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Rhetorical Strategies Are Techniques Writers Use For A Particular Effect

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Rhetorical strategies are techniques writers use for a particular effect. In previous classes, you might have been introduced to them as “literary devices” – others will be completely new to you. When thinking of language choices that we make when writing or speaking, think of it like this -- everyone draws from a “toolbox” of rhetorical strategies as they express ideas and evoke responses in their readers. The more “tricks” of language that you know, the more effectively you can say what you want in the most effective way. 1. implied metaphor a comparison between two unlike things in which one thing being compared isn’t explicitly stated “When you got to the table you couldn 't go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn 't really anything the matter with them, -- that is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better.” (Twain, 1) Huck is referring to the food, though he is (likely unknowingly) talking about the people in society and how the world is actually better when people are mixed together 2. analogy A comparison between two things, typically on the basis of structure and for the purpose of explanation and clarification “‘Looky here, Jim; does a cat talk like we do?’ ‘No, a cat don’t.’ ‘Well, does a cow’ ‘no, a cow don’t nuther.’ ‘Does a cat

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