Unit 1: Rhetoric and the Elements of Style

What is Rhetoric?

• When we talk about rhetoric, we are talking about language as a means of persuasion.
  • More specifically, rhetoric refers to the strategies an author uses to impact an audience and persuade them of a specific idea.
• The author uses X, which accomplishes Y and persuades the audience of Z.
• X: This variable represents the specific rhetorical strategies an author uses.
  • An author might use a metaphor or a simile, or they might use formal diction or very casual diction.
• Y: This variable refers to how the rhetorical strategies in the text impact the audience.
  • A catchy title is a rhetorical strategy designed to capture the audience’s attention.
• Audience: Audience refers to the individuals the speaker is trying to persuade.
  • More generally, it is the people who read (or hear, in the case of a speech) a text.
• Z: This variable represents a text’s theme or argument.
  • This is a developed idea an author wants to convey.
  • In other words, the theme is what the author is trying to persuade the audience of.

Rhetorical Strategies

• Rhetorical strategies describe how an author uses language to construct a text.
• “Rhetorical strategies” is a broad term, including basic diction and syntax, as well as more complicated uses of figurative language.

Diction

• The diction questions you’ll see on the test will ask you to evaluate why an author’s choice of words is particularly effective, apt, or clear.
• Often, the test will ask you to consider what style and/or tone an author’s use of diction develops.

Denotation and Connotation

• Denotation refers to a word’s primary or literal significance, while connotation refers to the vast range of other meanings that a word suggests.
• Context (and at times, author’s intent) determines which connotations may be appropriate for a word.
• An author will carefully pick a particular word for its connotations, knowing or hoping a reader will make an additional inference as a result.
• For example: I am looking at the sky.
  • The denotation of the underlined word should be as clear as a cloudless sky (the space, often blue, above the Earth’s surface).

Syntax

• Syntax is the ordering of words in a sentence; it describes sentence structure.
• Syntax in rhetorical strategies refers to the arrangement of words and phrases to achieve a desired effect.
• It is used strategically by speakers or writers to convey meaning and emotion, persuade an audience, emphasize key points, create a sense of cohesion between ideas, and craft arguments more effectively.
• For example:

Never was anything so gallant, so well outfitted, so brilliant, and so finely disposed as the two armies. The trumpets, fifes, reeds, drums, and cannon made such harmony as never was heard in Hell.

• The first sentence depicts a beautiful battle.
• The second begins similarly, but its phrases are structured to maximize the surprise at the end.
• Being the last item on a list of military musical instruments, the cannons are expected to fit well.
• It doesn't, but a new setup with the words "such harmony as never been heard…" distracts us before we can register our amazement.
• We expect harmony to be beautiful and start to give the concluding word (Earth? Heaven?) until Voltaire surprises us with Hell.

Figurative Language

• Figurative language is strictly defined as speech or writing that departs from literal meaning to achieve a special effect or meaning.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in
the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to
finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to
care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow

and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just
and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

• Do we literally interpret "to bind up the nation's wounds"? Certainly not.
• Lincoln has personalized our country to make the suffering of individuals understandable to all of us.
• What about "he who shall have borne the battle"? Lincoln's use of "his widow and his orphan" clarifies that "shall have borne the battle" meaning "shall have perished in battle."
• Instead of talking about this group's suffering, Lincoln talks about individual sacrifice, which he knows would touch his audience.

Imagery

• Imagery in figurative language is when an author uses vivid or metaphorical language to create a mental image that helps readers visualize what's being described.
• Some examples of imagery include metaphors, similes, personification, and onomatopoeia.

Hyperbole

• Hyperbole is overstatement or exaggeration; it is the use of figurative language that significantly exaggerates the facts for effect.
• In many instances, but certainly not all, hyperbole is employed for comic effect.
• For example: If you use too much figurative language in your essays, the AP readers will crucify you!
  • Clearly, this statement is a gross exaggeration; while the readers may give you a poor grade if you use figurative language that doesn’t suit the purposes of your essay, they will not kill you.

Understatement

• Understatement is figurative language that presents the facts in a way that makes them appear much less significant than they really are.
• Understatement is almost always used for comic effect.
• For example:

After dinner, they came and took into custody Doctor Pangloss
and his pupil Candide, the one for speaking his mind and the
other for appearing to approve what he heard. They were

conducted to separate apartments, which were extremely cool
and where they were never bothered by the sun.

• Taking the last statement literally will lead you wrong.
  • The understatement in this example ("They were brought to separate apartments, which were extremely cool and where they were never bothered by the sun") implies that the poor men were dumped into horrifyingly gloomy, dank, and frigid jail cells.
• Simile - A simile is a comparison between two unlike objects, in which the two parts are connected with a term such as like or as.
  • For example: The birds are like black arrows flying across the sky.
• Metaphor - A metaphor is a simile without a connecting term such as like or as.
  • For example: The birds are black arrows flying across the sky.
  • Birds are not arrows, but the commonalities (both are long and sleek, and
    they travel swiftly through the air—and both have feathers) allow us to
    easily grasp the image.
• Extended Metaphor - An extended metaphor is precisely what it sounds like—it is a metaphor that lasts for longer than just one phrase or sentence.
• For example:

During the time I have voyaged on this ship, I have avoided the
cabin; rather, I have remained on deck, battered by wind and
rain, but able to see moonlight on the water. I do not wish to go
below decks now.

