What are Rhetorical
Strategies?
What is “rhetoric”?
 Rhetoric is the “art or study of effective
language.”
 Effective language is language used to an
effect – this includes writing that accomplished
the writer’s goal. The writer’s goal was to
communicate a specific idea.
 Therefore, rhetoric may be described as
“persuasive use of language” and “rhetorical
strategies” are techniques which writers use for
a particular effect.
Allusion/Reference
 This is a strong principle of advertising. People
connect people and ideas through juxtaposition.
If I want to convince you to wash your hands, I
may say, “thou shalt wash thy hands.” This
connects the idea of washing one’s hands to the
commandments. Many people respect the
commandments; therefore, those people will
begin to associate hand washing with the same
reverence given to a commandment.” This also
may seem a little funny to some people.
 Humor is another rhetorical technique.
Humor
 Humor can be used in very persuasive ways. It
can be used to “win you over,” to make you like
the writer and, therefore, like his or her ideas.
Humor comes in many forms.
 hyperbole (exaggeration)
 understatement
 irony (verbal, situational, dramatic, and cosmic)
 sacrasm
Attitude, Tone, or Mood
 These three literary terms are essentially the
same. You can think of an ATM machine to help
you remember them. They are by definition the
emotional feelings aroused by the chosen diction.
Sometimes you can tell the emotional state of the
writer (or the writing) by examining individual
words. Writers who choose diction as a means to
contribute to tone are using tone as a rhetorical
technique.
Here is a list of rhetorical strategies and their general
functions.
Device
Function
Analogy
To make a pointed comparison, often a very
powerful comparison
Metaphor
To make a pointed comparison, often a very
powerful comparison
Simile
To make a pointed comparison, often a very
powerful comparison
Hyperbole
deliberate exaggeration for emphasis; “I’m
so hungry I could eat a horse!”
Understatement or
litotes
opposite of hyperbole, intensifies an idea by
understatement; “Oh, it was nothing.”
Juxtaposition
the placing of contrasting settings,
characters, or other literary elements in
opposition between paragraphs or between
sections of text to highlight an intended
disparity.
Device
Function
Imagery
To illustrate an idea, a feelings, or the
particular qualities of something; to
produce a feeling or an idea
To create a memorable phrase
To lend authority to an idea, to make
an association with something the
reader knows
a form of a regular repetition of the
same word or phrase at the beginning
of successive phrases or strategically
placed paragraphs.
To create a memorable, powerful
effect, to reinforce an idea
a set of similarly structured words,
phrases, or clauses
Alliteration
Allusion
Anaphora
Repetition
Parallelism
Device
Function
Tone
the accumulated and implied attitude
toward the subject reached by analyzing
diction, detail, syntax, and all other
figurative language elements.
Undertone
To communicate an attitude towards the
subject that cuts beyond the attitude that
appears on the surface
Words with heavy
connotations
To cast the subject in a particular light, to
imply
Irony
the speaker means something other than
what is said; the unexpected; a difference
between what is stated to be literally true
and what the reader knows to be true
Paradox
a statement that appears to be
contradictory but, in fact, has some truth:
“He worked hard at being lazy.”
Device
Function
Anecdote
To provide a concrete example or humanize
an abstract event
Humor
To disarm the audience, diffuse hostility,
warm the reader to the writer’s ideas
Satire
To ridicule and inspire reform
Sarcasm, verbal irony
To ridicule or criticize
Invective (insulting or
abusive language)
To ridicule, chastise or convey contempt
Appeals to reason
(logic), emotion
(pathos), patriotism,
religion, ethics (ethos)
To provoke the audience to respond in a
particular way, to tap a reader’s values
Synecdoche
one word that makes the reader think of all
things in the class, so “all hands on deck”
refers to all helpers
Device
Function
Rhetorical question
To provoke the reader to respond or to
think, or to lead them to the next idea
Short, staccato sentences
To call attention to an idea
Antithesis
the placing of opposing or contrasting ideas
and/or words within the same sentence or
very close together to emphasize their
disparity
Asyndeton
conjunctions are omitted, producing fastpaced and rapid prose to speed up the
reader so as to have the reader experience
the events along with the persona in a rapid
succession
Polysyndeton
the use of many conjunctions has the
opposite effect of asyndeton; it slows the
pace of the reader
Device
Function
Paralipsis
the device of giving emphasis by
professing to say little or nothing about a
subject, as in not to mention their unpaid
debts of several million.
To draw attention to something while
pretending no to do so . A kind of irony.
Narrative pace
To convey energy or intense feelings ( or
lack thereof)