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Not to be confused with Adwaita.
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Adi Guru Shri Gauḍapādāchārya, the grand guru of Shri Adi Shankaracharya and the first historical proponent of Advaita Vedanta, also believed to be the founder of Shri Gaudapadacharya Math
Advaita Vedanta (IAST Advaita Vedānta;(Malayalam: അദ്വൈത വെതാന്തം), Sanskrit अद्वैत वेदान्त; IPA: [əd̪ʋait̪ə ʋeːd̪ɑːnt̪ə]) is a sub-school of the Vedānta (literally, end or the goal of the Vedas, Sanskrit) school of Hindu philosophy.[1] Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and Viśishṭādvaita. Advaita (literally, non-duality) is a monistic system of thought. "Advaita" refers to the identity of the Self (Atman) and the Whole (Brahman).[2]
The key source texts for all schools of Vedānta are the Prasthanatrayi—the canonical texts consisting of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras. The first person to explicitly consolidate the principles of Advaita Vedanta was Adi Shankara,[3] while the first historical proponent was Gaudapada, the guru of Shankara's guru Govinda Bhagavatpada. Advaita takes its heart from Tamil Shaiva Siddhantha [4]
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Adi Shankara
* 2 Prerequisites
o 2.1 The necessity of a Guru
o 2.2 Sādhana Chatuṣṭaya
* 3 Epistemology
o 3.1 Pramāṇas
* 4 Ontology
o 4.1 Kārya and kāraṇa
o 4.2 Kārya-kāraṇa ananyatva
* 5 Salient features of Advaita Vedanta
o 5.1 Three levels of truth
o 5.2 Brahman
o 5.3 Māyā
+ 5.3.1 Status of the world
o 5.4 Īshvara
+ 5.4.1 Status of God
o 5.5 Ātman
o 5.6 Salvation
o 5.7 Theory of creation
o 5.8 Status of ethics
* 6 The impact of Advaita
* 7 Mahavakya
* 8 List of texts
* 9 List of teachers
* 10 See also
* 11 Notes
* 12 References
* 13 External links
[edit] Adi Shankara
For more details on this topic, see Adi Shankara.
Adi Shankara consolidated the Advaita Vedanta, an interpretation of the Vedic scriptures that was approved and accepted by Gaudapada and Govinda Bhagavatpada siddhānta (system). Continuing the line of thought of some of the Upanishadic teachers, and also that of his own teacher's teacher Gaudapada, (Ajativada), Adi Shankara expounded the doctrine of Advaita — a nondualistic reality.
He wrote commentaries on the Prasthana Trayi. A famous quote from Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, one of his Prakaraṇa graṃthas (philosophical treatises) that succinctly summarises his philosophy is:[5]
Brahma satyaṃ jagat mithyā, jīvo brahmaiva nāparah — Brahman is the only truth, the world is illusion, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and individual self
This widely quoted sentence of his is also widely misunderstood.[citation needed] In his metaphysics, there are three tiers of reality with each one more real than the previous. The category illusion in this system is unreal only from the viewpoint of the absolutely real and is different from the category of the Absolutely unreal. His system of vedanta introduced the method of scholarly exegesis on the accepted metaphysics of the Upanishads, and this style was adopted by all the later vedanta schools. Another distinctive feature of his work is his refusal to be literal about scriptural statements and adoption of symbolic interpretation where he considered it appropriate. In a famous passage in his commentary on the Brahmasutra's of Badarayana, he says "For each means of knowledge {PramaNam} has a valid domain. The domain of the scriptures {Shabda PramaNam} is the knowledge of the Self. If the scriptures say something about another domain - like the world around us - which contradicts what perception {Pratyaksha PramaNam} and inference {Anumana PramaNam} (the appropriate methods of knowledge for this domain) tells us, then, the scriptural statements have to be symbolically interpreted..."
Adi Shankara's contributions to Advaita are crucial. His main works are the commentaries on the Prasthanatrayi (Brahma Sūtras, Bhagavad Gītā and the Upanişads) and the Gaudapadiya Karikas. He also wrote a major independent treatise, called Upadeśa Sāhasrī, expounding his philosophy.
[edit] Prerequisites
[edit] The necessity of a Guru
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Advaita vedānta requires anyone seeking to study advaita vedānta to do so from a Guru (teacher).[6] The Guru must have the following qualities (see Mundaka Upanishad 1.2.12):
1. Śrotriya — must be learned in the Vedic scriptures and sampradaya
2. Brahmaniṣṭha — literally meaning established in Brahman; must have realised the oneness of Brahman in everything and in himself
The seeker must serve the Guru and submit questions with all humility in order to remove all doubts (see Bhagavad Gita 4.34). By doing so, advaita says, the seeker will attain moksha (liberation from the cycle of births and deaths).
According to Adi Shankara, knowledge of brahman springs from inquiry into the words of the Upanishads, and the knowledge of brahman that shruti provides cannot be obtained in any other way. It is the teacher who through exegesis of shruti and skillful handling of words generates a hitherto unknown knowledge in the disciple. The teacher does not merely provide stimulus or suggestion.[7]
See also: Guru-shishya tradition
[edit] Sādhana Chatuṣṭaya
Any mumukṣu (one seeking moksha) has to have the following four sampattis (qualifications), collectively called Sādhana Chatuṣṭaya Sampatti (the fourfold qualifications):
1. Nityānitya vastu viveka — The ability (viveka) to correctly discriminate between the eternal (nitya) substance (Brahman) and the substance that is transitory existence (anitya).
2. Ihāmutrārtha phala bhoga virāga — The renunciation (virāga) of enjoyments of objects (artha phala bhoga) in this world (iha) and the other worlds (amutra) like heaven etc.
3. Śamādi ṣatka sampatti — the sixfold qualities of śama (control of the antahkaraṇa[8][9]), dama (the control of external sense organs), uparati (the refraining from actions; instead concentrating on meditation[citation needed]), titikṣa (the tolerating of tāpatraya), śraddha (the faith in Guru and Vedas), samādhāna (the concentrating of the mind on God and Guru).
4. Mumukṣutva — The firm conviction that the nature of the world is misery and the intense longing for moksha (release from the cycle of births and deaths).
Adi Shankara states in Tattva bodha (1.2) that moksha, or liberation, is available only to those possessing the above-mentioned fourfold qualifications. Thus any seeker wishing to study advaita vedānta from a teacher must possess these.
[edit] Epistemology
[edit] Pramāṇas
Pramā, in Sanskrit, refers to the correct knowledge, arrived at by thorough reasoning, of any object. Pramāṇa (means of knowledge, Sanskrit) forms one part of a tripuṭi (trio), namely,
1. Pramātṛ, the subject; the knower of the knowledge
2. Pramāṇa, the cause or the means of the knowledge
3. Prameya, the object of knowledge
In Advaita Vedānta, the following pramāṇas are accepted:
* Pratyakṣa — the knowledge gained by means of the senses
* Anumāna — the knowledge gained by means of inference
* Upamāna — the knowledge gained by means of analogy
* Arthāpatti — the knowledge gained by superimposing the known knowledge on an appearing knowledge that does not concur with the known knowledge
* Āgama — the knowledge gained by means of texts such as Vedas (also known as Āptavākya, Śabda pramāṇa)
[edit] Ontology
[edit] Kārya and kāraṇa
The kārya (effect) and kāraṇa (cause) form an important area for investigation in all the systems of Vedanta. Two kāraṇatvas (ways of being the cause) are recognised:
1. Nimitta kāraṇatva — Being the instrumental cause. For example, a potter is assigned Nimitta kāraṇatva as he acts as the maker of the pot and thus becomes the pot's instrumental cause.
2. Upādāna kāraṇatva — Being the material cause. For example, the mud is assigned Upādāna kāraṇatva as it acts as the material of the effect (the pot) and thus becomes the pot's material cause.
Advaita assigns Nimitta kāraṇatva to Brahman with the statements from the Vedas (only two are given below):
Sarvāṇi rūpāṇi vicitya dhīraḥ. Nāmāni kṛtvābhivadan yadāste — That Lord has created all the forms and is calling them by their names (Taitiiriya Aranyaka 3.12.7)
Sa īkṣata lokānnu sṛjā iti — He thought, “Let Me create the worlds” (Aitareya Upanishad[10] 1.1.1)
Advaita also assigns Upādāna kāraṇatva to Brahman vide the statements from the Vedas (only two are given below):
Yathā somyaikena mṛtpinḍena sarvaṃ mṛnmayaṃ vijñātaṃ syādvācāraṃbhaṇaṃ vikāro nāmadheyaṃ mṛttiketyeva satyaṃ — Dear boy, just as through a single clod of clay all that is made of clay would become known, for all modifications is but name based upon words and the clay alone is real (Chandogya Upanishad[11] 6.1.4)
Sokāmayata bahu syāṃ prajāyeti — (He thought) Let me be many, let me be born (Taittiriya Upanishad[12] 2.6.4)
The Chandogya Upanishad[11] 6.2.1 states
Ekamevādvitīyaṃ — It is One without a second
Thus, based on these and other statements found in the Vedas, Advaita concludes that Brahman is both the instrumental cause and the material cause.
[edit] Kārya-kāraṇa ananyatva
Advaita states that kārya (effect) is non-different from kāraṇa (cause). However kāraṇa is different from kārya. This principle is called Kārya-kāraṇa ananyatva (the non-difference of the effect from the cause). To elaborate,
* If the cause is destroyed, the effect will no longer exist. For example, if from the effect, cotton cloth, the cause, threads, are removed, there will be no cloth, i.e., the cloth is destroyed. Similarly if in the effect, thread, the cause, cotton, is removed, there will be no thread, i.e., the thread is destroyed. This is brought out by Adi Shankara in the Brahmasūtra Bhāṣya , commentary on the Brahma sutra,[13] 2.1.9, as:
Ananyatve'pi kāryakāraṇayoḥ kāryasya kāraṇātmatvaṃ na tu kāraṇasya kāryātmatvaṃ — Despite the non-difference of cause and effect, the effect has its self in the cause but not the cause in the effect. The effect is of the nature of the cause and not the cause the nature of the effect. Therefore the qualities of the effect cannot touch the cause.
* During the time of its existence, one can easily grasp that the effect is not different from the cause. However that the cause is different from the effect is not readily understood. As to this, it is not really possible to separate cause from effect. But this is possible by imagining so. For example, the reflection of the gold ornament seen in the mirror is only the form of the ornament but is not the ornament itself as it (the reflection) has no gold in it at all. Adi Shankara says in the Chāṃdogya Upaniṣad Bhāṣya, commentary on the Chandogya Upanishad, 6.3.2:
Sarvaṃ ca nāmarūpādi sadātmanaiva satyaṃ vikārajātaṃ svatastu anṛtameva — All names and forms are real when seen with the Sat (Brahman) but are false when seen independent of Brahman.
This way Advaita establishes the non-difference of effect from cause. To put it in a nutshell,
Kārya is not different from kāraṇa; however kāraṇa is different from kārya
In the context of Advaita Vedanta,
Jagat (the world) is not different from Brahman; however Brahman is different from Jagat
[edit] Salient features of Advaita Vedanta
[edit] Three levels of truth
* The transcendental or the Pāramārthika level in which Brahman is the only reality and nothing else;
* The pragmatic or the Vyāvahārika level in which both Jiva (living creatures or individual souls) and Iswara are true; here, the material world is also true, and,
* The apparent or the Prāthibhāsika level in which material world reality is actually false, like illusion of a snake over a rope or a dream.
[edit] Brahman
According to Adi Shankara, God, the Supreme Cosmic Spirit or Brahman (pronounced [ˈbrəh.mən]; nominative singular Brahma, [ˈbrəh.mə]) is the One, the whole and the only reality. Other than Brahman, everything else, including the universe, material objects and individuals, are false. Brahman is at best described as that infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, incorporeal, impersonal, transcendent reality that is the divine ground of all Being. Brahman is often described as neti neti meaning "not this, not this" because Brahman cannot be correctly described as this or that. 'It' (grammatically neutral, but exceptionally treated as masculine)is the origin of this and that, the origin of forces, substances, all of existence, the undefined, the basis of all, unborn, the essential truth, unchanging, eternal, the absolute. How can it be properly described as something in the material world when itself is the basis of reality? Brahman is also beyond the senses, it would be akin a blind man trying to correctly describe color. It, though not necessarily a form of physical matter, is the substrate of the material world, which in turn is its illusory transformation. Brahman is not the effect of the world. Brahman is said to be the purest knowledge itself, and is illuminant like a source of infinite light.
Due to ignorance (avidyā), the Brahman is visible as the material world and its objects. The actual Brahman is attributeless and formless (see Nirguna Brahman). It is the Self-existent, the Absolute and the Imperishable. Brahman is actually indescribable. It is at best "Satchidananda" (merging "Sat" + "Chit" + "Ananda", i.e., Infinite Truth, Infinite Consciousness and Infinite Bliss). Also, Brahman is free from any kind of differences or differetiation. It does not have any sajātīya (homogeneous) differentiation because there is no second Brahman. It does not have any vijātīya (heterogeneous) differentiation because there is nobody in reality existing other than Brahman. It has neither svagata (internal) differences, because Brahman is itself homogeneous.
