Rhetorical device

In rhetoric, a rhetorical device or resource of language the impossible of jumping into a body of water and climbis a technique that an author or speaker uses to con- ing back out without getting wet.
vey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of
persuading him or her towards considering a topic from a
dierent perspective, using sentences designed to encour- 3 Sonic devices
age or provoke a rational argument from an emotional display of a given perspective or action. Note that although
Sonic devices depend on sound.
rhetorical devices may be used to evoke an emotional response in the audience, this is not their primary purpose.
1. Alliteration is the use of a stream of words with the
same rst phoneme, only interrupted by grammatically required words (e.g. a(n), the, to, for, by, etc.).
1 Categories
It is used for emphasis, suggesting a humorous or
even threatening tone.
Logos is the use of logical ideas to appeal to the audience.
The zoo kept several selsh seals.
Pathos is an appeal to the audiences emotions.
I hate that heartless heathen.
Ethos describes the guiding tenets that characterize a
community, nation, or ideology; it may also appeal to the
authors credibility. It is an appeal based on the character
of the speaker.

2. Assonance is the repetition of a similar set of vowel

sounds. It is used to emphasize intensity, mood, and
imagery, among others.
3. Cacophony is the use of words with harsh consonants, usually at the beginning of a word.

Irony and metaphor

KitKat
pauper

Two common rhetorical devices are irony and metaphor.

cacophony

The use of irony in rhetoric is primarily to convey to the

audience an incongruity that is often used as a tool of
humor in order to deprecate or ridicule an idea or course
of action.

perpetuate
4. Onomatopoeia is the use of words that attempt to
emulate a sound. When used colloquially, it is often
accompanied by multiple exclamation marks and in
all caps. It is common in comic strips and some cartoons.

The use of metaphor in rhetoric is primarily to convey

to the audience a new idea or meaning by linking it to
an existing idea or meaning with which the audience is
already familiar. By making the new concept appear to be
linked to or a type of the old and familiar concept,
the person using the metaphor hopes to help the audience
understand the new concept.

smek - high-ving someone; smacking someone in the face

thwap - lying down carelessly; dropping a pile
of papers or books carelessly
kaboom - exploding

2.1

ding-dong - ringing a doorbell

Examples

plop - sitting/lying down carelessly (also a

verb: Plop down on the couch.)

An example of rhetorical device is this passage attributed

to a speech by Abraham Lincoln about a political adversary in which Lincoln said that his adversary had dived
down deeper into the sea of knowledge and come up drier
than any other man he knew.

bang - exploding; shooting a powerful gun

clap
badabada - operating a (semi-)automatic machine gun (mainly in comics)

This attributed quote uses a body of water as a metaphor

for a body of knowledge with the ironical idea of someone
who gained so little from his education that he achieved

shoosh - an individual shooshing another

pap - the sound of one patting another
1

Altered signication devices

Devices of altered signication shift the meaning of

words.
1. Metaphor comparison of two objects or ideas that
does NOT use like or as.
2. Simile is a gentler form of metaphor which tends to
use as or like to compare something to something else. For example, his beard was like a lions
mane.

See also

Glossary of rhetorical terms

External links
Online Resource of Rhetorical Devices
Handbook of rhetorical devices
Rhetorical Figures in Sound

EXTERNAL LINKS

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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Text

Rhetorical device Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_device?oldid=676174316 Contributors: SimonP, Michael Hardy,

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