Rhetorical Devices/Smil ey Face

Ideas developed by Mary Ellen Ledbetter Powerpoint created by Gwen S. Thibadeau Revised and Editted by T. Bowman

Why use Smiley Face Tricks???

These writing techniques are common tools that ALL authors use.

They are proven to add personality, voice, style, and reader interest.

Tricolon (Magic 3)

A technique using three words, phrases, or clauses written in parallel form and in succession.

Also referred to as Parallel Structure.

Tricolon

   A Tricolon (sometimes called the 'Rule of Threes') is really more of a general principle than a rhetorical technique, but it is very effective. For some reason, the human brain seems to absorb and remember information more effectively when it is presented in threes.

There's a reason there were three Musketeers, why Goldilocks didn't meet four bears in the woods, why Charlie didn't employ only two Angels and why Curly, Larry & Mo didn't have 'and George ' tagged on.

Tricolon--Example After school each day, I typically drive home with my children, complete homework, and talk about the day.

One Of President Obama's Favorites  There are twenty two Tricolon examples used in his inauguration speech alone and fourteen in his speech in Prague (to take two speeches at random)! Here are a few:     “ I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.

” “ Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint." “ Few would have imagined that the Czech Republic would become a free nation, a member of NATO, a leader of a united Europe.

” “ Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something ”

Tricolon – Example

 Before: We watched the confetti.

 After: “We watched the confetti fall from the sky, skip across the ground in the breeze, and tumble into the canal.” (Green, The Fault in Our Stars, 163)  Your Turn: We watched.

Hyphenated Modifier

A compound adjective or adverb created by hyphenating multiple words together that work as one word.

HM--Example Some of her students sat in their why-do-I-have-to be-here postures while others exuded eagerness.

Hyphenated Modifier

 Literary Example: “I slumped seated against a wall, heaving watered-down coughs.” (Green, 200) The Fault in Our Stars,  Your turn: I slumped.

Imagery/Specifi c Details Also known as imagery, this technique appeals to the senses and includes enough detail to allow the reader to identify with the description.

Imagery/SD--Example

“ The autumn leaves blew over the moonlit pavement in such a way as to make the girl who was moving there seem fixed to a sliding walk, letting the motion of the wind and the leaves carry her forward. [...] The trees overhead made a great sound of letting down their dry rain.

” ― Ray Bradbury , Fahrenheit 451

Imagery/SD--Example

“ The greatest of funeral fires wound up to the

clouds, it roared in front of the mound. Heads melted, wounds burst open, while blood gushed forth from the gashes in the

bodies. […] Their mightiest men had departed.

” (unknown, Beowulf)

Imagery/SD--Example

It was about forty yards to the gallows. I watched the bare brown back of the prisoner marching in front of me. He walked clumsily with his bound arms, but quite steadily, with that bobbing gait of the Indian who never straightens his knees. At each step his muscles slid neatly into place, the lock of hair on his scalp danced up and down, his feet printed themselves on the wet gravel. And once, in spite of the men who gripped him by each shoulder, he stepped slightly aside to avoid a puddle on the path.

It is curious, but till that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle, I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide. This man was not dying, he was alive just as we were alive. All the organs of his body were working--bowels digesting food, skin renewing itself, nails growing, tissues forming--all toiling away in solemn foolery. His nails would still be growing when he stood on the drop, when he was falling through the air with a tenth of a second to live. His eyes saw the yellow gravel and the gray walls, and his brain still remembered, foresaw, reasoned--reasoned even about puddles. He and we were a party of men walking together, seeing, hearing, feeling, understanding the same world; and in two minutes, with a sudden snap, one of us would be gone--one mind less, one world less.

("A Hanging" by George Orwell)

Imagery/SD

Your turn: Expand using imagery/specific details for effect.

-Write about a favorite holiday memory.

Repetition for Effect

As a rhetorical device, it could be a word, phrase, full sentence, or a poetical line, repeated to emphasize its significance in the entire text.

Rep. for Effect: Anaphora

  Anaphora: A rhetorical device that repeats the same word or words at the beginning of two+ successive phrases or clauses, often alongside PARALLELISM and using a TRICOLON.

“ For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and travelled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and ploughed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn ” – (Barack Obama)

Anaphora

 "But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land" – (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Rep. for Effect: Epiphora

(also known as Epistrophe):  

Definition: A rhetorical device that repeats the same word or phrase at the end of two+ successive phrases or clauses.

"A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break the bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight!" King Aragorn (from the movie 'The Return of the King’)

Rep. for Effect: Epiphora

(also known as Epistrophe):   "It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can. It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can. It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness:Yes, we can.” (Barack Obama)

Epiphora--Example

When all of my friends made fun of me for falling down the stairs, you didn the game, you didn ’ made me sit on the bench, you didn ’ ’ t. When everyone else had left me out of t. When the team t. When all of the soldiers came home from the war, you didn ’ t.

Rep. for Effect

 Your turn: Use anaphora & epiphora to add emphasis to your writing.

 Describe a someone who is a hero to you.

Figurative Language

 This technique finds new and creative ways to describe people, places, things, and ideas.

 Similes—metaphors—hyperbole— personification, etc.

 It incorporates fresh and creative similes and metaphors, not clichés.

FL-

Example

She graduated. It was not until then that she realized what freedom really was. Finally, she was soaring through the air, wings spread wide.

Figurative Language

 “ Night came walking through Egypt swishing her black dress.