Adi Shankara also proposed some logical proofs:
* Shruti — the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras describe Brahman in almost exact manner as Adi Shankara. This is the testimonial proof of Brahman.
* Psychological — every person experiences his soul, or atman. According to Adi Shankara, Atman = Brahman. This argument also proves the omniscience of the Brahman.
* Teleological/Intelligent Design — the world appears very well ordered; the reason for this cannot be an unconscious principle. The reason must be due to the Brahman. (Similar to Albert Einstein's famous words: "God does not play dice.")
* Essential — Brahman is the basis of this created world.
* Perceptible feeling — many people, when they achieve the turīya state, claim that their soul has become one with everything else.
Georg Feuerstein summarizes the advaita realization as follows: "The manifold universe is, in truth, a Single Reality. There is only one Great Being, which the sages call Brahman, in which all the countless forms of existence reside. That Great Being is utter Consciousness, and It is the very Essence, or Self (Atman) of all beings." [14]
[edit] Māyā
Māyā (/mɑːjɑː/) According to Adi Shankara, Māyā is the complex illusionary power of Brahman which causes the Brahman to be seen as the material world of separate forms. Maya has two main functions — one is to "hide" Brahman from ordinary human perception, and the other is to present the material world in its (Brahmam) place. Māyā is also said to be indescribable, though it may be said that all sense data entering ones awareness via the five senses are Māyā, since the fundamental reality underlying sensory perception is completely hidden. It is also said that Māyā is neither completely real nor completely unreal, hence indescribable. Its shelter is Brahman, but Brahman itself is untouched by the illusion of Māyā, just like a magician is not tricked by his own magic. Māyā is temporary and is transcended with "true knowledge," or perception of the more fundamental reality which permeates Māyā.
Since according to the Upanishads only Brahman is real, and yet the material world is seen as real, Adi Shankara explained the anomaly by the concept of this illusionary power of Māyā.
[edit] Status of the world
Adi Shankara says that the world is not real(true), it is an illusion, but this is because of some logical reasons. Let us first analyse Adi Shankara's definition of Truth, and hence why the world is not considered real(true).
* Adi Shankara says that whatever thing remains eternal is true, and whatever is non-eternal is untrue. Since the world is created and destroyed, it is not real(true).
* Truth is the thing which is unchanging. Since the world is changing, it is not real(true).
* Whatever is independent of space and time is real(true), and whatever has space and time in itself is real(true).
* Just as one sees dreams in sleep, he sees a kind of super-dream when he is waking. The world is compared to this conscious dream.
* The world is believed to be a superimposition of the Brahman. Superimposition cannot be real(true).
On the other hand, Adi Shankara claims that the world is not absolutely unreal(false). It appears unreal(false) only when compared to Brahman. In the pragmatic state, the world is completely real—which occurs as long as we are under the influence of Maya. The world cannot be both true and false at the same time; hence Adi Shankara has classified the world as indescribable. The following points suggest that according to Adi Shankara, the world is not false (Adi Shankara himself gave most of the arguments, Sinha, 1993):
* If the world were unreal(false), then with the liberation of the first human being, the world would have been annihilated. However, the world continues to exist even if a human attains liberation.
* Adi Shankara believes in Karma, or good actions. This is a feature of this world. So the world cannot be unreal(false).
* The Supreme Reality Brahman is the basis of this world. The world is like its reflection. Hence the world cannot be totally unreal(false).
* False is something which is ascribed to nonexistent things, like Sky-lotus. The world is a logical thing which is perceived by our senses.
Consider the following logical argument. A pen is placed in front of a mirror. One can see its reflection. To one's eyes, the image of the pen is perceived. Now, what should the image be called? It cannot be true, because it is an image. The truth is the pen. It cannot be false, because it is seen by our eyes.
[edit] Īshvara
Īshvara (pronounced [ˈiːʃvərə], literally, the Supreme Lord) — According to Advaita Vedanta, when man tries to know the attributeless Brahman with his mind, under the influence of Maya, Brahman becomes the Lord. Ishvara is Brahman with Maya — the manifested form of Brahman. Adi Shankara uses a metaphor that when the "reflection" of the Cosmic Spirit falls upon the mirror of Maya, it appears as the Ishvara or Supreme Lord. The Ishvara is true only in the pragmatic level. God's actual form in the transcendental level is the Cosmic Spirit.
Ishvara can be described as Saguna Brahman or Brahman with attributes that may be regarded to have a personality with human and Godly attributes. This concept of Ishvara is also used to visualize and worship in anthropomorphic form deities such as Shiva, Vishnu or Deviby the dvaitins which leads to immnese confusion in the understanding of a monistic concept of God apart from polytheistic worship of Vaishnava, Shiva and Shakti in Hinduism .
Now the question arises as to why the Ishvara created the world. If one assumes that Ishvara creates the world for any incentive, this slanders the wholeness and perfection of Ishvara. For example, if one assumes that Ishvara creates the world for gaining something, it would be against His perfection. If we assume that He creates for compassion, it would be illogical, because the emotion of compassion cannot arise in a blank and void world in the beginning (when only Ishvara existed). So Adi Shankara assumes that Creation is recreation or play of Ishvara. It is His nature, just as it is man's nature to breathe.
The sole proof for Ishvara that Adi Shankara gives is Shruti's mentions of Ishvara, as Ishvara is beyond logic and thinking. This is similar to Kant 's philosophy about Ishvara in which he says that "faith" is the basis of theism. However, Adi Shankara has also given few other logical proofs for Ishvara, but warning us not to completely rely on them:
* The world is a work, an effect, and so must have real cause. This cause must be Ishvara.
* The world has a wonderful unity, coordination and order, so its creator must have been an intelligent being.
* People do good and sinful work and get its fruits, either in this life or after. People themselves cannot be the giver of their fruits, as no one would give himself the fruit of his sin. Also, this giver cannot be an unconscious object. So the giver of the fruits of Karma is Ishvara. See, Karma in Hinduism for more information.
[edit] Status of God
To think that there is no place for a personal God (Ishvara) in Advaita Vedanta is not a misunderstanding of the philosophy. Ishvara is, in an ultimate sense, described as "false" because Brahman appears as Ishvara only due to the curtain of Maya. However, as described earlier, just as the world is true in the pragmatic level, similarly, Ishvara is also pragmatically true. Just as the world is not absolutely false, Ishvara is also not absolutely false. He is the distributor of the fruits of one's Karma. See, Karma in Hinduism for more information. Whenever we talk about Brahman, we are in fact talking about God. God is the highest knowledge theoretically possible. Devotion (Bhakti) will cancel the effects of bad Karma and will bring a person closer to the true knowledge by purifying his mind. Slowly, the difference between the worshipper and the worshipped decreases and upon true knowledge, liberation occurs.
[edit] Ātman
The swan is an important motif in Advaita. It symbolises two things: first, the swan is called hamsah in Sanskrit (which becomes hamso if the first letter in the next word is /h/). Upon repeating this hamso indefinitely, it becomes so-aham, meaning, "I am That". Second, just as a swan lives in water but its feathers are not soiled by water, similarly a liberated Advaitin lives in this world full of maya but is untouched by its illusion.
The soul or the self (Atman) is identical with Brahman. It is not a part of Brahman that ultimately dissolves into Brahman, but the whole Brahman itself. Now the arguers ask how the individual soul, which is limited and one in each body, can be the same as Brahman? Adi Shankara explains that the Self is not an individual concept. Atman is only one and unique. Indeed Atman alone is {Ekaatma Vaadam}. It is a false concept that there are several Atmans {Anekaatma Vaadam}. Adi Shankara says that just as the same moon appears as several moons on its reflections on the surface of water covered with bubbles, the one Atman appears as multiple atmans in our bodies because of Maya. Atman is self-proven, however, some proofs are discussed—e.g., a person says "I am blind", "I am happy", "I am fat" etc. The common and constant factor, which permeates all these statements is the "I" which is but the Immutable Consciousness. When the blindness, happiness, fatness are inquired and negated, "I" the common factor which, indeed, alone exists in all three states of consciousness and in all three periods of time, shines forth. This proves the existence of Atman, and that Consciousness, Reality and Bliss are its characteristics. Atman, being the silent witness of all the modifications, is free and beyond sin and merit. It does not experience happiness or pain because it is beyond the triad of Experiencer, Experienced and Experiencing. It does not do any Karma because it is Aaptakaama. It is incorporeal and independent.
When the reflection of atman falls on Avidya (ignorance), atman becomes jīva — a living being with a body and senses. Each jiva feels as if he has his own, unique and distinct Atman, called jivatman. The concept of jiva is true only in the pragmatic level. In the transcendental level, only the one Atman, equal to Brahman, is true.
Adi Shankara exposed the relative and thus unreal nature of the objective world and propounded the truth of the Advaita {One without a second} by analysing the three states of experience of the atman — waking (vaishvanara), dreaming (taijasa), and deep sleep (prajna).
[edit] Salvation
Advaitins believe that suffering is due to Maya, and only knowledge (called Jnana) of Brahman can destroy Maya. When Maya is removed, there exists ultimately no difference between the Jiva-Atman and the Brahman. Such a state of bliss when achieved while living is called Jivan mukti. While one is in the pragmatic level, one can worship God in any way and in any form, like Krishna or Ayyappa as he wishes, Adi Shankara himself was a proponent of devotional worship or Bhakti. But Adi Shankara believes that while Vedic sacrifices, puja and devotional worship can lead one in the direction of jnana, true knowledge, they cannot lead one directly to Moksha.
[edit] Theory of creation
In the relative level, Adi Shankara believes in the Creation of the world through Satkaryavada. It is like the philosophy of Samkhya, which says that the cause is always hidden into its effect—and the effect is just a transformation of the cause. However, Samkhya believes in a sub-form of Satkaryavada called Parinamavada (evolution) — whereby the cause really becomes an effect. Instead, Adi Shankara believes in a sub-form called Vivartavada. According to this, the effect is merely an apparent transformation of its cause — like illusion. e.g., In darkness, a man often confuses a rope to be a snake. But this does not mean that the rope has actually transformed into a snake.
At the pragmatic level, the universe is believed to be the creation of the Supreme Lord Ishvara. Maya is the divine magic of Ishvara, with the help of which Ishvara creates the world. The serial of Creation is taken from the Upanishads. First of all, the five subtle elements (ether, air, fire, water and earth) are created from Ishvara. Ether is created by Maya. From ether, air is born. From air, fire is born. From fire, water is born. From water, earth is born. From a proportional combination of all five subtle elements, the five gross elements are created, like the gross sky, the gross fire, etc. From these gross elements, the universe and life are created. This series is exactly the opposite during destruction.
Some people have criticized that these principles are against Satkaryavada. According to Satkaryavada, the cause is hidden inside the effect. How can Ishvara, whose form is spiritual, be the effect of this material world? Adi Shankara says that just as from a conscious living human, inanimate objects like hair and nails are formed, similarly, the inanimate world is formed from the spiritual Ishvara.
[edit] Status of ethics
Some claim that there is no place for ethics in Advaita, because everything is ultimately illusionary. But on analysis, ethics also has a firm place in this philosophy—the same place as the world and God. Ethics, which implies doing good Karma, indirectly helps in attaining true knowledge. The traditional ethical system put forth by Advaitins is that the basis of merit and sin is the Shruti (the Vedas and the Upanishads). Truth, non-violence, service of others, pity, etc. are Dharma, and lies, violence, cheating, selfishness, greed, etc. are adharma (sin). However, no authoritative definition of Dharma was ever formulated by any of the major exponents of Advaita Vedanta. Unlike ontological and epistemological claims, there is room for significant disagreement between Advaitins on ethical issues.
[edit] The impact of Advaita
Advaita rejuvenated much of Hindu thought and also spurred debate with the two main theistic schools of Vedanta philosophy that were formalized later: Vishishtadvaita (qualified nondualism), and Dvaita (dualism). Advaita further helped to merge the old Vedic religion with popular south-Asian cults/deities, thus making a bridge between higher types of practice (such as jnana yoga) and devotional religion of simple householders.
[edit] Mahavakya
Mahavakya, or "the great sentences", state the unity of Brahman and Atman. There are many such sentences in the vedas, but one sentence from each veda is usually chosen. They are shown below
Sr. No. Vakya Meaning Upanishad Veda
1 प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म (Prajñānam brahma) Consciousness is Brahman aitareya Rig Veda
2. अहं ब्रह्मास्मि (Aham brahmāsmi) I am Brahman brihadāranyaka Yajur Veda
3. तत्त्वमसि (Tat tvam asi) That thou art chhandogya Sama Veda
4. अयमात्मा ब्रह्म (Ayamātmā brahmā) This Atman is Brahman mandukya Atharva Veda
[edit] List of texts
See also: Works of Adi Shankara
Prasthānatrayī
Advaita Vedānta, like other Vedanta schools of Hindu philosophy, recognises the following three texts (known collectively as the Prasthānatrayī) of the Hindu tradition: Vedas- especially the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Brahma Sutras. Many advaitin authors, including Adi Shankara, have written Bhashyas (commentaries) on these texts. These texts are thus considered to be the basic texts of the advaita tradition.
