Is it just chance that the most famous businessmen and women of the Gilded Age were born within half a decade of each other? Or did they all get swept up in an era that resulted in more income accumulation than any point in American history? I most recently used this technique in this article when asking you to ponder the idea of multiple discovery:
I actually don’t know why questions (rhetorical or otherwise) work so well, but it seems like when multiple questions are asked in succession, eloquence emerges. Why do questions work well as rhetorical devices? Is it because you get the reader to think about something more deeply? Is it because it makes the reader come to the same conclusion that you want them to come to? Is this string of questions making my point?
I will admit that isocolon is not used as much in modern writing, but when the circumstances are right, use this to send a powerful message. in the song “ No Limit.” Her entire verse (more or less) repeats the same 3 syllable structure, and it works. But, you know who else used this technique marvelously? Cardi B. This was one of Josh’s most read pieces ever (yes, I did run the numbers to verify this) and you can see why. Look at his vicious isocolon game when concluding “ The Year of Living Dangerously“: I don’t use this technique too often, but someone that does (and better than just about anyone else) is Josh Brown. Violets are blue.” The syllable structure is 2-1-1, 2-1-1. The simplest form of this is, “Roses are red. So instead of repeating the same word or phrase, you would repeat the same number of syllables in a phrase. Isocolon is the repetition of grammatical structure. Follow A RhythmĪnother easy way to keep your audience’s attention, especially when you are passionate about something, is to use isocolon. Therefore, I recommend sprinkling parallelism throughout your work for a touch of eloquence without distracting from your overall message. By repeating the same phrase more than 3 times you put much more focus on the phrase itself instead of the content it is discussing. It’s almost too powerful…With anaphora people always remember the opening words, but they usually forget the rest.Īnd he is right, if you overuse it. However, despite the eloquence of anaphora, Forsyth warns how it can be abused:īut anaphora is dangerous. used it in his “ I Have A Dream” speech, and I just used it in this very sentence. Winston Churchill used it in his “ We shall fight on the beaches” speech, Martin Luther King Jr. I don’t know why, but it’s just that easy. My next favorite rhetorical technique is called anaphora or parallelism, and it is simply starting each sentence with the same word or phrase. So, I oblige you, when making lists, use the rule of three. It asked 3 questions, though I never planned on doing that. In all the lives you could be living, in all of the worlds you could simulate, how much did luck play a role in this one? Have you gotten more than your fair share? Have you had to deal with more struggles than most? Check out this excerpt from one of my most popular posts: I have engrained this rhetorical device so deeply into my writing that I don’t even notice when I use it anymore. It is everywhere in our society, so your best bet as a communicator is to follow suit. This is why real estate agents say, “Location, location, location,” why Arnold Schwarzenegger’s autobiography repeated the theme of Reps, Reps, Reps, and why Jim Cramer says:
Why does the number three work so well in lists? I don’t know, but anytime you are making lists, if you can, go with three. The funny thing is, once you learn these rhetorical techniques you will start seeing them EVERYWHERE. Most of these tips are taken from The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase by Mark Forsyth, which I highly recommend you buy if you want to improve your writing. I can’t help you think up useful analogies or find intriguing stories, but I can show you some rhetorical techniques to make you sound more eloquent. I started deliberately using certain rhetorical techniques to have more eloquent writing.This is one of the most effective teaching methods I know and I highly recommend it when trying to explain or discuss a complex topic. I started using stories and analogies to explain concepts.How did this transformation occur? Two things: But, you will notice that I got a lot better starting in late 2017. Just read this post, this post or this one.
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