Rhetorical devices

Rhetorical devices.

How are rhetorical devices used to influence an audience?

Simile and metaphor.

• Political reporters refer to ‘ a raft of measures’ • ‘shaking like a millenium bridge’ • Mixed metaphor – ‘She’s like a hungry leopard in full bloom’ • ‘the country’s like a coiled spring and this could spill over..’

Allusion.

• To refer to or quote a powerful phrase that the audience may already know.

• ‘We are in a Catch 22 situation.’

List of three.

• Three part structures are memorable and resonant.

• ‘If you’re a daring designer, a budding botanist or simply green-fingered, we want to hear from you.’ (Gardeners’ World) • "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."

Churchill.

Repetition. • To repeat a key idea or phrase so that it may lodge in the minds of the audience.

We will not forget moments of silence and days of mourning in Australia and Africa and Latin America.

Nor will we forget the citizens of 80 other nations who died with our own.

Parallelism • A sentence where the grammatical structure is balanced in two parts.

• Synonymous: • God save our gracious queen, long live our noble queen.

• Antithesis: • Ask not what your country can do for you.

Ask what you can do for your country.

Rhetorical questions.

• Introduce a statement by asking a series of questions. This technique is often used in information leaflets.

• ‘How can I get involved?’

• ‘How can I protect my baby from common infections?’

• ‘What is the future?’

Alliteration.

• Churchill addresses the Nazi leaders referring to the Nazi party as ‘the grisly gang who work your wicked will.’

Wordplay.

• ‘Chilled Cowell’ – Simon Cowell to freeze his body when he dies.

• Razorshite ( NME)