Other texts
Other texts include, Advaita Siddhi,[15] written by Madhusudana Saraswati, Shankara Digvijaya — historical record of Adi Shankara's life accepted by scholars worldwide, Avadhuta Gita and Ashtavakra Gita. Among modern texts, Jnana yoga by Swami Vivekananda, and the Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo, with The Life Divine being the most prominent, deal with Advaita Vedanta.
Adi Shankara wrote Bhāṣya (commentaries) on
* Brahmasūtra
* Aitareya Upaniṣad (Rigveda)
* Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (Śukla Yajurveda)
* Īśa Upaniṣad (Śukla Yajurveda)
* Taittirīya Upaniṣad (Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda)
* Kaṭha Upaniṣad (Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda)
* Chāndogya Upaniṣad (Samaveda)
* Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Atharvaveda) and Gauḍapāda Kārika
* Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (Atharvaveda)
* Praśna Upaniṣad (Atharvaveda)
* Bhagavadgīta (Mahabhārata)
* Vishnu Sahasranama (Mahabhārata)
* Gāyatri Maṃtra
Adi Shankara wrote the following treatises
* Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Crest-Jewel of Discrimination)
* Upadeśasāhasri (A thousand teachings)
* Śataśloki
* Daśaśloki
* Ekaśloki
* Pañcīkaraṇa
* Ātma bodha
* Aparokṣānubhūti
* Sādhana Pañcakaṃ
* Nirvāṇa Śatakaṃ
* Manīśa Pañcakaṃ
* Yati Pañcakaṃ
* Vākyasudha
* Tattva bodha
* Vākya vṛtti
* Siddhānta Tattva Vindu
* Nirguṇa Mānasa Pūja
Adi Shankara composed many hymns on Ganesha, Shiva, Vishnu, Devi, Ganesha and Subrahmanya[2]
* Ganesha Pancharthnam (Mudakaratta Modakam..)
* Bhaja Govindaṃ, also known as Mohamuḍgara
* Śivānandalahiri
* Lingashtakam
* Saundaryalahiri
* Śrī Lakṣmīnṛsiṃha Karāvalamba Stotraṃ
* Śāradā Bhujangaṃ
* Kanakadhāra Stotraṃ
* Bhavāni Aṣṭakaṃ
* Śiva Mānasa Pūja
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Actual idealism
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(Redirected from Actual Idealism)
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This article has been noted as requiring a rewrite for easier comprehensibility. Please bring any instances of ambiguity that may be confusing or inaccessible to a lay-audience to the author(s) attention at the discussion page.
Actual Idealism was a form of idealism developed by Giovanni Gentile that grew into a 'grounded' idealism contrasting the Transcendental Idealism of Immanuel Kant and the Absolute idealism of G. W. F. Hegel.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Acceptance
* 2 Tenets
* 3 Explanation
* 4 Postulate
* 5 Criticism
* 6 See also
* 7 References
o 7.1 Citations
o 7.2 Bibliography
* 8 Further reading
[edit] Acceptance
It was successful in laying a theory of regarding thought that garnered enough attention to prove a competition to the new waves of positivism and therefore materialist conceptions of social life that were vying for reformist tendencies in the politics of the time. Its ideas therefore were key to helping the Fascist party consolidate power in Italy with its own reform, and integral to giving Fascism the content of its philosophical sentiment. Despite this, Gentile claimed Actual Idealism to be the true variety of positivism & the proper interpretation of the concept of positivism.[1]
[edit] Tenets
Actual Idealism holds that it is the act of thinking as perception, not creative thought as imagination, which defines reality. Therefore one idea or another can only be a formulation of particulars within the bounds of a known totality that one idea is not on any side of those particulars. Totality constituting the whole cohesive reality, is negated in such idea by itself. Integration of totality against idea in appealing to oneself is the sole fruitful means of idea, which poses no favoritism to the developed ideas giving a knowing precedence to the world it has created itself into. Anything less is a presupposition and therefore innately unreal. This totality is the act of thinking, not thoughts so regarded by thinking.
[edit] Explanation
While realists agree the world known to them is the only one they possibly know 'as a static concept,' they continue to regard something real about the concept having nothing to do with their thinking. Actual Idealists disregard the static concept as totally false in regard to the world for them where the only real is in 'the act of thinking' within being.
The stance of Realism claims that repeatability of experience gives proof of a basis which transcends and outruns our percepts, refuting Idealism. Yet it does not consider that the process of thinking as creation and the thought about thinking as abstraction interchange depending on the quality of one's act. It is the process of thinking that creates thought, which may not recur, but what occurs as thinking of it is what cannot be outrun as a conceptualization because it is the very immanent process of it, which is what definitely is. Not as thoughts perceived, but as perceptive thinking prior to being construed outside its own totality as a thought, not made an abstraction, which cannot exist or be supposed to exist in any form outside one's thinking. Only one's thought reached from- and thus put outside of- thinking can be surpassed; but only by thinking, not by an abstract external.
Actual Idealism therefore rejects the Hegelian 'Absolute' as being a presupposition unprovable to the mind, unless considered to be synonymous with what's known or the totality of the act of thinking. Which therein would put the dialectical processes making 'self' & 'not self' a consideration proving external existence real insofar as it is in reality part of the self's own thinking. Since the self regarded alone is always a concept and cannot be given reality as such. Neither does Actual Idealism admit archetypal concepts in that possible conception of them in relation to all else gives them no reality. Gentile made a pivotal distinction to factors concerning Idealism's own criteria for reality which have stood since Berkeley's adage "Esse est percipi" by distinguishing between "pensiero pensante" the 'act of thinking', and the 'static thought' "pensiero pensato".
[edit] Postulate
Gentile posited then, that knowledge as thought fixed against a fuller range of thinking limits thinking's every proposition. If truth is what surpasses the conditions of every proposition, taking a known postulate as truth removes its criteria from having that capability in thinking. Objectifying actuality. Truth then cannot be known by thought, since knowledge held as thought is privative toward thinking as decided by what's thought. Only thinking as it penetrates, not given in to what categories of thought orient it, can be truth, so long as it does not resort to thought in doing so which would objectify it. Such thinking is truth because it therefore defines reality as by that thinking, rather than excluding truth from the possibility of thinking because of its relation to yielding thoughts. Only because thinking's results, namely thoughts, do not pertain to what is arising from its act, the truth, does thinking itself become questioned as a proper conductor of truth. That however does not detract from the nature of truths being defined within the act as the concrete. Thinking, being the condition in which truths are measured, in fact affirms thinking's own condition as truth, and when coupled with the idea that it generates thoughts which negate it, must the concrete be identified with thinking rather than simply being denied to thought, seen as abstract, and having that together assumed with thinking as denied also. For thinking cannot therefore be solely a producer of thoughts alone to Gentile, as is the position taken by materialists, because thoughts are to him what negate it, but must also be what produces the stable environment wherein being happens. Which then is the direct result of oneself as the further quality in which reality is not negated, as it is by thoughts to themselves.
Therefore this postulate maintains that thinking is an active process and the static conception of a thought is its dialectical opposite. Where thinking is the vitality of psychological being, a thought is opposed to that vitality and therefore would be opposed to that immanent quality where alone existence takes on its reality to the Actual Idealist. No sense or imagining of something beyond or external to the act of thinking in itself for the thinker can be real, and therefore cannot be said to exist, even if, to continue the act of thinking it must be said that it does exist as a creation of the act of thinking if even then it remains unreal. Which in considering it the measure of its existence is realized for then it is exposed to the act of thinking and is subject to reality; from an 'a priori' beginning to a non-empirical conclusion without presupposition.
[edit] Criticism
Benedetto Croce objected that Gentile's "pure act" is nothing other than Schopenhauer's will.[2] However Schopenhauer "…came to rest in an Absolute which transcends concrete experience … and for (Schopenhauer) the Critical Philosophy was only a prolegomena or propaedeutic to a speculative or 'transcendent' philosophy of the kind which Gentile and Kant are united in opposing"[3], according to H. S. Harris's book on the basic metaphysics of Giovanni Gentile in contrast to that of Schopenhauer.
[edit] See also
* Constructivist epistemology
* Dialectical monism
* Plane of immanence
* Platonic epistemology
* Process philosophy
* Grey Wolves
[edit] References
[edit] Citations
1. ^ The Philosophy of Giovanni Gentile: An Inquiry into Gentile's Conception of Experience
2. ^ Dagobert Runes, editor, Treasure of Philosophy, "Gentile, Giovanni"
3. ^ The Social Philosophy of Giovanni Gentile. Illini books, University of Illinois Press, Urbana & London, 1966. H. S. Harris. pg. 9.
[edit] Bibliography
* Treasure of Philosophy, edited by Dagobert D. Runes, Philosophical Library, New York, 1955.
(Redirected from Actual Idealism)
Jump to: navigation, search
This article has been noted as requiring a rewrite for easier comprehensibility. Please bring any instances of ambiguity that may be confusing or inaccessible to a lay-audience to the author(s) attention at the discussion page.
Actual Idealism was a form of idealism developed by Giovanni Gentile that grew into a 'grounded' idealism contrasting the Transcendental Idealism of Immanuel Kant and the Absolute idealism of G. W. F. Hegel.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Acceptance
* 2 Tenets
* 3 Explanation
* 4 Postulate
* 5 Criticism
* 6 See also
* 7 References
o 7.1 Citations
o 7.2 Bibliography
* 8 Further reading
[edit] Acceptance
It was successful in laying a theory of regarding thought that garnered enough attention to prove a competition to the new waves of positivism and therefore materialist conceptions of social life that were vying for reformist tendencies in the politics of the time. Its ideas therefore were key to helping the Fascist party consolidate power in Italy with its own reform, and integral to giving Fascism the content of its philosophical sentiment. Despite this, Gentile claimed Actual Idealism to be the true variety of positivism & the proper interpretation of the concept of positivism.[1]
[edit] Tenets
Actual Idealism holds that it is the act of thinking as perception, not creative thought as imagination, which defines reality. Therefore one idea or another can only be a formulation of particulars within the bounds of a known totality that one idea is not on any side of those particulars. Totality constituting the whole cohesive reality, is negated in such idea by itself. Integration of totality against idea in appealing to oneself is the sole fruitful means of idea, which poses no favoritism to the developed ideas giving a knowing precedence to the world it has created itself into. Anything less is a presupposition and therefore innately unreal. This totality is the act of thinking, not thoughts so regarded by thinking.
[edit] Explanation
While realists agree the world known to them is the only one they possibly know 'as a static concept,' they continue to regard something real about the concept having nothing to do with their thinking. Actual Idealists disregard the static concept as totally false in regard to the world for them where the only real is in 'the act of thinking' within being.
The stance of Realism claims that repeatability of experience gives proof of a basis which transcends and outruns our percepts, refuting Idealism. Yet it does not consider that the process of thinking as creation and the thought about thinking as abstraction interchange depending on the quality of one's act. It is the process of thinking that creates thought, which may not recur, but what occurs as thinking of it is what cannot be outrun as a conceptualization because it is the very immanent process of it, which is what definitely is. Not as thoughts perceived, but as perceptive thinking prior to being construed outside its own totality as a thought, not made an abstraction, which cannot exist or be supposed to exist in any form outside one's thinking. Only one's thought reached from- and thus put outside of- thinking can be surpassed; but only by thinking, not by an abstract external.
Actual Idealism therefore rejects the Hegelian 'Absolute' as being a presupposition unprovable to the mind, unless considered to be synonymous with what's known or the totality of the act of thinking. Which therein would put the dialectical processes making 'self' & 'not self' a consideration proving external existence real insofar as it is in reality part of the self's own thinking. Since the self regarded alone is always a concept and cannot be given reality as such. Neither does Actual Idealism admit archetypal concepts in that possible conception of them in relation to all else gives them no reality. Gentile made a pivotal distinction to factors concerning Idealism's own criteria for reality which have stood since Berkeley's adage "Esse est percipi" by distinguishing between "pensiero pensante" the 'act of thinking', and the 'static thought' "pensiero pensato".
