Rhetorical Devices:
Improving Writing Strategy
Objective: As they prepare for the Unit 1 benchmark (reading literature
and writing narrative), students will be able to consider how rhetorical
devices can be used to improve writing strategy:
• Rhetorical devices can serve as transitional tools;
• Rhetorical devices can aid in presentation of ideas;
• Rhetorical devices can help to build cohesion and intention.
As the students become familiar with rhetorical devices for strategy, in
this case hyperbole, they will begin to include such devices in their own
writing in order to fulfill the requirements for personal narrative writing
as set forth on the CCSS narrative writing rubric.
Do-Now: Personal Narrative Writing. “Underneath it all…” Be sure to
include two strong examples of appositive phrases (opener, subject/verb
split, or closer). Ten minutes. Go.
Consider these two statements:
• “What is causing the biggest problem is that
there are over three billion people on the
planet.”
– This sentence merely states a fact.
• “The planet is getting so crowded we may
have to take turns sitting down.”
– This sentence expresses the same idea, yet it is
consciously exaggerated.
Hyperbole is the most popular and commonly
used rhetorical devices in the entire world of
rhetorical devices!
It is also, however, the most overused rhetorical
form. If you find yourself using hyperbole as a
way to avoid using actual figures, or to fill space,
rethink your strategy.
Hyperbole can be used when you want
to make a point strongly.
• “There are more reasons for NASA to fund a
trip to Jupiter than there are miles in the
journey.”
Hyperbole helps to energize the statement and
drive it home with gusto.
Hyperbole can help you to get your
reader to snap to attention and focus
on what you’re writing.
• “At these words, the people became so silent
you could hear a beating heart from across
the room.
Hyperbole can be used to break the trance your
reader has fallen into. Often hyperbole, through
metaphor, accomplishes this purpose best.
Hyperbole can be used to demonstrate
the difference between two things.
• “Compared to the world during the last Ice
Age, a Minnesota winter feels like spring in
Hawaii.”
Note how hyperbole can be used to exaggerate
differences.
Guided Practice: Write a statement using hyperbole about the
following topics; consider the best and worst thing you could say about
the topic, then exaggerate your statement.
• Example: “My neighborhood is so boring that when a
cat walks across the street, it draws a crowd.”
• School in general
• A friend’s athletic ability
• The weather
• Your favorite or least favorite team
• A television show
• A musical group
Group work
• Exchange your responses to the guided
practice. First, decide if each example works as
hyperbole. Then, try to identify how each
hyperbole is being used (e.g. to make a point
strongly, as a wake up call, or to exaggerate
differences.
Independent Practice
• Today you wrote In response to the prompt,
“Underneath it all…” You were asked to
include two strong examples of appositive
phrases (opener, subject-verb split, or closer).
Read over your writing to see if you included
hyperbole. If so, underline any clear
hyperbolic statements. If not, you know the
drill. Add at least two examples of hyperbole
to your journal entry.
The following lines represent the opening paragraph of Toni
Morrison’s Song of Solomon. For homework, write a response
to these lines.
1. "The North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance agent promised
to fly from Mercy"
2. "to the other side of Lake Superior at three o'clock. Two
days before the event"
3. "was to take place he tacked a note on the door of his little
yellow house:"
4. "At 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday the 18th of February, 1931, I
will take off from
Mercy and fly away on my own wings."
5. "Please forgive me. I loved you all. (signed) Robert Smith,
Ins. agent