” ― Zora Neale Hurston , Moses, Man of the Mountain

Figurative Language

Your turn: -Write a sentence personifying one of the following:  peace  death  morning

Elaboration/ Expanded Moment

This technique involves the writer leaving the main story line to go into the character ’ s/reader ’ s mind and explain a related experience or idea.

Elaboration/EM Example

After the car accident, I held my father

’

s head cradled in my lap. I talked to him and tried to keep him conscious for as long as possible. I reminded him of the time we went fishing, and as we tried to load the boat onto the trailer, he slipped and fell, scattering fish all in the mud on the edge of the lake. I stood by the truck and laughed as he struggled to stand up. Suddenly, I heard the police sirens, and I told my father as he struggled to keep his eyes open that help was almost here. He died before the police arrived.

Elaboration/Expanded Moment

Speak

Count to twenty. Now imagine walking into Starbucks. As you make your way up to the counter, the delicate smell of brewing coffee arouses your senses. You politely ease your way through the herd of people gathered in front of the register and meet the eyes of the cashier. She acknowledges your presence with a slight nod as irritable grunts set in around you. You open your mouth to begin speaking, but nothing comes out. Silence. You continue to stand there, lips spread wide. Embarrassment overtakes you as the herd glares in your direction. The cashier remains motionless, unsure of how to cope with the silence. As time stretches onwards, your cheeks burn with shame. The herd begins to giggle uneasily, and some even go as far as to point. Twenty seconds pass before you are able to break the silence with a mumbled, "M-M-M-M-May I h-h-have a g-g-grande l l-l-latte?" With an awkward smile, the cashier reaches for your gift card, and you retreat with your head tucked deep into your chest.

It was moments like these that made me truly ashamed of who I was. Ever since the age of six, I have stuttered. And before I traveled to Munich this past summer, I wished every morning that I would wake up without my stutter. I would often avoid answering the phone, even conversing with my family, anything to abstain from speaking. I was terrified of what other people would think of me when I stuttered, and so in an attempt to escape humiliation, I would simply keep quiet. Yet, I could no longer live my life running from the opportunities I so fervently desired to experience. I craved to be myself, to do the things that I wanted to do, regardless of my stutter. And so I gathered the courage to spend three weeks alone in Germany.

Elaboration/Expanded Moment

See also: Weisel , Night (pp. 57-58) Your turn: Describe a time of deep emotion in your life, whether it was a time of deep pain, deep regret, deep fear, deep joy, etc. Slow down and expand the moment for your reader.

Elaboration/Expanded Moment

Exercise: Write a scene where you wake up in a dark house after hearing an odd sound. Expand the moment to build suspense.

Humor

Writers use humor for many reasons... not only to create a connection with the reader and cause him/her to laugh, but also to lighten the mood in a tense or serious situation.

Humor—Example

Sitting at the funeral home waiting for the services to begin, the old man knew what he would miss most about his wife of sixty years: her lying in bed waving the covers up and down, giggling as she vented her toot.

Humor—Example

"And you—yes, you, Justin—were the guilty party who, after I took off my shoes to enjoy the hot pavement in early spring, put a frog in them. Of course, I didn't look at the shoes when I put them back on; it was the squish that gave your prank away." (Liz)

Humor

 Exercise: Write a paragraph that places a character in an environment or situation you wouldn't expect him to be. Example: A city boy in a ballet class or a pig in a chicken coop. Exaggerate the circumstances to create humor.

Full Circle Ending

Writers will often begin a piece of writing with a key word or phrase, develop the piece, and will bring the reader back to the key word or phrase at the ending.

FCE--Example

She was fat and happy. The day she gave birth to her first child was amazing. Everything was perfect. The child had a beautiful head of hair, all ten fingers and toes, and slept rather than crying like most babies do. Now, as an old woman sitting in her favorite chair visiting with three of her great grandchildren, again she was fat and happy.

Full-Circle Ending

 Title: Seeing With the Heart  Concluding sentence: “You never realize how terrific a moment can be until you see it with your heart.” (Meeker, Seeing with the Heart )

Full-Circle Ending

 Introduction: “One of the cool things about being Mike Weir is that you get to do whatever you want on Mike Weir Day, which Utah governor Michael Leavitt declared on May 12, 2003.”  Conclusion: “Weir was happy with his game as he left Chicago, but he was happier to be heading home, where every day is Mike Weir Day.” (Sports Illustrated)

Full-Circle Ending

Your turn: Revise a Quick Write in your working portfolio to include a full-circle ending.

Rhetorical Question

 Definition: A rhetorical question is asked just for effect or to lay emphasis on some point discussed when no real answer is expected

Rhetorical Question

  “What made you think of love and tears and birth and death and pain?” (Stewart, Creation) “ Will no one tell me what she sings?” (Wordsworth, The Solitary Reaper)

Practice Makes Perfect!!!

 For the remainder of class ASSIGNMENT: A 300-400 word descriptive narrative essay about a time in your life when you made a choice that did not make you feel good. You may want/need to embellish (to improve by adding details; often fictitious details.) the story a bit. The idea is for you to tell a story that is both descriptive and entertaining. Use 5-7 Smiley Face Tricks in your essay. Have fun with this. Remember, the first step in writing an essay is to BRAINSTORM. Methods of brainstorming: stream of consciousness writing and list-making

Asyndeton

 Definition: a stylistic device used to intentionally omit conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses.

 “He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, a maniac.” (Kerouac, On the Road)