[edit] Postulate
Gentile posited then, that knowledge as thought fixed against a fuller range of thinking limits thinking's every proposition. If truth is what surpasses the conditions of every proposition, taking a known postulate as truth removes its criteria from having that capability in thinking. Objectifying actuality. Truth then cannot be known by thought, since knowledge held as thought is privative toward thinking as decided by what's thought. Only thinking as it penetrates, not given in to what categories of thought orient it, can be truth, so long as it does not resort to thought in doing so which would objectify it. Such thinking is truth because it therefore defines reality as by that thinking, rather than excluding truth from the possibility of thinking because of its relation to yielding thoughts. Only because thinking's results, namely thoughts, do not pertain to what is arising from its act, the truth, does thinking itself become questioned as a proper conductor of truth. That however does not detract from the nature of truths being defined within the act as the concrete. Thinking, being the condition in which truths are measured, in fact affirms thinking's own condition as truth, and when coupled with the idea that it generates thoughts which negate it, must the concrete be identified with thinking rather than simply being denied to thought, seen as abstract, and having that together assumed with thinking as denied also. For thinking cannot therefore be solely a producer of thoughts alone to Gentile, as is the position taken by materialists, because thoughts are to him what negate it, but must also be what produces the stable environment wherein being happens. Which then is the direct result of oneself as the further quality in which reality is not negated, as it is by thoughts to themselves.
Therefore this postulate maintains that thinking is an active process and the static conception of a thought is its dialectical opposite. Where thinking is the vitality of psychological being, a thought is opposed to that vitality and therefore would be opposed to that immanent quality where alone existence takes on its reality to the Actual Idealist. No sense or imagining of something beyond or external to the act of thinking in itself for the thinker can be real, and therefore cannot be said to exist, even if, to continue the act of thinking it must be said that it does exist as a creation of the act of thinking if even then it remains unreal. Which in considering it the measure of its existence is realized for then it is exposed to the act of thinking and is subject to reality; from an 'a priori' beginning to a non-empirical conclusion without presupposition.
[edit] Criticism
Benedetto Croce objected that Gentile's "pure act" is nothing other than Schopenhauer's will.[2] However Schopenhauer "…came to rest in an Absolute which transcends concrete experience … and for (Schopenhauer) the Critical Philosophy was only a prolegomena or propaedeutic to a speculative or 'transcendent' philosophy of the kind which Gentile and Kant are united in opposing"[3], according to H. S. Harris's book on the basic metaphysics of Giovanni Gentile in contrast to that of Schopenhauer.
[edit] See also
* Constructivist epistemology
* Dialectical monism
* Plane of immanence
* Platonic epistemology
* Process philosophy
* Grey Wolves
[edit] References
[edit] Citations
1. ^ The Philosophy of Giovanni Gentile: An Inquiry into Gentile's Conception of Experience
2. ^ Dagobert Runes, editor, Treasure of Philosophy, "Gentile, Giovanni"
3. ^ The Social Philosophy of Giovanni Gentile. Illini books, University of Illinois Press, Urbana & London, 1966. H. S. Harris. pg. 9.
[edit] Bibliography
* Treasure of Philosophy, edited by Dagobert D. Runes, Philosophical Library, New York, 1955.
Absurdism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the philosophy. For absurdist humor, see surreal humour.
Absurdism is a philosophy stating that the efforts of humanity to find inherent meaning in the universe will ultimately fail (and hence are absurd), because no such meaning exists, at least in relation to the individual. "The Absurd," therefore, is commonly used in philosophical discourse to refer to the clash between the human search for meaning and the human inability to find any. In this context absurd does not mean "logically impossible," but rather "humanly impossible."[1]
Absurdism is very closely related to existentialism and nihilism and has its origins in the 19th century Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, who chose to confront the crisis humans faced with the Absurd by developing existential philosophy. Absurdism as a belief system was born of the European existentialist movement that ensued, specifically when the French Algerian philosopher and writer Albert Camus rejected certain aspects from that philosophical line of thought[2] and published his manuscript The Myth of Sisyphus. The aftermath of World War II provided the social environment that stimulated absurdist views and allowed for their popular development, especially in the devastated country of France.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Brief description
* 2 Relationship with existentialism and nihilism
* 3 Søren Kierkegaard
* 4 Albert Camus
* 5 The meaning of life
* 6 See also
* 7 References
* 8 Further reading
* 9 External links
[edit] Brief description
"... in spite of or in defiance of the whole of existence he wills to be himself with it, to take it along, almost defying his torment. For to hope in the possibility of help, not to speak of help by virtue of the absurd, that for God all things are possible – no, that he will not do. And as for seeking help from any other – no, that he will not do for all the world; rather than seek help he would prefer to be himself – with all the tortures of hell, if so it must be."
Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death[3]
In absurdist philosophy, the Absurd arises out of the fundamental disharmony between the individual's search for meaning and the apparent meaninglessness of the universe. As beings looking for meaning in a meaningless world, humans have three ways of resolving the dilemma. Kierkegaard and Camus describe the solutions in their works, The Sickness Unto Death (1849) and The Myth of Sisyphus (1942):
* Suicide (or, "escaping existence"): a solution in which a person simply ends one's own life. Both Kierkegaard and Camus dismiss the viability of this option.
* Religious or spiritual belief in a transcendent realm or being: a solution in which one believes in the existence of a reality that is beyond the Absurd, and, as such, has meaning. Kierkegaard stated that a belief in anything beyond the Absurd requires a non-rational but perhaps necessary religious acceptance in such an intangible and empirically unprovable thing (now commonly referred to as a "leap of faith"). However, Camus regarded this solution as "philosophical suicide".
* Acceptance of the Absurd: a solution in which one accepts and even embraces the Absurd and continues to live in spite of it. Camus endorsed this solution, while Kierkegaard regarded this solution as "demoniac madness": "He rages most of all at the thought that eternity might get it into its head to take his misery from him!"[4]
[edit] Relationship with existentialism and nihilism
This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (December 2009)
(Simplified) Relationship between existentialism, absurdism and nihilism Atheistic existentialism Theistic existentialism Absurdism Nihilism
1. There is such a thing as meaning or value Yes Yes Yes No
2. There is inherent meaning in the universe (either intrinsic or from God) No Maybe, but humans must have faith to believe there is Maybe, but humans can never know it No
3. Individuals can create meaning in life themselves Yes, it is essential that they do Yes, but that meaning must incorporate God Yes, but it is not essential No, because there is no such meaning to create
4. The pursuit of intrinsic or extrinsic meaning in the universe is possible No, and the pursuit itself is meaningless Yes, and the pursuit itself may have meaning No, but the pursuit itself may have meaning No, and the pursuit itself is meaningless
5. The pursuit of constructed meaning is possible Yes, thus the goal of existentialism Yes, thus the goal of existentialism Maybe No
6. There is a solution to the individual's desire to seek meaning Yes, the creation of one's own meaning Yes, the creation of one's own meaning before God Yes, the acknowledgement and embracing of absurdity No
[edit] Søren Kierkegaard
Main article: Philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard
Kierkegaard designed the relationship framework based (in part) on how a person reacts to despair. Absurdist philosophy fits into the 'despair of defiance' rubric.[5]
A century before Camus, the 19th century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote extensively on the absurdity of the world. In his journals, Kierkegaard writes about the absurd:
What is the Absurd? It is, as may quite easily be seen, that I, a rational being, must act in a case where my reason, my powers of reflection, tell me: you can just as well do the one thing as the other, that is to say where my reason and reflection say: you cannot act and yet here is where I have to act... The Absurd, or to act by virtue of the absurd, is to act upon faith ... I must act, but reflection has closed the road so I take one of the possibilities and say: This is what I do, I cannot do otherwise because I am brought to a standstill by my powers of reflection.[6]
– Kierkegaard, Søren, Journals, 1849
An example that Kierkegaard uses is found in one of his famous works, Fear and Trembling. In the story of Abraham in the Book of Genesis, Abraham was told by God to kill his son Isaac. Just as Abraham was about to kill Isaac, an angel stopped Abraham from doing so. Kierkegaard believes that through virtue of the absurd, Abraham, defying all reason and ethical duties ("you cannot act"), got back his son and reaffirmed his faith ("where I have to act").[7] However, it should be noted that in this particular case, the work was signed with the pseudonym Johannes de Silentio.
Another instance of absurdist themes in Kierkegaard's work is found in The Sickness Unto Death, which is signed by the pseudonym Anti-Climacus. In his examination of the forms of despair, Kierkegaard examines the type of despair known as defiance.[8] In the opening quote reproduced at the beginning of the article, Kierkegaard describes how such a man would endure such a defiance and identifies the three major traits of the Absurd Man, later discussed by Albert Camus: a rejection of escaping existence (suicide), a rejection of help from a higher power and acceptance of his absurd (and despairing) condition.
According to Kierkegaard in his autobiography The Point of View of My Work as an Author, most of his pseudonymous writings are not necessarily reflective of his own opinions. Nevertheless, his work anticipated many absurdist themes and provided its theoretical background.
[edit] Albert Camus
Although the notion of the 'absurd' is pervasive in all of the literature of Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus is his chief work on the subject. In it, Camus considers absurdity as a confrontation, an opposition, a conflict or a "divorce" between two ideals. Specifically, he defines the human condition as absurd, as the confrontation between man's desire for significance, meaning and clarity on the one hand – and the silent, cold universe on the other. He continues that there are specific human experiences evoking notions of absurdity. Such a realization or encounter with the absurd leaves the individual with a choice: suicide, a leap of faith or recognition. He concludes that recognition is the only defensible option.[9]
For Camus, suicide is a "confession" that life is not worth living; it is a choice implicitly declaring that life is "too much". Suicide offers the most basic "way out" of absurdity: the immediate termination of the self and its place in the universe.
The absurd encounter can also arouse a "leap of faith", a term derived from one of Kierkegaard's early pseudonyms, Johannes de Silentio (although the term was not used by Kierkegaard himself[10]), where one believes that there is more than the rational life (aesthetic or ethical). To take a "leap of faith", one must act with the "virtue of the absurd" (as Johannes de Silentio put it), where a suspension of the ethical may need to exist. This faith has no expectations, but is a flexible power initiated by a recognition of the absurd. However, Camus states that because the leap of faith escapes rationality and defers to abstraction over personal experience, the leap of faith is not absurd. Camus considers the leap of faith as "philosophical suicide", rejecting both this and physical suicide.[10][11]
Lastly, a person can choose to embrace his or her own absurd condition. According to Camus, one's freedom – and the opportunity to give life meaning – lies in the recognition of absurdity. If the absurd experience is truly the realization that the universe is fundamentally devoid of absolutes, then we as individuals are truly free. "To live without appeal",[12] as he puts it, is a philosophical move to define absolutes and universals subjectively, rather than objectively. The freedom of humans is thus established in a human's natural ability and opportunity to create his own meaning and purpose; to decide (or think) for him- or herself. The individual becomes the most precious unit of existence, as he or she represents a set of unique ideals which can be characterized as an entire universe in its own right. In acknowledging the absurdity of seeking any inherent meaning, but continuing this search regardless, one can be happy, gradually developing his or her own meaning from the search alone.
Camus states in The Myth of Sisyphus: "Thus I draw from the absurd three consequences, which are my revolt, my freedom, and my passion. By the mere activity of consciousness I transform into a rule of life what was an invitation to death, and I refuse suicide".[13]
[edit] The meaning of life
According to absurdism, humans historically attempt to find meaning in their lives. Traditionally, this search follows one of two paths: either concluding that life is meaningless, and that what we have is the here-and-now, or by filling the void with a purpose set forth by a higher power - often a belief in God or adherence to a religion. However, even with a spiritual power as the answer to meaning, another question is posed: What is the purpose of God? Kierkegaard believed that there is no human-comprehensible purpose of God, making faith in God absurd. Camus on the other hand states that to believe in God is to "deny one of the terms of the contradiction" between man and universe (and therefore not absurd), but returns to "philosophical suicide". Although Camus (as well as Kierkegaard) suggests that while absurdity does not lead to belief in God, neither does it lead to the denial of God. Camus notes, "I did not say 'excludes God', which would still amount to asserting".[14]
For some, suicide is a solution when confronted with the futility of living a life devoid of all purpose, as it is only a means to quicken the resolution of one's ultimate fate. For Albert Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus, suicide is not a worthwhile solution, because if life is veritably absurd, it is therefore even more absurd to counteract it; instead, we should engage in living, and reconcile the fact that we live in a world without purpose.
For Camus, the beauty which people encounter in life makes it worth living. People may create meaning in their own lives, which may not be the objective meaning of life, but can still provide something for which to strive. However, he insisted that one must always maintain an ironic distance between this invented meaning and the knowledge of the absurd, lest the fictitious meaning take the place of the absurd.
Camus introduced the idea of "acceptance without resignation" as a way of dealing with the recognition of absurdity, asking whether or not man can "live without appeal", defining a "conscious revolt" against the avoidance of absurdity of the world. In a world devoid of higher meaning or judicial afterlife, man becomes absolutely free. It is through this freedom that man can act either as a mystic (through appeal to some supernatural force) or an absurd hero (through a revolt against such hope). Henceforth, the absurd hero's refusal to hope becomes his singular ability to live in the present with passion.
