictitious:

  • Let me give you an example. In the early 1920’s in Germany, the government let the printing presses turn out endless quantities of paper money, and soon, instead of 50-pfennige postage stamps, denominations up to 50 billion marks were being issued.

Examples can be introduced by the obvious choice of “For example,” but there are other possibilities. For quick introductions, such as those attached to a sentence, you migiht use “such as,” or “for instance.” Examples placed into separate sentences can be introduced by “A case in point,” “An instance,” “A typical situation,”  “A common example,” “To illustrate, let’s consider the situation,” and so forth.

56. Pleonasm: using more words than required to express an idea; being redundant. Normally a vice, it is done on purpose on rare occasions for emphasis:

    • We heard it with our own ears.

    • That statement is wrong, incorrect, and not true at all in any way, shape, or form.

    • And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus Himself alone. –Matthew 17:8

 

57. Assonance: similar vowel sounds repeated in successive or proximate words containing different consonants:

    • A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. –Matthew 5:14b (KJV)

    • Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. –Matthew 5:16 (KJV)

58. Dirimens Copulatio: mentioning a balancing or opposing fact to prevent the argument from being one-sided or unqualified:

    • This car is extremely sturdy and durable. It’s low maintenance; things never go wrong with it. Of course, if you abuse it, it will break.

    • . . . But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. –l Cor. 1:23-24 (NASB; cf. Rom. 13:4-5)

59. Symploce: combining anaphora and epistrophe, so that one word or phrase is repeated at the beginning and another word or phrase is repeated at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences:

    • To think clearly and rationally should be a major goal for man; but to think clearly and rationally is always the greatest difficulty faced by man.

60. Appositive: a noun or noun substitute placed next to (in apposition to) another noun to be described or defined by the appositive. Don’t think that appositives are for subjects only and that they always follow the subject. The appositive can be placed before or after any noun:

    • Henry Jameson, the boss of the operation, always wore a red baseball cap. [This shows the subject (Henry Jameson) with the appositive (the boss of the operation) following the subject. This is the most commonly used variety.]

    • A notorious annual feast, the picnic was well attended. [Here, the appositive (notorious annual feast) is in front of the subject (the picnic).]

    • That evening we were all at the concert, a really elaborate and exciting affair. [Here the appositive (elaborate and exciting etc.) follows the noun, which is the object of a preposition (concert).]

With very short appositives, the commas setting off the second noun from the first are often omitted:

    • That afternoon Kathy Todd the pianist met the poet Thompson.

  • Is your friend George going to run for office?