Writing with Clarity and Style

Table of Contents

Introduction

vii

Chapter 1: Balance

1

  1.1 Parallelism

1

  1.2 Chiasmus

5

  1.3 Antithesis

7

  Style Check 1: Rhythm

9

  

Chapter 2: Emphasis I

11

  2.1 Climax

11

  2.2 Asyndeton

12

  2.3 Polysyndeton

14

  2.4 Expletive

15

  Style Check 2: Demetrius on Beginning and Ending Stress

18

  

Chapter 3: Emphasis II

21

  3.1 Irony

21

  3.2 Understatement

22

  3.3 Litotes

24

  3.4 Hyperbole

26

  Style Check 3: Emphatic Positioning

27

  

Chapter 4: Transition

29

  4.1 Metabasis

29

  4.2 Procatalepsis

30

  4.3 Hypophora

33

  Style Check 4: Tramsitions of Logic

35

  

Chapter 5: Clarity

39

  5.1 Distinctio

39

  5.2 Exemplum

41

  5.3 Amplification

42

  5.4 Metanoai

43

  Style Check 5: Clear vs. Opaque Writing

45

  

Chapter 6: Figurative Language I

47

  6.1 Simile

47

  6.2 Analogy

52

  6.3 Metaphor

54

  6.4 Catachresis

58

  Style Check 6: Demetrius on Metaphor

59

  

Chapter 7: Figurative Language II

63

  7.1 Metonymy

63

  7.2 Synecdoche

65

  7.3 Personification

68

  Style Check 7: Freshness

71

  

Chapter 8: Figurative Language III

73

  8.1 Allusion

73

  8.2 Eponym

75

  8.3 Apostrophe

76

  8.4 Transferred Epithet

78

  Style Check 8: Persona

80

  

Chapter 9: Syntax I

83

  9.1 Zeugma

83

  9.2 Diazeugma

84

  9.3 Prozeugma

85

  9.4 Mesozeugma

86

  9.5 Hypozeugma

87

  9.6 Syllepsis

88

  Style Check 9: Cumulative and Periodic Sentences

89

  

Chapter 10: Syntax II

93

  10.1 Hyperbaton

93

  10.2 Anastrophe

94

  10.3 Appositive

96

  10.4 Parenthesis

98

  Style Check 10: Parataxis and Hypotaxis

99

  

Chapter 11: Restatement I

103

  11.1 Anaphora

103

  11.2 Epistrophe

105

  11.3 Symploce

107

  Style Check 11: Demetrius on Short Senences for Emphasis

108

  

Chapter 12: Restatement II

111

  12.1 Anadiplosis

111

  12.2 Conduplicatio

112

  12.3 Epanalepsis

114

  Style Check 12: Style

115

  

Chapter 13: Restatement III

119

  13.1 Diacope

119

  13.2 Epizeuxis

120

  13.3 Antimetoble

122

  13.4 Scesis Onomaton

123

  Style Check 13: Demetrius on Increasing Vividness

124

  

Chapter 14: Sound

127

  14.1 Alliteration/P>

127

  14.2 Onomatopoeia

130

  14.3 Assonance

133

  14.4 Consonance

134

  Style Check 14: Texture

136

  

Chapter 15: Drama

139

  15.1 Rhetorical Question

139

  15.2 Aporia

141

  15.3 Apophasis

143

  15.4 Anacoluthon

144

  Style Check 15: The Levels of Style

146

  

Chapter 16: Word Play

149

  16.1 Oxymoron

149

  16.2 Pun

151

  16.3 Anthimeria

154

  Style Check 16: Tone

156

  

Appendix A: Rhetoric in Context I - Newspaper Editorial

159

Appendix B: Rhetoric in Context II - Business Memorandum

163

Appendix C: Rhetoric in Context III - Social Worker's Report About a Client

167

Appendix D: Rhetoric in Context IV - Graduate Shool Application Essay

171

Appendix E: Rhetoric in Context V - Short Story

175

Appendix F: Winston Churchill - A Speaker's Rhetoric

179

Overview