This article is about the philosophy. For absurdist humor, see surreal humour.
Absurdism is a philosophy stating that the efforts of humanity to find inherent meaning in the universe will ultimately fail (and hence are absurd), because no such meaning exists, at least in relation to the individual. "The Absurd," therefore, is commonly used in philosophical discourse to refer to the clash between the human search for meaning and the human inability to find any. In this context absurd does not mean "logically impossible," but rather "humanly impossible."[1]
Absurdism is very closely related to existentialism and nihilism and has its origins in the 19th century Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, who chose to confront the crisis humans faced with the Absurd by developing existential philosophy. Absurdism as a belief system was born of the European existentialist movement that ensued, specifically when the French Algerian philosopher and writer Albert Camus rejected certain aspects from that philosophical line of thought[2] and published his manuscript The Myth of Sisyphus. The aftermath of World War II provided the social environment that stimulated absurdist views and allowed for their popular development, especially in the devastated country of France.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Brief description
* 2 Relationship with existentialism and nihilism
* 3 Søren Kierkegaard
* 4 Albert Camus
* 5 The meaning of life
* 6 See also
* 7 References
* 8 Further reading
* 9 External links
[edit] Brief description
"... in spite of or in defiance of the whole of existence he wills to be himself with it, to take it along, almost defying his torment. For to hope in the possibility of help, not to speak of help by virtue of the absurd, that for God all things are possible – no, that he will not do. And as for seeking help from any other – no, that he will not do for all the world; rather than seek help he would prefer to be himself – with all the tortures of hell, if so it must be."
Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death[3]
In absurdist philosophy, the Absurd arises out of the fundamental disharmony between the individual's search for meaning and the apparent meaninglessness of the universe. As beings looking for meaning in a meaningless world, humans have three ways of resolving the dilemma. Kierkegaard and Camus describe the solutions in their works, The Sickness Unto Death (1849) and The Myth of Sisyphus (1942):
* Suicide (or, "escaping existence"): a solution in which a person simply ends one's own life. Both Kierkegaard and Camus dismiss the viability of this option.
* Religious or spiritual belief in a transcendent realm or being: a solution in which one believes in the existence of a reality that is beyond the Absurd, and, as such, has meaning. Kierkegaard stated that a belief in anything beyond the Absurd requires a non-rational but perhaps necessary religious acceptance in such an intangible and empirically unprovable thing (now commonly referred to as a "leap of faith"). However, Camus regarded this solution as "philosophical suicide".
* Acceptance of the Absurd: a solution in which one accepts and even embraces the Absurd and continues to live in spite of it. Camus endorsed this solution, while Kierkegaard regarded this solution as "demoniac madness": "He rages most of all at the thought that eternity might get it into its head to take his misery from him!"[4]
[edit] Relationship with existentialism and nihilism
This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (December 2009)
(Simplified) Relationship between existentialism, absurdism and nihilism Atheistic existentialism Theistic existentialism Absurdism Nihilism
1. There is such a thing as meaning or value Yes Yes Yes No
2. There is inherent meaning in the universe (either intrinsic or from God) No Maybe, but humans must have faith to believe there is Maybe, but humans can never know it No
3. Individuals can create meaning in life themselves Yes, it is essential that they do Yes, but that meaning must incorporate God Yes, but it is not essential No, because there is no such meaning to create
4. The pursuit of intrinsic or extrinsic meaning in the universe is possible No, and the pursuit itself is meaningless Yes, and the pursuit itself may have meaning No, but the pursuit itself may have meaning No, and the pursuit itself is meaningless
5. The pursuit of constructed meaning is possible Yes, thus the goal of existentialism Yes, thus the goal of existentialism Maybe No
6. There is a solution to the individual's desire to seek meaning Yes, the creation of one's own meaning Yes, the creation of one's own meaning before God Yes, the acknowledgement and embracing of absurdity No
[edit] Søren Kierkegaard
Main article: Philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard
Kierkegaard designed the relationship framework based (in part) on how a person reacts to despair. Absurdist philosophy fits into the 'despair of defiance' rubric.[5]
A century before Camus, the 19th century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote extensively on the absurdity of the world. In his journals, Kierkegaard writes about the absurd:
What is the Absurd? It is, as may quite easily be seen, that I, a rational being, must act in a case where my reason, my powers of reflection, tell me: you can just as well do the one thing as the other, that is to say where my reason and reflection say: you cannot act and yet here is where I have to act... The Absurd, or to act by virtue of the absurd, is to act upon faith ... I must act, but reflection has closed the road so I take one of the possibilities and say: This is what I do, I cannot do otherwise because I am brought to a standstill by my powers of reflection.[6]
– Kierkegaard, Søren, Journals, 1849
An example that Kierkegaard uses is found in one of his famous works, Fear and Trembling. In the story of Abraham in the Book of Genesis, Abraham was told by God to kill his son Isaac. Just as Abraham was about to kill Isaac, an angel stopped Abraham from doing so. Kierkegaard believes that through virtue of the absurd, Abraham, defying all reason and ethical duties ("you cannot act"), got back his son and reaffirmed his faith ("where I have to act").[7] However, it should be noted that in this particular case, the work was signed with the pseudonym Johannes de Silentio.
Another instance of absurdist themes in Kierkegaard's work is found in The Sickness Unto Death, which is signed by the pseudonym Anti-Climacus. In his examination of the forms of despair, Kierkegaard examines the type of despair known as defiance.[8] In the opening quote reproduced at the beginning of the article, Kierkegaard describes how such a man would endure such a defiance and identifies the three major traits of the Absurd Man, later discussed by Albert Camus: a rejection of escaping existence (suicide), a rejection of help from a higher power and acceptance of his absurd (and despairing) condition.
According to Kierkegaard in his autobiography The Point of View of My Work as an Author, most of his pseudonymous writings are not necessarily reflective of his own opinions. Nevertheless, his work anticipated many absurdist themes and provided its theoretical background.
[edit] Albert Camus
Although the notion of the 'absurd' is pervasive in all of the literature of Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus is his chief work on the subject. In it, Camus considers absurdity as a confrontation, an opposition, a conflict or a "divorce" between two ideals. Specifically, he defines the human condition as absurd, as the confrontation between man's desire for significance, meaning and clarity on the one hand – and the silent, cold universe on the other. He continues that there are specific human experiences evoking notions of absurdity. Such a realization or encounter with the absurd leaves the individual with a choice: suicide, a leap of faith or recognition. He concludes that recognition is the only defensible option.[9]
For Camus, suicide is a "confession" that life is not worth living; it is a choice implicitly declaring that life is "too much". Suicide offers the most basic "way out" of absurdity: the immediate termination of the self and its place in the universe.
The absurd encounter can also arouse a "leap of faith", a term derived from one of Kierkegaard's early pseudonyms, Johannes de Silentio (although the term was not used by Kierkegaard himself[10]), where one believes that there is more than the rational life (aesthetic or ethical). To take a "leap of faith", one must act with the "virtue of the absurd" (as Johannes de Silentio put it), where a suspension of the ethical may need to exist. This faith has no expectations, but is a flexible power initiated by a recognition of the absurd. However, Camus states that because the leap of faith escapes rationality and defers to abstraction over personal experience, the leap of faith is not absurd. Camus considers the leap of faith as "philosophical suicide", rejecting both this and physical suicide.[10][11]
Lastly, a person can choose to embrace his or her own absurd condition. According to Camus, one's freedom – and the opportunity to give life meaning – lies in the recognition of absurdity. If the absurd experience is truly the realization that the universe is fundamentally devoid of absolutes, then we as individuals are truly free. "To live without appeal",[12] as he puts it, is a philosophical move to define absolutes and universals subjectively, rather than objectively. The freedom of humans is thus established in a human's natural ability and opportunity to create his own meaning and purpose; to decide (or think) for him- or herself. The individual becomes the most precious unit of existence, as he or she represents a set of unique ideals which can be characterized as an entire universe in its own right. In acknowledging the absurdity of seeking any inherent meaning, but continuing this search regardless, one can be happy, gradually developing his or her own meaning from the search alone.
Camus states in The Myth of Sisyphus: "Thus I draw from the absurd three consequences, which are my revolt, my freedom, and my passion. By the mere activity of consciousness I transform into a rule of life what was an invitation to death, and I refuse suicide".[13]
[edit] The meaning of life
According to absurdism, humans historically attempt to find meaning in their lives. Traditionally, this search follows one of two paths: either concluding that life is meaningless, and that what we have is the here-and-now, or by filling the void with a purpose set forth by a higher power - often a belief in God or adherence to a religion. However, even with a spiritual power as the answer to meaning, another question is posed: What is the purpose of God? Kierkegaard believed that there is no human-comprehensible purpose of God, making faith in God absurd. Camus on the other hand states that to believe in God is to "deny one of the terms of the contradiction" between man and universe (and therefore not absurd), but returns to "philosophical suicide". Although Camus (as well as Kierkegaard) suggests that while absurdity does not lead to belief in God, neither does it lead to the denial of God. Camus notes, "I did not say 'excludes God', which would still amount to asserting".[14]
For some, suicide is a solution when confronted with the futility of living a life devoid of all purpose, as it is only a means to quicken the resolution of one's ultimate fate. For Albert Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus, suicide is not a worthwhile solution, because if life is veritably absurd, it is therefore even more absurd to counteract it; instead, we should engage in living, and reconcile the fact that we live in a world without purpose.
For Camus, the beauty which people encounter in life makes it worth living. People may create meaning in their own lives, which may not be the objective meaning of life, but can still provide something for which to strive. However, he insisted that one must always maintain an ironic distance between this invented meaning and the knowledge of the absurd, lest the fictitious meaning take the place of the absurd.
Camus introduced the idea of "acceptance without resignation" as a way of dealing with the recognition of absurdity, asking whether or not man can "live without appeal", defining a "conscious revolt" against the avoidance of absurdity of the world. In a world devoid of higher meaning or judicial afterlife, man becomes absolutely free. It is through this freedom that man can act either as a mystic (through appeal to some supernatural force) or an absurd hero (through a revolt against such hope). Henceforth, the absurd hero's refusal to hope becomes his singular ability to live in the present with passion.
Universality (philosophy)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Absolute truth)
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)
In philosophy, universalism is a doctrine or school claiming universal facts can be discovered and is therefore understood as being in opposition to relativism. In certain religions, Universality is the quality ascribed to an entity whose existence is consistent throughout the universe. When used in the context of ethics, the meaning of universal refers to that which is true for "all similarly situated individuals." [1] Rights, for example in natural rights, or in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, for those heavily influenced by the philosophy of the Enlightenment and its conception of a human nature, could be considered as universal. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights is inspired by such principles.
In logic, or the consideration of valid arguments, a proposition is said to have universality if it can be conceived as being true in all possible contexts without creating a contradiction. Some philosophers have referred to such propositions as universalizable. Truth is considered to be universal if it is valid in all times and places. In this case, it is seen as eternal or as absolute. The relativist conception denies the existence of some or all universal truths, particularly ethical ones (through moral relativism). Mathematics is a field in which those truths discovered, in relation to the field of mathematics, are typically considerered of universal scope. Usage of the word truth has various domains of application, relativism does not necessarily apply to all of them. This is not to say that universality is limited to mathematics for there exists a large number of people who apply the standard to philosophy, theology and beyond.
[edit] Universality in metaphysics
See also: Universal (metaphysics)
In metaphysics, a universal is a type, a property, or a relation. The noun universal contrasts with individual, while the adjective universal contrasts with particular or sometimes with concrete. The latter meaning, however, may be confusing since Hegelian and neo-Hegelian (e.g. British idealist) philosophies speak of concrete universals.
A universal may have instances, known as its particulars. For example, the type dog (or doghood) is a universal, as are the property red (or redness) and the relation betweenness (or being between). Any particular dog, red thing, or object that is between other things is not a universal, however, but is an instance of a universal. That is, a universal type (doghood), property (redness), or relation (betweenness) inheres a particular object (a specific dog, red thing, or object between other things).
Platonic realism holds universals to be the referents of general terms, i.e. the abstract, nonphysical entities to which words like "doghood", "redness", and "betweenness" refer. By contrast, particulars are the referents of proper names, like "Fido", or of definite descriptions that identify single objects, like the phrase, "that apple on the table". By contrast, other metaphysical theories merely use the terminology of universals to describe physical entities.
The problem of universals is an ancient problem in metaphysics concerning the nature of universals, or whether they exist. Part of the problem involves the implications of language use and the complexity of relating language to ontological theory.
Most ontological frameworks do not consider classes to be universals, although some prominent philosophers, such as John Bigelow, do.
