An Expletive, Indeed

Usually I have the pleasure of writing these blogs from my home but today is a little different because my pc is down. Cost to fix it is too expensive to talk about. But I'm here at the Toronto Public Library and it’s nice. I can even see the place where my PC is getting fixed through the window. I also had the rare coincidence of sitting down right in front of a book that I read about four times in '98. It’s called the Iron Dragons Daughter. It was a good read, no a great read, one of the best and I’ll return to it this summer. I was always fascinated by the intellect of the author and his ability to create an entire world so full of details that bear no resemblance to our own, that the feeling of reading it was one of being immersed in a lukewarm pool. His skill as a writer, no doubt, came from years of practice.

Friend, may I warn you that this blog is long? I think this will help you decide how far to in which to wade. Like a swimmer who knows his limits you can decide just how far and how deep you need to go to gain your own satisfaction of mental fitness. I decided to post the rhetorical devices. I came across on this site http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm. Professor Kuin is always referring to them and it may help you to have some knowledge of them when you’re trying to string together words of interest. Rogers’s favourite device Gradatia is posted as Climax but the meaning is the same. I at first tried to combine them in unique ways to make a more efficient way for people to remember them:

An Expletive, indeed.

Asyndeton improves, moves, suggests, illuminates.

Polysyndeton can and will and shall and may do the same if it doesn’t cause the opposite effect.

Understatement is best for modesty since we write to persuade and not to offend. Placing the intellectualizing into the hands of the reader most often works best.

Litotes will serve to make you appear not the fool in challenging discourse. Denying the opposite is never easy.

After a while, though, I got tired of it and decided you can take the original descriptions of these devices and figure out your own ways of etching them into your memory The list of devices, all sixty of them are listed, follows this paragraph. The original is 60 pages long (Who does that!?). I've tried to shorten it for efficency of meaning, no one should have to go through what I went through ever again! Highlights of the site include a self-test that you can employ at the end for your own benefit. The devices fall into three general categories of Focus, Form and Beauty. The author also suggests that you write to persuade and not to offend. The best advice was just to read more good books and your skill at these devices will develop on their own.

But knowledge of the devices won’t kill you either or should I say not anymore, medical practice being what it is today.




