Quora Answer: How Do I Use Rhetorical Devices in Writing English?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “How do I use rhetorical devices in English writing?”

Depending on how you define them, there are almost a hundred literary devices in English.  And within each, there may be several distinct subdivisions.  As such, it would take a book to define every literary device, and detail how to use them.  When it comes to writing, it helps to consider the structure of your argument, and the point you want to bring across, and emphasise.  This would dictate the sort of rhetorical device you use.

When you want to highlight the importance of a point, you may consider the use of hyperbole, epizeuxis, irony, or emphasis.  To illustrate the point, you may consider the use of proverbs, idioms, metaphors, or similes.  Quotations are an excellent means to borrow credibility to buttress your position.  In some cases, humour, self-deprecating or otherwise, is especially effective.

When you have structured your argument, you want the reader to be convinced of its merits.  This means reinforcing the point in a poetic manner.  This is when you use alliterations, allusions, assonance, anaphoras, and epiphoras.  It is important that there is some form of synoptic parallelism, or antithesis, to consistently hammer home that point.  This is a mark of many significant speeches, such as the Gettysburg Address, or the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech.

Aside from the use of literary devices, it helps to write well.  This means being consistent in grammar, with a distinctive style appropriate to the audience being addressed.  One of the considerations is to ensure that sentences are not too long.  Avoid the use of too many conjunctions, because this makes the sentences difficult to read.  While being oblique, at times, may infuse a sense of mystery and suspense, it is often better to be direct, and explicit.  You need to consider that balance.