Writing with Clarity and Style Writing with Clarity and Style, second edition, will help you to improve your writing dramatically. The book shows you how to use dozens of classical rhetorical devices to bring power, clarity, and effectiveness to your writing. You will also learn about writing styles, authorial personas, and sentence syntax as tools to make your writing interesting and persuasive. If you want to improve the appeal and persuasion of your speeches, this is also the book for you.
From strategic techniques for keeping your readers engaged as you change focus, down to the choice of just the right words and phrases for maximum impact, this book will help you develop a flexible, adaptable style for all the audiences you need to address. Each Chapter Now Includes These Sections ♦ Style Check, discussing many elements of style, including some enhanced and revised sections. ♦ Define Your Terms, asking students to use their own words and examples in their definitions. ♦ It’s in the Cloud, directing students to the Web to locate and respond to various rhetorically focused items, including biographies and speeches.
♦ Salt and Pepper, spicing up the study of rhetoric by stretching students’ thinking about how their writing can be improved, sometimes by attending to details such as punctuation, and sometimes by exploring the use of unusual techniques such as stylistic fragments. ♦ Review Questions, providing an end-of-chapter quiz to help cement the chapter ideas in long-term memory. ♦ Questions for Thought and Discussion, a set of questions designed for either in-class discussion or personal response. New to the Second Edition ♦ Additional examples of each device, including from world personalities and the captains of industry.
♦ More and longer exercises, with a range of difficulty. ♦ Advice from classical rhetoricians including Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Cicero, and Quintilian. Harris (PhD, University of California, Riverside) taught English at college and university level for more than 25 years. He has also worked in the area of instructional design.
Dr Harris’ other books include Using Sources Effectively: Strengthening Your Writing and Avoiding Plagiarism (now in its fifth edition), and The Plagiarism Handbook: Strategies for Preventing, Detecting, and Dealing with Plagiarism. Writing with Clarity and Style A Guide to Rhetorical Devices for Contemporary Writers Second Edition Robert A. Harris Second edition published 2018 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 Taylor & Francis The right of Robert A. Harris to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Pyrczak Publishing 2001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Harris, Robert A.
Title: Writing with clarity and style : a guide to rhetorical devices for contemporary writers / Robert A.Other titles: Guide to rhetorical devices for contemporary writers Description: Second edition. | New York, NY : Routledge, [2018] | Previous edition published in 2003. Identifiers: LCCN 2017036072| ISBN 9781138560109 (Hardback) | ISBN 9781138560093 (Paperback) | ISBN 9780203712047 (eBook) Subjects: LCSH: English language—Style. | English language—Rhetoric.
Classification: LCC PE1421 .042—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.gov/2017036072 ISBN: 978-1-138-56010-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-56009-3 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-71204-7 (ebk) Typeset in Book Antiqua by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents Tables xi Introduction 1 The Method 3 The Names and Terms 3 New to the Second Edition 3 Acknowledgments 4 Chapter 1 Balance 5 Parallelism 5 Chiasmus 8 Antithesis 10 Style Check 1: Rhythm 12 Define Your Terms 1 12 It’s in the Cloud 1: Losing Distinction 12 Salt and Pepper 1: Titles 13 Review Questions 13 Questions for Thought and Discussion 14 Chapter 2 Emphasis I 15 Climax 15 Asyndeton 16 Polysyndeton 18 Sentential Adverb 19 Style Check 2: Demetrius on Beginning and Ending Stress 22 Define Your Terms 2 23 It’s in the Cloud 2: Demetrius 23 Salt and Pepper 2: Coordinating Conjunctions 23 Review Questions 24 Questions for Thought and Discussion 25 Chapter 3 Emphasis II 27 Irony 27 Understatement 29 Litotes 30 Hyperbole 32 Style Check 3: Emphatic Positioning 33 Define Your Terms 3 34 It’s in the Cloud 3: Email Etiquette 34 Salt and Pepper 3: Stylistic Fragments 35 Review Questions 35 Questions for Thought and Discussion 36 v Chapter 4 Transition 37 Metabasis 37 Procatalepsis 39 Hypophora 42 Style Check 4: Transitions of Logic 45 Define Your Terms 4 46 It’s in the Cloud 4: Writing Analysis Apps 46 Salt and Pepper 4: A Pari and A Fortiori 46 Review Questions 47 Questions for Thought and Discussion 48 Chapter 5 Clarity 49 Distinctio 49 Exemplum 51 Amplification 53 Metanoia 54 Style Check 5: Clear Versus Opaque Writing 55 Define Your Terms 5 56 It’s in the Cloud 5: Aristotle 56 Salt and Pepper 5: The Rhetoric of Punctuation 56 Review Questions 58 Questions for Thought and Discussion 58 Chapter 6 Syntax I 61 Zeugma 61 Diazeugma 62 Prozeugma 63 Mesozeugma 65 Hypozeugma 66 Syllepsis 68 Style Check 6: Cumulative and Periodic Sentences 69 Define Your Terms 6 71 It’s in the Cloud 6: The Rhetoric of Advertising 71 Salt and Pepper 6: A Banquet of Rhetoric 71 Review Questions 71 Questions for Thought and Discussion 72 Chapter 7 Syntax II 73 Hyperbaton 73 Anastrophe 75 Appositive 77 Parenthesis 79 Style Check 7: Parataxis and Hypotaxis 80 Define Your Terms 7 82 vi It’s in the Cloud 7: Subordinating Conjunctions 82 Salt and Pepper 7: Cooking Rice 82 Review Questions 83 Questions for Thought and Discussion 84 Chapter 8 Figurative Language I 85 Simile 85 Analogy 89 Metaphor 91 Catachresis 95 Style Check 8: Demetrius on Metaphor 97 Define Your Terms 8 98 It’s in the Cloud 8: Effective Blog Posts 98 Salt and Pepper 8: Pleonasm 98 Review Questions 99 Questions for Thought and Discussion 100 Chapter 9 Figurative Language II 101 Metonymy 101 Synecdoche 104 Personification 106 Style Check 9: Freshness 109 Define Your Terms 9 109 It’s in the Cloud 9: Quintilian 110 Salt and Pepper 9: Euphemism 110 Review Questions 111 Questions for Thought and Discussion 112 Chapter 10 Figurative Language III 113 Allusion 113 Eponym 115 Apostrophe 117 Transferred Epithet 118 Style Check 10: Persona 120 Define Your Terms 10 121 It’s in the Cloud 10: Structured Writing 121 Salt and Pepper 10: Pompous Proverbs 121 Review Questions 122 Questions for Thought and Discussion 123 Chapter 11 Restatement I 125 Anaphora 125 Epistrophe 127 Simploce 129 vii Style Check 11: Demetrius on Using Short Sentences 131 Define Your Terms 11 132 It’s in the Cloud 11: Ethos 132 Salt and Pepper 11: Anaphora With Prefixes and Suffixes 133 Review Questions 133 Questions for Thought and Discussion 134 Chapter 12 Restatement II 135 Anadiplosis 135 Conduplicatio 136 Epanalepsis 138 Style Check 12: What Is Style? 140 Define Your Terms 12 141 It’s in the Cloud 12: Longinus 141 Salt and Pepper 12: Using Semicolons and Commas 141 Review Questions 143 Questions for Thought and Discussion 144 Chapter 13 Restatement III 147 Diacope 147 Epizeuxis 148 Antimetabole 150 Scesis Onomaton 151 Style Check 13: Demetrius on Increasing Vividness 153 Define Your Terms 13 154 It’s in the Cloud 13: Cicero 154 Salt and Pepper 13: Metaphor Challenge 154 Review Questions 154 Questions for Thought and Discussion 156 Chapter 14 Sound 157 Alliteration 157 Onomatopoeia 160 Assonance 162 Consonance 164 Style Check 14: Texture and Tone 165 Define Your Terms 14 166 It’s in the Cloud 14: George Orwell 167 Salt and Pepper 14: The Marriage of Sound and Sense 167 Review Questions 168 Questions for Thought and Discussion 169 Chapter 15 Drama 171 Rhetorical Question 171 Aporia 173 viii Apophasis 175 Anacoluthon 177 Style Check 15: The Levels of Style 178 Define Your Terms 15 178 It’s in the Cloud 15: Writing Generators 179 Salt and Pepper 15: Who’s Who 179 Review Questions 179 Questions for Thought and Discussion 180 Chapter 16 Word Play 181 Oxymoron 181 Pun 183 Anthimeria 186 Style Check 16: The Future of Style 187 Define Your Terms 16 189 It’s in the Cloud 16: Reading Grade Level 189 Salt and Pepper 16: Did You Say Rhetoric? 190 Review Questions 190 Questions for Thought and Discussion 190 Appendix A Rhetoric in Context I. Blog Posting 193 Appendix B Rhetoric in Context II. Business Email 197 Appendix C Rhetoric in Context III. Counselor’s Report About a Client 201 Appendix D Rhetoric in Context IV.