Rhetorical Devices
1. Expletive is a single word or short phrase, usually interrupting normal syntax, used to lend emphasis to the words immediately proximate to the expletive. 2. Asyndeton consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. In a list of items, asyndeton gives the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity can be energetic
3. Polysyndeton is the use of a conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause, and is thus structurally the opposite of asyndeton.
4. Understatement deliberately expresses an idea as less important than it actually is, either for ironic emphasis or for politeness and tact.
5. Litotes, a particular form of understatement, is generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which otherwise would be used.
6. Parallelism is recurrent syntactical similarity. Several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed similarly to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in importance. Parallelism also adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence.
7. Chiasmus might be called "reverse parallelism," since the second part of a grammatical construction is balanced or paralleled by the first part, only in reverse order. "What is learned unwillingly is forgotten gladly," you could write, "What is learned unwillingly is gladly forgotten." 8. Zeugma includes several similar rhetorical devices, all involving a grammatically correct linkage (or yoking together) of two or more parts of speech by another part of speech. The main benefit of the linking is that it shows relationships between ideas and actions more clearly. ‘Pride opresseth humility; hatred love; cruelty compassion.’ –Peacham. ‘His father, to comfort him, read him a Commentary on Ecclesiastes, which he had himself composed, and which demonstrated incontrovertibly that all is vanity. --Thomas Love Peacock.
9. Antithesis establishes a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure. ‘To err is human; to forgive, divine.’ –Pope
10. Anaphora is the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and with parallelism.
11. Epistrophe (also called antistrophe) forms the counterpart to anaphora, because the repetition of the same word or words comes at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences: ‘Where affections bear rule, there reason is subdued, honesty is subdued, good will is subdued, and all things else that withstand evil, for ever are subdued.’ --Wilson
12. Anadiplosis repeats the last word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at or very near the beginning of the next. it can be generated in series for the sake of beauty or to give a sense of logical progression. ‘Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,/ Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain . . . .’ --Philip Sidney
13. Conduplicatio resembles anadiplosis in the repetition of a preceding word, but it repeats a key word (not just the last word).
14. Epanalepsis repeats the beginning word of a clause or sentence at the end. The beginning and the end are the two positions of strongest emphasis in a sentence, so by having the same word in both places, you call special attention to it.
15. Hypophora consists of raising one or more questions and then proceeding to answer them, usually at some length.
16. Rhetorical question (erotesis) differs from hypophora in that it is not answered by the writer, because its answer is obvious or obviously desired, and usually just a yes or no.
17. Procatalepsis, by anticipating an objection and answering it, permits an argument to continue moving forward while taking into account points or reasons opposing either the train of thought or its final conclusions.
18. Metabasis consists of a brief statement of what has been said and what will follow. It might be called a transitional summary.
19. Distinctio is an explicit reference to a particular meaning or to the various meanings of a word, in order to remove or prevent ambiguity. ‘To make methanol for twenty-five cents a gallon is impossible; by "impossible" I mean currently beyond our technological capabilities.’
20. Amplification involves repeating a word or expression while adding more detail to it, in order to emphasize what might otherwise be passed over. Allows you to call attention to, emphasize, and expand a word or idea to make sure the reader realizes its importance or centrality in the discussion.
21. Scesis Onomaton emphasizes an idea by expressing it in a string of generally synonymous phrases or statements. While it should be used carefully, this deliberate and obvious restatement can be quite effective. ‘Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that deal corruptly. --Isaiah 1:4
22. Apophasis (also called praeteritio or occupatio) asserts or emphasizes something by pointedly seeming to pass over, ignore, or deny it.
23. Metanoia (correctio) qualifies a statement by recalling it (or part of it) and expressing it in a better, milder, or stronger way.
24.Aporia expresses doubt about an idea or conclusion. Among its several uses are the suggesting of alternatives without making a commitment to either or any
25. Simile is a comparison between two different things that resemble each other in at least one way. Using like or as.
26. Analogy compares two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea ‘because people by what they understand are best led to what they understand not’. --George Herbert
27. Metaphor compares two different things by speaking of one in terms of the other. Unlike a simile or analogy, metaphor asserts that one thing is another thing, not just that one is like another. Very frequently a metaphor is invoked by the to be verb
28. Catachresis is an extravagant, implied metaphor using words in an alien or unusual way. ‘I will speak daggers to her’—Hamlet
29. Synecdoche is a type of metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, the whole for a part.
30. Metonymy metaphor through proximate association.
31. Personification metaphorically represents an animal or inanimate object as having human attributes.
32. Hyperbole, the counterpart of understatement, deliberately exaggerates conditions for emphasis or effect.
33. Allusion is a short, informal reference to a famous person or event
34. Eponym substitutes for a particular attribute the name of a famous person recognized for that attribute
35. Oxymoron is a paradox reduced to two words
36. Epithet is an adjective or adjective phrase appropriately qualifying a subject (noun) by naming a key or important characteristic of the subject, as in "laughing happiness," "sneering contempt," "untroubled sleep,"
37. Hyperbaton includes several rhetorical devices involving departure from normal word order. The adjective follows the noun. If you want to amplify the adjective, the inversion is very useful. 38. Parenthesis, a final form of hyperbaton, consists of a word, phrase, or whole sentence inserted as an aside in the middle of another sentence:
39. Alliteration is the recurrence of initial consonant sounds.
40. Onomatopoeia is the use of words whose pronunciation imitates the sound the word describes. "Buzz," for example
41. Apostrophe interrupts the discussion or discourse and addresses directly a person or personified thing, ‘O books who alone are liberal and free, who give to all who ask of you and enfranchise all who serve you faithfully!’ -- Richard de Bury
42. Enthymeme. The usual form of this logical shorthand omits the major premise: He is an American citizen, so he is entitled to due process. [All American citizens are entitled to due process.]
43. Climax (gradatio) consists of arranging words, clauses, or sentences in the order of increasing importance, weight, or emphasis. Parallelism usually forms a part of the arrangement, because it offers a sense of continuity, order, and movement-up the ladder of importance.
44. Diacope: repetition of a word or phrase after an intervening word or phrase.
45. Antimetabole: reversing the order of repeated words or phrases. ‘Ask not what you can do for rhetoric, but what rhetoric can do for you.’
46. Antiphrasis: one word irony, established by context:
47. Epizeuxis: repetition of one word (for emphasis):
48. Aposiopesis: stopping abruptly and leaving a statement unfinished.
49. Anacoluthon: finishing a sentence with a different grammatical structure from that with which it began. Usually highlighted with a break.
50. Enumeratio: detailing parts, causes, effects, or consequences to make a point more forcibly. 51. Antanagoge: placing a good point or benefit next to a fault criticism, or problem in order to reduce the impact or significance of the negative point.
52. Parataxis: writing successive independent clauses, with coordinating conjunctions, or no conjunctions.
53. Hypotaxis: using subordination to show the relationship between clauses or phrases
54. Sententia: quoting a maxim or wise saying to apply a general truth to the situation.
55. Exemplum: citing an example; using an illustrative story, either true or fictitious:
56. Pleonasm: using more words than required to express an idea; being redundant.
57. Assonance: similar vowel sounds repeated in successive or proximate words containing different consonants
58. Dirimens Copulatio: mentioning a balancing or opposing fact to prevent the argument from being one-sided or unqualified.
59. Symploce: ‘To think clearly and rationally should be a major goal for man; but to think clearly and rationally is always the greatest difficulty faced by man.’
60. Appositive: a noun or noun substitute placed next to (in apposition to) another noun to be described or defined by the appositive. ‘Henry Jameson, the boss of the operation, always wore a red baseball cap.’