• As strange as it may appear, this passage is not about maritime navigation.
  • The writer uses figurative language to deepen the metaphor of the ship's journey, which represents the passage of life.
  • On deck, you're exposed to the weather but can see beautiful sights.
  • The cabin is safe but not very exciting.
  • Having made the tough, hazardous, but gratifying option of staying on deck, it would be a personal failure to wish for the cabin's safety, comfort, and limited horizons later in life.
• Symbolism - A symbol is a concrete object that represents an abstract idea.
  • For example: The Christian soldiers paused to remember the lamb.
  • In this case, the lamb is a symbol.
  • The lamb is a concrete object that represents an abstract idea.
  • In this case, the lamb symbolizes the legacy of Jesus Christ.

Personification

• Personification is the figurative device in which inanimate objects or concepts are given the thoughts, feelings, or actions of a human.
• It can enhance our emotional response because we usually attribute more emotional significance to other humans than to things or concepts.
• For example:

He had been wrestling with lethargy for days, and every time
that he thought that he was close to victory, his adversary
escaped his hold.

• This figurative wrestling bout, in which lethargy is personified as the opponent to the author of this text, brings the conflict to life—human life.
  • If you don't accept this, consider the alternative: he attempted to quit being lethargic but failed.
  • This doesn't sound too lively.
• Anthropomorphism occurs when non-human objects are given the physical shape of a human, e.g., the legs of a table, the face of a clock, the arms of a tree.

Circumlocution and Euphemism

• Circumlocation is a form of communication in which the speaker's meaning is not directly expressed but implied, often through metaphors or other forms of figurative language.
• It can be used to build suspense, hide sensitive information, or simply express emotions and feelings more effectively than literal words can do.
• A euphemism is a word or words that are used to avoid employing an unpleasant or offensive term.

Paradox

• A paradox contains two elements which cannot both be true at the same time (although usually each one could be true on its own).
• The classic example is the Cretan Liar Paradox, attributed to the sixth- century BCE philosopher and poet Epimenides. He was from Crete, and his famous paradox says, “All Cretans are liars.”

Rhetorical Question

• A rhetorical question is a question whose answer is obvious; these types of questions do not need to be answered—and usually aren’t.
• Rhetorical questions attempt to prove something without actually presenting an argument; sometimes they’re used as a form of irony, in which something is stated, but its opposite is meant.
• For example:
  • Given how cheap the most fattening foods are, is it any wonder obesity is on the rise? (no irony)
  • Aren’t AP Exams great fun? (with irony)

Irony and Satire

• Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used to convey the opposite of their literal meaning.
• It can be used to make a point, add humor or emphasize something.

Verbal Irony

• Verbal irony refers to the process of stating something but meaning the opposite of what is stated.
  • In cases of verbal irony, the audience can anticipate the dialogue or specific language used in a text.
  • The author may use a common saying, situation, or emotional experience to build up the audience’s expectation.
  • For example, an author may describe an experience while shopping. When the author enters the store, the salesperson says, “Hello, how can you help me?” This would be ironic because the expectation is that the salesperson would say the opposite, “How can I help you?”
• Sarcasm is simply verbal irony used with the intent to injure.
  • It’s often impossible to discern between irony and sarcasm, and, more often than not, sarcasm is in the mind of the beholder.
  • For example, when someone says "That's great" but they mean something completely different.
• Situational Irony refers to a circumstance that runs contrary to what was expected.
  • For example: Suppose you live in Seattle during the rainy season and plan a vacation to sunny Phoenix. While you are in Phoenix, it rains every day there, but is sunny the entire week in Seattle.
• Satire - something is portrayed in a way that’s deliberately distorted to achieve comic effect.
  • Implicit in most satire is the author’s desire to critique what is being mocked.
  • Example: An example of satire would be Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal". In this essay, Swift suggests the Irish people should eat their own children in order to solve poverty and hunger. This proposal was obviously not meant to be taken seriously - it was intended as a way for Swift to mock the British government's indifference towards its citizens' plight.
• The following terms are similar, but not identical. Know the differences.
  • Satire: A social or political criticism that relies heavily on irony, sarcasm, and often humor
  • Parody: Imitation for comic effect
  • Lampoon: Sharp ridicule of the behavior or character of a person or institution
  • Caricature: A ludicrous exaggeration of the defects of persons or things

Style, Tone, and Mood

• Style is the general manner of expression used in a text.
  • It describes how the author uses language to get his or her point across (e.g., pedantic, scientific, or emotive).
• Tone describes the speaker’s attitude toward the subject.
  • Tone describes how the author seems to be feeling (e.g., optimistic, ironic, or playful).
• Mood describes how the text makes the audience feel.
• For example:

Our left fielder couldn’t hit the floor if he fell out of bed! After
striking out twice (once with the bases loaded!), he grounded
into a double-play. My grandmother runs faster than he does! In
the eighth inning, he misjudged a routine fly ball, which
brought in the winning run. What a jerk! Why didn’t the club

trade him last week when it was still possible? What’s wrong
with you guys?

• The style is simple, direct, unsophisticated, truculent, and even crass.
• The tone is angry, brash, emotional, and even aggressive.
• The mood is stressed and concerned.
• Pay close attention to the final sentence: The speaker accuses the audience directly with “you,” which could make the audience feel guilty, defensive, or angry.

Classical Appeals

• Logos is an appeal to reason and logic.
• An argument that uses logos to persuade needs to provide things like objective evidence, hard facts, statistics, or logical strategies such as cause and effect to back up its claim.
• Ethos is an appeal to the speaker’s credibility—whether he or she is to be believed on the basis of his or her character and expertise.
• Pathos is an appeal to the emotions, values, or desires of the audience.