[edit] Quotes
"What is absolutely true is always correct, everywhere, all the time, under any condition. An entity's ability to discern these things is irrelevant to that state of truth." - Steven Robiner [2][3][4]
[edit] References
1. ^ Philosophical Dictionary: Ubermensch-Utilitarianism
2. ^ Alan Ginsberg Temple of Reason
3. ^ Absolute Truth... Another Definition
4. ^ Heidegger and Truth
(Redirected from Absolute truth)
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)
In philosophy, universalism is a doctrine or school claiming universal facts can be discovered and is therefore understood as being in opposition to relativism. In certain religions, Universality is the quality ascribed to an entity whose existence is consistent throughout the universe. When used in the context of ethics, the meaning of universal refers to that which is true for "all similarly situated individuals." [1] Rights, for example in natural rights, or in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, for those heavily influenced by the philosophy of the Enlightenment and its conception of a human nature, could be considered as universal. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights is inspired by such principles.
In logic, or the consideration of valid arguments, a proposition is said to have universality if it can be conceived as being true in all possible contexts without creating a contradiction. Some philosophers have referred to such propositions as universalizable. Truth is considered to be universal if it is valid in all times and places. In this case, it is seen as eternal or as absolute. The relativist conception denies the existence of some or all universal truths, particularly ethical ones (through moral relativism). Mathematics is a field in which those truths discovered, in relation to the field of mathematics, are typically considerered of universal scope. Usage of the word truth has various domains of application, relativism does not necessarily apply to all of them. This is not to say that universality is limited to mathematics for there exists a large number of people who apply the standard to philosophy, theology and beyond.
[edit] Universality in metaphysics
See also: Universal (metaphysics)
In metaphysics, a universal is a type, a property, or a relation. The noun universal contrasts with individual, while the adjective universal contrasts with particular or sometimes with concrete. The latter meaning, however, may be confusing since Hegelian and neo-Hegelian (e.g. British idealist) philosophies speak of concrete universals.
A universal may have instances, known as its particulars. For example, the type dog (or doghood) is a universal, as are the property red (or redness) and the relation betweenness (or being between). Any particular dog, red thing, or object that is between other things is not a universal, however, but is an instance of a universal. That is, a universal type (doghood), property (redness), or relation (betweenness) inheres a particular object (a specific dog, red thing, or object between other things).
Platonic realism holds universals to be the referents of general terms, i.e. the abstract, nonphysical entities to which words like "doghood", "redness", and "betweenness" refer. By contrast, particulars are the referents of proper names, like "Fido", or of definite descriptions that identify single objects, like the phrase, "that apple on the table". By contrast, other metaphysical theories merely use the terminology of universals to describe physical entities.
The problem of universals is an ancient problem in metaphysics concerning the nature of universals, or whether they exist. Part of the problem involves the implications of language use and the complexity of relating language to ontological theory.
Most ontological frameworks do not consider classes to be universals, although some prominent philosophers, such as John Bigelow, do.
[edit] Quotes
"What is absolutely true is always correct, everywhere, all the time, under any condition. An entity's ability to discern these things is irrelevant to that state of truth." - Steven Robiner [2][3][4]
[edit] References
1. ^ Philosophical Dictionary: Ubermensch-Utilitarianism
2. ^ Alan Ginsberg Temple of Reason
3. ^ Absolute Truth... Another Definition
4. ^ Heidegger and Truth
Relative articulation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
In descriptions of phonetics and phonology, the manner and place of articulation of a speech sound may be specified relative to some point of comparison. For example, as a consequence of velar palatalization the English consonant /k/ is fronted before the vowel /iː/, compared to the articulation of /k/ before other vowels, and in many places, the vowel /uː/ is fronted.
The relative position of a sound may be described as advanced (fronted), retracted (backed), raised, lowered, centralized, or mid-centralized. The latter two terms are only used with vowels, and are marked in the International Phonetic Alphabet with diacritics over the vowel letter. The others are used with consonants and vowels, and are marked with iconic diacritics under the letter. Another dimension of relative articulation that has IPA diacritics is the degree of roundedness, more rounded and less rounded.
Contents
* 1 Advanced
* 2 Retracted
* 3 Raised and lowered
o 3.1 Raised and lowered vowels
o 3.2 Raised and lowered consonants[hide]
* 4 Centralized vowels
o 4.1 Mid-centralized vowel
* 5 More and less rounded
* 6 References
* 7 See also
[edit] Advanced
Places of
articulation
• Labial
Bilabial
Labial-velar
Labial-alveolar
Labiodental
Dentolabial
• Bidental
• Coronal
Linguolabial
Interdental
Dental
Denti-alveolar
Alveolar
Apical
Laminal
Subapical
Postalveolar
Alveolo-palatal
Retroflex
• Dorsal
Palatal
Labial-palatal
Velar
Uvular
Uvular-epiglottal
• Radical
Pharyngeal
Epiglotto-pharyngeal
Epiglottal
• Glottal
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
view • talk • edit
A fronted or advanced sound is one that is pronounced farther to the front of the vocal tract than some reference point. The diacritic for this in the IPA is the subscript plus, [ ̟]. Both consonants and vowels may be fronted.
In English, the back vowel /u/ is farther forward than what is normally indicated by the IPA letter . This fronting may be shown explicitly, especially within a narrow transcription: [u̟]. Whether this is as far front as the central vowel [ʉ], or somewhere between [u] and [ʉ], may need to be clarified verbally.
In General American English, the /t/ in the word eighth is farther front than normal, due to assimilation with the interdental consonant /θ/, and may be transcribed as [eɪt̟θ].
The difference between a fronted and non-fronted consonant can be heard in the English words key [k̟ʰi] and coo [kʰu], where the /k/ in key is fronted under the influence of the front vowel /i/.
In verbal description, the prefix pre- may be used to indicated fronting, especially in the terms prepalatal and prevelar. Otherwise phrases like "fronted u" may be used.
[edit] Retracted
A retracted or backed sound is one that is pronounced farther to the back of the vocal tract than some reference point. The diacritic for this in the IPA is the minus sign below < ̠>, as opposed to the plus sign below < ̟> denoting advanced. Both consonants and vowels may be marked as retracted.
In English, the plosive in the affricate /tʃ/, as in the word church, is farther back than an alveolar /t/ due to assimilation with the postalveolar fricative /ʃ/. In narrow transcription, /tʃ/ may be transcribed [t̠ʃʰ].
Languages may have phonemes that are farther back than the nearest IPA symbol. For example, Polish sz is a postalveolar sibilant. While this is often transcribed as [ʃ], it is not domed (partially palatalized) the way a prototypical [ʃ] is. A more precise transcription therefore is [s̠]. Similarly, the velar consonants in Kwakiutl are actually postvelar; that is, pronounced farther back than a prototypical velar, between velar [k] and uvular [q], and is thus transcribed [k̠].
Officially, the IPA symbol [a] stands for a front vowel. However, in most languages where it is used, /a/ actually stands for a central vowel. If precision is desired, this may also be indicated with the minus sign ([a̠]), or possibly with the centralized diacritic ([ä]); yet another possible notation is [ɐ] with the lowered diacritic ([ɐ̞]).
Either the prefix post- may be used to indicated retraction, as above, or phrases like "retracted i" may be used.
[edit] Raised and lowered
A raised sound is articulated with the tongue or lip raised higher than some reference point. In the IPA this is indicated with the uptack diacritic [ ̝].
A lowered sound is articulated with the tongue or lip lowered (the mouth more open) than some reference point. In the IPA this is indicated with the downtack diacritic [ ̞]. Both consonants and vowels may be marked as raised or lowered.
When there is no room for the tack under a letter, it may be written after: [ɭ˔], [ɣ˕].
[edit] Raised and lowered vowels
In the case of a vowel, raising means that the vowel is closer, toward the top of the vowel chart. For example, represents a vowel somewhere between cardinal [e] and [i], or may even be [i]. Lowering, on the other hand, means that the vowel is more open, toward the bottom of the chart. For example, [e̞] represents a vowel somewhere between cardinal [e] and [ɛ], or may even be [ɛ]. Austrian German has a rounded version of the near-open front unrounded vowel [æ], which can be transcribed as [œ̞].
In other non-IPA transcription systems, raised vowels are indicated with the iconic upward-pointing arrowhead [˰] while lowered vowels have the downward arrowhead [˯]. Thus, IPA [e̝] is equivalent to [e˰], IPA [e̞] is equivalent to [e˯].
[edit] Raised and lowered consonants
Manners of articulation
Obstruent
Stop
Affricate
Fricative
Sibilant
Sonorant
Nasal
Flaps/Tap
Trill
Approximant
Liquid
Vowel
Semivowel
Lateral
Airstreams
Ejective
Implosive
Click
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
edit
With consonants, raising and lowering changes the manner of articulation to something with more or less stricture. For example, raised approximants and trills are fricatives, whereas lowered fricatives are approximants. The ambiguous symbols for rear approximant/fricatives may be specified as fricatives with the raising diacritic, [ʁ̝, ʕ̝, ʢ̝], or as approximants with the lowering diacritic, [ʁ̞, ʕ̞, ʢ̞]. In Spanish, the "weak" allophones of the voiced stops are generally transcribed as fricatives even though they are approximants, or intermediate between fricative and approximant. This may be partially due to the fact there is only a dedicated IPA symbol one of them, the velar approximant. More precise transcription will use the fricative symbols with the lowering diacritic, [β̞, ð̞, ɣ˕]. Czech, on the other hand, requires the opposite: Its fricated trill, which is a separate phoneme, may be transcribed as a raised trill, [r̝]. Similarly, the non-sibilant coronal fricative is written [ɹ̝], and the voiceless velar lateral fricative as [ʟ̝̊]. (A dedicated letter for this sound, , is not part of the IPA.)
From most open (least stricture) to most close (most stricture), there are several independent relationships among speech sounds. Open vowel > mid vowel > close vowel > approximant > fricative > plosive is one; flap > stop is another; and trill > (trilled) fricative yet another. The IPA chart has been organized so that the raising diacritic moves the value of a letter through these series toward the top of the chart, and the lowering diacritic toward the bottom of the chart, but this only works for some of the consonants. While it would be convenient if all consonants could be so ordered, consonants are too diverse for a single dimension to capture their relationships. In addition, many of the points along the series may be nasalized or lateralized as well, and these parameters are independent of stricture.
Examples of stricture series Oral Nasal Flap Trill Lateral
Stop ɟ ɲ d t͡ɬ
Fricative ʝ ʝ̃ r̝ ɬ
Approximant / Vibrant j ȷ̃ ɾ r l
Close vowel i ĩ (N/A)
Close-mid vowel e ẽ
Open-mid vowel ɛ ɛ̃
Near-open vowel æ æ̃
Open vowel a ã
[edit] Centralized vowels
For non-lateral consonants, see central or medial consonants.
Vowels
v • d • e
See also: IPA, Consonants
Front Near- front Central Near- back Back
Close
Blank vowel trapezoid.svg
i · y
ɨ · ʉ
ɯ · u
ɪ · ʏ
ɪ̈ · ʊ̈
ʊ
e · ø
ɘ · ɵ
ɤ · o
ə
ɛ · œ
ɜ · ɞ
ʌ · ɔ
æ
ɐ
a · ɶ
ɑ · ɒ
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents
a rounded vowel. Vowel length is indicated by appending ː
A centralized vowel is a vowel that is more central than some point of reference, or that has undergone a shift in this direction. The diacritic for this in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the dieresis, [ ¨ ].
For example, to transcribe rounded and unrounded near-close central vowels, the symbols [ɪ̈, ʊ̈] may be used. In other (non-IPA) transcription systems, <ɪ, ʊ> will be seen instead of [ɪ̈, ʊ̈] (by analogy with [ɨ, ʉ]). Before the letters [ɘ, ɵ, ɜ, ɞ] were added to the IPA in 1993, the symbols [ë, ö, ɛ̈, ɔ̈] were used for these near-schwa values. [ë, ö, ɛ̈, ɔ̈] would now be assumed to represent articulations intermediate between [e, o, ɛ, ɔ] and [ɘ, ɵ, ɜ, ɞ]. Similarly, [ï, ÿ, ü, ɯ̈] would be intermediate between [i, y, u, ɯ] and [ɨ, ʉ].
In the majority of languages described as having an [a], the vowel is actually central, and would be better transcribed as [ä]. However, this symbol is not commonly used, perhaps because it disagrees with the sound value of umlaut ä in the Germanic languages.
Instead of the diacritic for centralization, the advanced or retracted diacritics may be used (an equivalent transcription of [ä] is retracted [a̠]), but the concept of centralization is convenient in cases where front and back vowels move toward each other, rather than all advancing or retracting in the same direction.
[edit] Mid-centralized vowel
A mid-centralized vowel is a vowel closer to the mid-point of the vowel space than some point of reference. That is, it is closer to the mid-central vowel schwa [ə]; it is not just centralized, but also raised or lowered. The diacritic used to mark this in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the over-cross, [ ̽].
In most languages, vowels become mid-centralized when spoken quickly, and in some, such as English and Russian, many vowels are also mid-centralized when unstressed. This is a general characteristic of vowel reduction.
