College Composition / Unit 29 CMP 0701 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Rhetorical Devices
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The idea
Rhetorical devices are language choices writers use to organize, emphasize and add force to their writing.
In practice
Common devices include figurative language, repetition, parallel structure, rhetorical questions, personification, numerical data, hyperbole and understatement.
Where people slip
Spotting a device is the first step; the analysis lies in explaining what it does for the argument.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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