rhetorical techniques
Tools of persuasion
Rhetorical techniques are methods used to make speech or writing more persuasive, memorable, or effective.
The term covers a broad range of devices—from structural choices like repetition and parallelism to figurative language like metaphor and irony.
The candidate's speech was full of rhetorical techniques designed to stir emotion.
Studying rhetoric means learning to recognize and deploy these tools.
- toneQuality of sound
- alliterationMatching initial consonants
- antithesisDirect opposite; contrasting juxtaposition
- chiasmusInverted parallel construction
- analogyExplanatory likeness between things
voice · emotional appeal · zeugma · syllogism · ethos · epistrophe · litotes · pause · enumeration · anaphora · hyperbole · parallelism · rule of three · oxymoron · inductive reasoning · understatement · cadence · juxtaposition
rhetorical techniquesplain speech
Unembellished verbal expression
plain language · direct speech · bare facts · unvarnished truth
rhetorical techniquesraw data
Unanalyzed collected information
bare facts · mathematical proof · empirical evidence · technical documentation · scientific notation