Graduate School Application Essay 205 Appendix E Rhetoric in Context V. Short Story 209 Appendix F Winston Churchill—A Speaker’s Rhetoric 213 Index 217 ix Tables 2.1 Intensifiers for Litotes 31 4.1 Sample Phrases for Using Metabasis 38 4.2 Example Phrases for Procatalepsis 41 4.3 Example Question Stems and Other Frames for Hypophora 44 4.4 Transitions of Logic 45 4.5 Example Phrasings for a Fortiori Arguments 47 5.1 Sample Phrases for Introducing Distinctio 51 5.2 Sample Phrases for Introducing Exemplum 52 5.3 Words and Phrases for Metanoia 55 6.1 Examples for Schemes of Syntax 69 7.1 Example Subordinating Conjunctions 81 8.1 Some Methods for Constructing Similes 88 8.2 Example Methods for Constructing Metaphors 94 9.1 A Sampling of Metaphors and Similes Turned Cliché 109 9.2 A Sampling of Questionable Euphemisms 110 9.3 Euphemisms for Firing Employees 111 10.2 Examples of Metaphorical Epithets 118 10.3 Adjectives and Nouns 120 11.1 Diagrams for Schemes of Restatement 130 12.1 Diagrams for Schemes of Restatement I and II 139 12.2 Words Used to Describe Various Writing Styles 140 13.1 Sample Ways to Use Epizeuxis 150 14.1 Examples of Traditional Onomatopoeic Words 161 14.2 Examples of Nontraditional Onomatopoeic Words 162 14.3 Examples of Two-Word Consonance 164 14.4 Examples of Robust Consonance 165 15.1 Example Phrases for Aporia 175 15.2 Example Phrases for Apophasis 176 xi Introduction It has been said that those who have exercised the greatest care in writing textbooks of rhetoric have been the furthest removed from genuine eloquence. —Quintilian Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: “Not another textbook! And worse, it’s about rhetoric! Isn’t that a bunch of lies made attractive, as when people say, ‘That’s just a bunch of rhetoric’? Why would I want to learn that?” Well, let me begin my answer with a thought experiment. ♦ Suppose you are hired by a nonprofit organization to write a newsletter to raise money to send some basic tools to poor farmers in a third-world country.
How can you write the newsletter―telling only the truth―in such a way that will make it not merely impactful but persuasive to the point of moving your readers to donate? ♦ Or suppose you’re hired to write the script for an educational video explain- ing photosynthesis to middle-school students. Available to you is a collection of stock video shots, a narrator, and a list of the basic concepts. How can you write the script in such a way that will grab attention at the start, maintain interest throughout, and produce learning up to the end? ♦ Or suppose you decide to support a political candidate working on a campaign. Your candidate is bright, honest, good looking, and can “do Teleprompter” very well, but hasn’t a clue about how to put a speech together.
How can you write a speech for such a candidate that will be powerful, informative, moving, and quotable? Okay, so you’ve already guessed the answer I’m going to give you: learn well the con- tents of this book.