Rhetorical devices

Rhetorical question

A question that is not expected to be answered

Personal anecdote

A short story about an experience in the speaker’s life

Inclusive language

Using words such as ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’ and ‘them’

Tricolon

Repeating something three times with similar length and form

Emotive language

The use of select language and techniques

Anaphora

Repeating the beginning of a sentence

Simile

Comparing one thing to another using ‘like’ or ‘as’

Repetition

Saying something multiple times, be it a word or a phrase

Metaphor

Comparing one thing to another by saying it ‘is’

Rule of three

Repeating things three times, eg. Three adjectives, three body paragraphs

Sensory imagery

Using words and phrases that appeal to the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch

Humor

Using jokes and comedy

Trivialising

Using words like ‘just’, ‘simply’, ‘only’ and ‘hardly’

Personification

Applying human characteristics to something non-human / abstract ideas