Even when fully articulated, the vowels of a language may be on the schwa side of a cardinal IPA vowel. One example of this is Lisbon Portuguese, where unstressed e is a near-close near-back unrounded vowel. That is, it lies between the close back unrounded vowel [ɯ] and schwa, where [ʊ] sits in the vowel chart, but unlike [ʊ], not rounded. It may be written [ɯ̽], as in pegar [pɯ̽ˈɡaɾ] "to hold".
[edit] More and less rounded
There are also diacritics, respectively [ ̹] and [ ̜] (right and left half-rings), to indicate greater or lesser degrees of rounding. For example, the English near-close near-back vowel often has very little rounding, and may be transcribed [ʊ̜]. In Assamese, on the other hand, the open back rounded vowel is much more rounded than is typical for a low vowel, and may be transcribed [ɒ̹].
These diacritics are sometimes also used with consonants to indicate degrees of labialization. For example, in the Athabaskan language Hupa, voiceless velar fricatives distinguish three degrees of labialization, transcribed either [x x̹ xʷ] or [x x̜ʷ xʷ].
The Extensions to the IPA have two additional symbols for degrees of rounding: spread, as in [ə͍], and open-rounded, as in English [ʃœ] and [ʒœ].
[edit] References
Clark John, Yallop Collin, Fletcher Janet (2007). Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 22–26, 264–266.
[edit]
Jump to: navigation, search
In descriptions of phonetics and phonology, the manner and place of articulation of a speech sound may be specified relative to some point of comparison. For example, as a consequence of velar palatalization the English consonant /k/ is fronted before the vowel /iː/, compared to the articulation of /k/ before other vowels, and in many places, the vowel /uː/ is fronted.
The relative position of a sound may be described as advanced (fronted), retracted (backed), raised, lowered, centralized, or mid-centralized. The latter two terms are only used with vowels, and are marked in the International Phonetic Alphabet with diacritics over the vowel letter. The others are used with consonants and vowels, and are marked with iconic diacritics under the letter. Another dimension of relative articulation that has IPA diacritics is the degree of roundedness, more rounded and less rounded.
Contents
* 1 Advanced
* 2 Retracted
* 3 Raised and lowered
o 3.1 Raised and lowered vowels
o 3.2 Raised and lowered consonants[hide]
* 4 Centralized vowels
o 4.1 Mid-centralized vowel
* 5 More and less rounded
* 6 References
* 7 See also
[edit] Advanced
Places of
articulation
• Labial
Bilabial
Labial-velar
Labial-alveolar
Labiodental
Dentolabial
• Bidental
• Coronal
Linguolabial
Interdental
Dental
Denti-alveolar
Alveolar
Apical
Laminal
Subapical
Postalveolar
Alveolo-palatal
Retroflex
• Dorsal
Palatal
Labial-palatal
Velar
Uvular
Uvular-epiglottal
• Radical
Pharyngeal
Epiglotto-pharyngeal
Epiglottal
• Glottal
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A fronted or advanced sound is one that is pronounced farther to the front of the vocal tract than some reference point. The diacritic for this in the IPA is the subscript plus, [ ̟]. Both consonants and vowels may be fronted.
In English, the back vowel /u/ is farther forward than what is normally indicated by the IPA letter . This fronting may be shown explicitly, especially within a narrow transcription: [u̟]. Whether this is as far front as the central vowel [ʉ], or somewhere between [u] and [ʉ], may need to be clarified verbally.
In General American English, the /t/ in the word eighth is farther front than normal, due to assimilation with the interdental consonant /θ/, and may be transcribed as [eɪt̟θ].
The difference between a fronted and non-fronted consonant can be heard in the English words key [k̟ʰi] and coo [kʰu], where the /k/ in key is fronted under the influence of the front vowel /i/.
In verbal description, the prefix pre- may be used to indicated fronting, especially in the terms prepalatal and prevelar. Otherwise phrases like "fronted u" may be used.
[edit] Retracted
A retracted or backed sound is one that is pronounced farther to the back of the vocal tract than some reference point. The diacritic for this in the IPA is the minus sign below < ̠>, as opposed to the plus sign below < ̟> denoting advanced. Both consonants and vowels may be marked as retracted.
In English, the plosive in the affricate /tʃ/, as in the word church, is farther back than an alveolar /t/ due to assimilation with the postalveolar fricative /ʃ/. In narrow transcription, /tʃ/ may be transcribed [t̠ʃʰ].
Languages may have phonemes that are farther back than the nearest IPA symbol. For example, Polish sz is a postalveolar sibilant. While this is often transcribed as [ʃ], it is not domed (partially palatalized) the way a prototypical [ʃ] is. A more precise transcription therefore is [s̠]. Similarly, the velar consonants in Kwakiutl are actually postvelar; that is, pronounced farther back than a prototypical velar, between velar [k] and uvular [q], and is thus transcribed [k̠].
Officially, the IPA symbol [a] stands for a front vowel. However, in most languages where it is used, /a/ actually stands for a central vowel. If precision is desired, this may also be indicated with the minus sign ([a̠]), or possibly with the centralized diacritic ([ä]); yet another possible notation is [ɐ] with the lowered diacritic ([ɐ̞]).
Either the prefix post- may be used to indicated retraction, as above, or phrases like "retracted i" may be used.
[edit] Raised and lowered
A raised sound is articulated with the tongue or lip raised higher than some reference point. In the IPA this is indicated with the uptack diacritic [ ̝].
A lowered sound is articulated with the tongue or lip lowered (the mouth more open) than some reference point. In the IPA this is indicated with the downtack diacritic [ ̞]. Both consonants and vowels may be marked as raised or lowered.
When there is no room for the tack under a letter, it may be written after: [ɭ˔], [ɣ˕].
[edit] Raised and lowered vowels
In the case of a vowel, raising means that the vowel is closer, toward the top of the vowel chart. For example,
In other non-IPA transcription systems, raised vowels are indicated with the iconic upward-pointing arrowhead [˰] while lowered vowels have the downward arrowhead [˯]. Thus, IPA [e̝] is equivalent to [e˰], IPA [e̞] is equivalent to [e˯].
[edit] Raised and lowered consonants
Manners of articulation
Obstruent
Stop
Affricate
Fricative
Sibilant
Sonorant
Nasal
Flaps/Tap
Trill
Approximant
Liquid
Vowel
Semivowel
Lateral
Airstreams
Ejective
Implosive
Click
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
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edit
With consonants, raising and lowering changes the manner of articulation to something with more or less stricture. For example, raised approximants and trills are fricatives, whereas lowered fricatives are approximants. The ambiguous symbols for rear approximant/fricatives may be specified as fricatives with the raising diacritic, [ʁ̝, ʕ̝, ʢ̝], or as approximants with the lowering diacritic, [ʁ̞, ʕ̞, ʢ̞]. In Spanish, the "weak" allophones of the voiced stops are generally transcribed as fricatives even though they are approximants, or intermediate between fricative and approximant. This may be partially due to the fact there is only a dedicated IPA symbol one of them, the velar approximant. More precise transcription will use the fricative symbols with the lowering diacritic, [β̞, ð̞, ɣ˕]. Czech, on the other hand, requires the opposite: Its fricated trill, which is a separate phoneme, may be transcribed as a raised trill, [r̝]. Similarly, the non-sibilant coronal fricative is written [ɹ̝], and the voiceless velar lateral fricative as [ʟ̝̊]. (A dedicated letter for this sound, , is not part of the IPA.)
From most open (least stricture) to most close (most stricture), there are several independent relationships among speech sounds. Open vowel > mid vowel > close vowel > approximant > fricative > plosive is one; flap > stop is another; and trill > (trilled) fricative yet another. The IPA chart has been organized so that the raising diacritic moves the value of a letter through these series toward the top of the chart, and the lowering diacritic toward the bottom of the chart, but this only works for some of the consonants. While it would be convenient if all consonants could be so ordered, consonants are too diverse for a single dimension to capture their relationships. In addition, many of the points along the series may be nasalized or lateralized as well, and these parameters are independent of stricture.
Examples of stricture series Oral Nasal Flap Trill Lateral
Stop ɟ ɲ d t͡ɬ
Fricative ʝ ʝ̃ r̝ ɬ
Approximant / Vibrant j ȷ̃ ɾ r l
Close vowel i ĩ (N/A)
Close-mid vowel e ẽ
Open-mid vowel ɛ ɛ̃
Near-open vowel æ æ̃
Open vowel a ã
[edit] Centralized vowels
For non-lateral consonants, see central or medial consonants.
Vowels
v • d • e
See also: IPA, Consonants
Front Near- front Central Near- back Back
Close
Blank vowel trapezoid.svg
i · y
ɨ · ʉ
ɯ · u
ɪ · ʏ
ɪ̈ · ʊ̈
ʊ
e · ø
ɘ · ɵ
ɤ · o
ə
ɛ · œ
ɜ · ɞ
ʌ · ɔ
æ
ɐ
a · ɶ
ɑ · ɒ
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents
a rounded vowel. Vowel length is indicated by appending ː
A centralized vowel is a vowel that is more central than some point of reference, or that has undergone a shift in this direction. The diacritic for this in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the dieresis, [ ¨ ].
For example, to transcribe rounded and unrounded near-close central vowels, the symbols [ɪ̈, ʊ̈] may be used. In other (non-IPA) transcription systems, <ɪ, ʊ> will be seen instead of [ɪ̈, ʊ̈] (by analogy with [ɨ, ʉ]). Before the letters [ɘ, ɵ, ɜ, ɞ] were added to the IPA in 1993, the symbols [ë, ö, ɛ̈, ɔ̈] were used for these near-schwa values. [ë, ö, ɛ̈, ɔ̈] would now be assumed to represent articulations intermediate between [e, o, ɛ, ɔ] and [ɘ, ɵ, ɜ, ɞ]. Similarly, [ï, ÿ, ü, ɯ̈] would be intermediate between [i, y, u, ɯ] and [ɨ, ʉ].
In the majority of languages described as having an [a], the vowel is actually central, and would be better transcribed as [ä]. However, this symbol is not commonly used, perhaps because it disagrees with the sound value of umlaut ä in the Germanic languages.
Instead of the diacritic for centralization, the advanced or retracted diacritics may be used (an equivalent transcription of [ä] is retracted [a̠]), but the concept of centralization is convenient in cases where front and back vowels move toward each other, rather than all advancing or retracting in the same direction.
[edit] Mid-centralized vowel
A mid-centralized vowel is a vowel closer to the mid-point of the vowel space than some point of reference. That is, it is closer to the mid-central vowel schwa [ə]; it is not just centralized, but also raised or lowered. The diacritic used to mark this in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the over-cross, [ ̽].
In most languages, vowels become mid-centralized when spoken quickly, and in some, such as English and Russian, many vowels are also mid-centralized when unstressed. This is a general characteristic of vowel reduction.
Even when fully articulated, the vowels of a language may be on the schwa side of a cardinal IPA vowel. One example of this is Lisbon Portuguese, where unstressed e is a near-close near-back unrounded vowel. That is, it lies between the close back unrounded vowel [ɯ] and schwa, where [ʊ] sits in the vowel chart, but unlike [ʊ], not rounded. It may be written [ɯ̽], as in pegar [pɯ̽ˈɡaɾ] "to hold".
[edit] More and less rounded
There are also diacritics, respectively [ ̹] and [ ̜] (right and left half-rings), to indicate greater or lesser degrees of rounding. For example, the English near-close near-back vowel often has very little rounding, and may be transcribed [ʊ̜]. In Assamese, on the other hand, the open back rounded vowel is much more rounded than is typical for a low vowel, and may be transcribed [ɒ̹].
These diacritics are sometimes also used with consonants to indicate degrees of labialization. For example, in the Athabaskan language Hupa, voiceless velar fricatives distinguish three degrees of labialization, transcribed either [x x̹ xʷ] or [x x̜ʷ xʷ].
The Extensions to the IPA have two additional symbols for degrees of rounding: spread, as in [ə͍], and open-rounded, as in English [ʃœ] and [ʒœ].
[edit] References
Clark John, Yallop Collin, Fletcher Janet (2007). Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 22–26, 264–266.
[edit]
Place of articulation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Places of articulation (passive & active):
1. Exo-labial, 2. Endo-labial, 3. Dental, 4. Alveolar, 5. Post-alveolar, 6. Pre-palatal, 7. Palatal, 8. Velar, 9. Uvular, 10. Pharyngeal, 11. Glottal, 12. Epiglottal, 13. Radical, 14. Postero-dorsal, 15. Antero-dorsal, 16. Laminal, 17. Apical, 18. Sub-apical
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active (moving) articulator (typically some part of the tongue) and a passive (stationary) articulator (typically some part of the roof of the mouth). Along with the manner of articulation and phonation, this gives the consonant its distinctive sound.
A place of articulation is defined as both the active and passive articulators. For instance, the active lower lip may contact either a passive upper lip (bilabial, like [m]) or the upper teeth (labiodental, like [f]). The hard palate may be contacted by either the front or the back of the tongue. If the front of the tongue is used, the place is called retroflex; if back of the tongue ("dorsum") is used, the place is called "dorsal-palatal", or more commonly, just palatal.
