Epitasis is the addition of a concluding sentence that merely emphasizes what has already been stated. A kind of amplification. Example: Eat your sandwich. All of it. Anesis is the opposite of epitasis. It adds a concluding sentence that diminishes the effect of what was said previously. Examples: The little dog is cute and obedient. […]
Rhetorical Device Polysyndeton
The rhetorical device, polysyndeton, is the opposite of asyndeton, the term I explained in my last post. Asyndeton omits conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. Polysyndeton adds several conjunctions in close succession between each word, phrase, or clause without commas. It makes the sentence slower and the items more emphatic than in asyndeton. The repetition […]
Asyndeton, a Rhetorical Device
Rhetorical Devices attract and hold attention with words. Asyndeton is one in which conjunctions are omitted deliberately from a series. Julius Caesar eliminated “and” when he said, “I came. I saw. I conquered.” Asyndeton produces a hurried rhythm in a sentence. It creates a concise, dramatic effect. Abraham Lincoln used asyndeton when he said, “of […]
More about Author Shannon Brown
In my previous post, I interviewed Shannon Brown who has two novel excerpts in my anthology, WRITTEN ACROSS THE GENRES. She attends our writers group in Dublin, CA. As the teacher, I give ten minute exercises to practice what we’ve discussed. Here is Shannon’s ideas about writing with some rhetorical devices. Disneyland is fun in […]
Anadiplosis and When to Use It
Anadiplosis is a rhetorical device that repeats the last word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at, or very near, the beginning of the next sentence. The main point of the sentence becomes clear by repeating the same word twice in succession. An example from HADA’S FOG: “Hada’s immediate reaction to Lilli’s announcement wasn’t […]
Power of Three in Writing
“Writers Talk” is the monthly newsletter of the South Bay Branch of The California Writers Club. In the June issue, Marjorie Bicknell Johnson, the editor, wrote an article titled “Power of Three”. She explains that “Information presented in groups of three sticks in our heads better than other clusters of items”. The use of a […]