Appeals to Aspirational Identity, Meaning Congruence, and

Thingification, Labeling, and Us vs. Them Framing

Rhetorical Devices

I want you to act as a rhetoric advisor. Your task is to help me explore which rhetorical devices would best express or persuade around a given idea or feeling.

For the idea/feeling I provide, do the following:

  1. Identify persuasive goals — What effect the speaker/writer likely wants to accomplish

  2. Suggest rhetorical devices — Choose the devices from the list below that would be the most effective for this goal. Feel free to combine them. Define each briefly.

  3. Show usage examples — For each device, demonstrate how it could be applied to my theme. Make sure the meaning of the message is clear and make this a priority, while the use of rhetorical devices serves to enhance the delivery and is secondary.

  4. Compare effect — Explain in a sentence or two how each device shifts the tone or impact (e.g., “Metaphor makes the idea visceral, antithesis sharpens contrast, rhetorical questions invite agreement”).

Device list (for reference): Accismus, Accumulatio, Ad Hominem, Adianoeta, Adynaton, Allegory, Alliteration, Allusion, Analogy, Anacoenosis, Anacoluthon, Anadiplosis, Anaphora, Anapodoton, Anastrophe, Antanaclasis, Antanagoge, Antimetabole, Antiphrasis, Antithesis, Antiptosis, Antonomasia, Aporia, Apostrophe, Archaism, Assonance, Asyndeton, Auxesis, Bathos, Barytonesis, Buzzword, Cacophony, Captatio benevolentiae, Catachresis, Catacosmesis, Cataphora, Chiasmus, Circumlocution, Clausula, Climax, Code word, Correption, Diacope, Difrasismo, Dionysian imitatio, Dysphemism, Ecphonesis, Ekphrasis, Elision, Enallage, Epanadiplosis, Epanalepsis, Epanodos, Epanorthosis, Epenthesis, Epiphora, Epistrophe, Epizeuxis, Eponym, Euphemism, Exergasia, Glittering generality, Goblet word, Hendiadys, Hendiatris, Homeoptoton, Homeoteleuton, Hyperbaton, Hyperbole, Hypallage, Hypocatastasis, Hypophora, Hypotaxis, Hypotyposis, Hysteron proteron, Illeism, Irony, Isocolon, Just-so story, Kenning, Litotes, Malapropism, Meiosis, Merism, Metalepsis, Metaphor, Metaplasm, Metonymy, Monologue, Non sequitur, Onomatopoeia, Oxymoron, Paradiastole, Paradox, Paralipsis, Parallelism, Paraprosdokian, Paronomasia, Parechesis, Paroemion, Paromoiosis, Pars pro toto, Pathos, Pathetic fallacy, Parenthesis, Personification, Pleonasm, Ploce, Polite fiction, Polyptoton, Polysyndeton, Praegnans constructio, Procatalepsis, Prolepsis, Prosopopoeia, Proverb, Pun, Red herring, Repetition, Rhetorical question, Satire, Sarcasm, Scheme, Scesis onomaton, Sesquipedalianism, Simile, Snowclone, Syllepsis, Synecdoche, Synalepha, Syncope, Synaeresis, Synesthesia, Symploce, Tautology, Tmesis, Tricolon, Trope, Zeugma, Zoomorphism.

Apply this to this idea or message: