Rhetorical Devices and Their Functions

repetition

• to create a memorable effect

• to spark the audience's imagination

• to produce a feeling or idea

• a memorable phrase

metaphor

• to spark the audience's imagination

• to produce a feeling or idea

• to make a pointed comparison

• to make an association with something the reader knows

description

• to create a memorable phrase

• to concretize a particular idea, fact, or feeling

• to communicate an attitude towards a subject

• emotionally charged language

hyperbole

• to make an idea clear and easy to remember

• to create a memorable phrase

• to produce a feeling or idea

• to cast something in a strong light

diction

• to reinforce an idea

• emotionally charged language

• to create a memorable, powerful effect

• to make an idea clear and easy to remember

understatement

• to concretize a particular idea, fact, or feeling

• to spark the audience's imagination

• to point out an apparent contradiction

• to convey complexity

juxtaposition

• to convey complexity

• to point out an apparent contradiction

• to call attention to extremes

• to make a pointed comparison

tone

• to call attention to an idea, to make a quick point

• to communicate an attitude towards a subject

• to make fine distinctions or for clarifying differences

• to make an idea clear and easy to remember

appeal to ethics

• to provide a concrete example or humanize an abstract concept

• to diffuse hostility and warm the audience to the writer's ideas

• to convince the audience that the author is an authority on the topic and merits attention

• to tap into a reader's values

to reinforce an idea

• anaphora

• parallelism

• description

• list