There are five basic active articulators: the lip ("labial consonants"), the flexible front of the tongue ("coronal consonants"), the middle/back of the tongue ("dorsal consonants"), the root of the tongue together with the epiglottis ("radical consonants"), and the larynx ("laryngeal consonants"). These articulators can act independently of each other, and two or more may work together in what is called coarticulation (see below).
The passive articulation, on the other hand, is a continuum without many clear-cut boundaries. The places linguolabial and interdental, interdental and dental, dental and alveolar, alveolar and palatal, palatal and velar, velar and uvular merge into one another, and a consonant may be pronounced somewhere between the named places.
In addition, when the front of the tongue is used, it may be the upper surface or blade of the tongue that makes contact ("laminal consonants"), the tip of the tongue ("apical consonants"), or the under surface ("sub-apical consonants"). These articulations also merge into one another without clear boundaries.
Consonants that have the same place of articulation, such as the alveolar sounds -- n, t, d, s, z, l -- in English, are said to be homorganic.
A homorganic nasal rule is a case where the point of articulation of the initial sound is assimilated by the last sound in a prefix. An example of this rule is found in language Yoruba, where ba, "hide", becomes mba, "is hiding", while sun, "sleep", becomes nsun, "is sleeping".
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Table of active articulations and places of articulation
* 2 List of places where the obstruction may occur
* 3 Nasals and laterals
* 4 Coarticulation
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links
[edit] Table of active articulations and places of articulation
This table may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this table if you can. (January 2010)
Places of
articulation
• Labial
Bilabial
Labial-velar
Labial-alveolar
Labiodental
Dentolabial
• Bidental
• Coronal
Linguolabial
Interdental
Dental
Denti-alveolar
Alveolar
Apical
Laminal
Subapical
Postalveolar
Alveolo-palatal
Retroflex
• Dorsal
Palatal
Labial-palatal
Velar
Uvular
Uvular-epiglottal
• Radical
Pharyngeal
Epiglotto-pharyngeal
Epiglottal
• Glottal
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
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Active gesture Active + passive place of articulation
Labial Bilabial
Labiodental
Coronal Laminal Linguolabial
Interdental
Laminal dental
Laminal denti-alveolar
Laminal alveolar
Laminal postalveolar ("retroflex" #1)
Domed (partially palatalized) Domed postalveolar ("palato-alveolar")
Palatalized Palatalized postalveolar ("alveolo-palatal")
Apical Apical dental
Apical alveolar
Apical postalveolar ("retroflex" #2)
Subapical Subapical (pre)palatal ("retroflex" #3)
Dorsal Prepalatal
Palatal
Prevelar (or medio-palatal)
Velar
Postvelar
Uvular
Radical Upper pharyngeal
Lower pharyngeal
Epiglotto-pharyngeal
(Ary-)epiglottal
Laryngeal Glottal
[edit] List of places where the obstruction may occur
* Bilabial: between the lips
* Labiodental: between the lower lip and the upper teeth
* Dentolabial: between the upper lip and the lower teeth
* Linguolabial: between the front of the tongue and the upper lip
* Dental: between the front of the tongue and the top teeth
* Alveolar: between the front of the tongue and the ridge behind the gums (the alveolus)
* Postalveolar: between the front of the tongue and the space behind the alveolar ridge
* Retroflex: in "true" retroflexes, the tongue curls back so the underside touches the palate
* Palatal: between the middle of the tongue and the hard palate
* Velar: between the back of the tongue and the soft palate (the velum)
* Uvular: between the back of the tongue and the uvula (which hangs down in the back of the mouth)
(All of the above may be nasalized, and most may be lateralized.)
* Pharyngeal: between the root of the tongue and the back of the throat (the pharynx)
* Epiglotto-pharyngeal: between the epiglottis and the back of the throat
* Epiglottal: between the aryepiglottic folds and the epiglottis (see larynx)
* Glottal: at the glottis (see larynx)
[edit] Nasals and laterals
* In nasals, the velum is lowered to allow air to pass through the nose (technically a place, but generally considered as a manner of articulation[citation needed])
* In laterals, the air is released past the tongue sides and teeth rather than over the tip of the tongue. English has only one lateral, /l/, but many languages have more than one, e.g. Spanish written "l" vs. "ll"; some Indigenous Australian languages with dental, alveolar, retroflex and palatal laterals; and numerous Native American languages with not only lateral approximants, but also lateral fricatives and affricates. Some Northeast Caucasian languages have five, six, or even seven lateral consonants.
[edit] Coarticulation
Some languages have consonants with two simultaneous places of articulation, called coarticulation. When these are doubly articulated, the articulators must be independently movable, and therefore there may only be one each from the categories labial, coronal, dorsal, and radical. (The glottis controls phonation and sometimes the airstream, and is not considered an articulator.)
However, more commonly there is a secondary articulation of an approximantic nature, in which case both articulations can be similar, such as labialized labials, palatalized velars, etc.
Some common coarticulations include:
* Labialization, rounding the lips while producing the obstruction, as in [kʷ] and English /w/.
* Palatalization, raising the body of the tongue toward the hard palate while producing the obstruction, as in Russian /tʲ/.
* Velarization, raising the back of the tongue toward the soft palate (velum), as in the English dark l, [lˠ] or [ɫ].
* Pharyngealization, constriction of the throat (pharynx), such as Arabic "emphatic" [tˤ].
* Doubly articulated stop: a stop produced simultaneously with another stop, such as labial-velar consonants like [k͡p], found throughout West and Central Africa. There are also labial-alveolar consonants [t͡p d͡b n͡m], found as distinct consonants only in a single language in New Guinea, which also contrasts labial-postalveolar stops. Somali has a uvular-epiglottal stop [q͡ʡ].
[edit]
Jump to: navigation, search
Places of articulation (passive & active):
1. Exo-labial, 2. Endo-labial, 3. Dental, 4. Alveolar, 5. Post-alveolar, 6. Pre-palatal, 7. Palatal, 8. Velar, 9. Uvular, 10. Pharyngeal, 11. Glottal, 12. Epiglottal, 13. Radical, 14. Postero-dorsal, 15. Antero-dorsal, 16. Laminal, 17. Apical, 18. Sub-apical
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active (moving) articulator (typically some part of the tongue) and a passive (stationary) articulator (typically some part of the roof of the mouth). Along with the manner of articulation and phonation, this gives the consonant its distinctive sound.
A place of articulation is defined as both the active and passive articulators. For instance, the active lower lip may contact either a passive upper lip (bilabial, like [m]) or the upper teeth (labiodental, like [f]). The hard palate may be contacted by either the front or the back of the tongue. If the front of the tongue is used, the place is called retroflex; if back of the tongue ("dorsum") is used, the place is called "dorsal-palatal", or more commonly, just palatal.
There are five basic active articulators: the lip ("labial consonants"), the flexible front of the tongue ("coronal consonants"), the middle/back of the tongue ("dorsal consonants"), the root of the tongue together with the epiglottis ("radical consonants"), and the larynx ("laryngeal consonants"). These articulators can act independently of each other, and two or more may work together in what is called coarticulation (see below).
The passive articulation, on the other hand, is a continuum without many clear-cut boundaries. The places linguolabial and interdental, interdental and dental, dental and alveolar, alveolar and palatal, palatal and velar, velar and uvular merge into one another, and a consonant may be pronounced somewhere between the named places.
In addition, when the front of the tongue is used, it may be the upper surface or blade of the tongue that makes contact ("laminal consonants"), the tip of the tongue ("apical consonants"), or the under surface ("sub-apical consonants"). These articulations also merge into one another without clear boundaries.
Consonants that have the same place of articulation, such as the alveolar sounds -- n, t, d, s, z, l -- in English, are said to be homorganic.
A homorganic nasal rule is a case where the point of articulation of the initial sound is assimilated by the last sound in a prefix. An example of this rule is found in language Yoruba, where ba, "hide", becomes mba, "is hiding", while sun, "sleep", becomes nsun, "is sleeping".
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Table of active articulations and places of articulation
* 2 List of places where the obstruction may occur
* 3 Nasals and laterals
* 4 Coarticulation
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links
[edit] Table of active articulations and places of articulation
This table may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this table if you can. (January 2010)
Places of
articulation
• Labial
Bilabial
Labial-velar
Labial-alveolar
Labiodental
Dentolabial
• Bidental
• Coronal
Linguolabial
Interdental
Dental
Denti-alveolar
Alveolar
Apical
Laminal
Subapical
Postalveolar
Alveolo-palatal
Retroflex
• Dorsal
Palatal
Labial-palatal
Velar
Uvular
Uvular-epiglottal
• Radical
Pharyngeal
Epiglotto-pharyngeal
Epiglottal
• Glottal
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
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Active gesture Active + passive place of articulation
Labial Bilabial
Labiodental
Coronal Laminal Linguolabial
Interdental
Laminal dental
Laminal denti-alveolar
Laminal alveolar
Laminal postalveolar ("retroflex" #1)
Domed (partially palatalized) Domed postalveolar ("palato-alveolar")
Palatalized Palatalized postalveolar ("alveolo-palatal")
Apical Apical dental
Apical alveolar
Apical postalveolar ("retroflex" #2)
Subapical Subapical (pre)palatal ("retroflex" #3)
Dorsal Prepalatal
Palatal
Prevelar (or medio-palatal)
Velar
Postvelar
Uvular
Radical Upper pharyngeal
Lower pharyngeal
Epiglotto-pharyngeal
(Ary-)epiglottal
Laryngeal Glottal
[edit] List of places where the obstruction may occur
* Bilabial: between the lips
* Labiodental: between the lower lip and the upper teeth
* Dentolabial: between the upper lip and the lower teeth
* Linguolabial: between the front of the tongue and the upper lip
* Dental: between the front of the tongue and the top teeth
* Alveolar: between the front of the tongue and the ridge behind the gums (the alveolus)
* Postalveolar: between the front of the tongue and the space behind the alveolar ridge
* Retroflex: in "true" retroflexes, the tongue curls back so the underside touches the palate
* Palatal: between the middle of the tongue and the hard palate
* Velar: between the back of the tongue and the soft palate (the velum)
* Uvular: between the back of the tongue and the uvula (which hangs down in the back of the mouth)
(All of the above may be nasalized, and most may be lateralized.)
* Pharyngeal: between the root of the tongue and the back of the throat (the pharynx)
* Epiglotto-pharyngeal: between the epiglottis and the back of the throat
* Epiglottal: between the aryepiglottic folds and the epiglottis (see larynx)
* Glottal: at the glottis (see larynx)
[edit] Nasals and laterals
* In nasals, the velum is lowered to allow air to pass through the nose (technically a place, but generally considered as a manner of articulation[citation needed])
* In laterals, the air is released past the tongue sides and teeth rather than over the tip of the tongue. English has only one lateral, /l/, but many languages have more than one, e.g. Spanish written "l" vs. "ll"; some Indigenous Australian languages with dental, alveolar, retroflex and palatal laterals; and numerous Native American languages with not only lateral approximants, but also lateral fricatives and affricates. Some Northeast Caucasian languages have five, six, or even seven lateral consonants.
[edit] Coarticulation
Some languages have consonants with two simultaneous places of articulation, called coarticulation. When these are doubly articulated, the articulators must be independently movable, and therefore there may only be one each from the categories labial, coronal, dorsal, and radical. (The glottis controls phonation and sometimes the airstream, and is not considered an articulator.)
However, more commonly there is a secondary articulation of an approximantic nature, in which case both articulations can be similar, such as labialized labials, palatalized velars, etc.
Some common coarticulations include:
* Labialization, rounding the lips while producing the obstruction, as in [kʷ] and English /w/.
* Palatalization, raising the body of the tongue toward the hard palate while producing the obstruction, as in Russian /tʲ/.
* Velarization, raising the back of the tongue toward the soft palate (velum), as in the English dark l, [lˠ] or [ɫ].
* Pharyngealization, constriction of the throat (pharynx), such as Arabic "emphatic" [tˤ].
* Doubly articulated stop: a stop produced simultaneously with another stop, such as labial-velar consonants like [k͡p], found throughout West and Central Africa. There are also labial-alveolar consonants [t͡p d͡b n͡m], found as distinct consonants only in a single language in New Guinea, which also contrasts labial-postalveolar stops. Somali has a uvular-epiglottal stop [q͡ʡ].
[edit]
Manner of articulation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Manners of articulation
Obstruent
Stop
Affricate
Fricative
Sibilant
Sonorant
Nasal
Flaps/Tap
Trill
Approximant
Liquid
Vowel
Semivowel
Lateral
Airstreams
Ejective
Implosive
Click
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
edit
Human vocal tract
In linguistics (articulatory phonetics), manner of articulation describes how the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs are involved in making a sound make contact. Often the concept is only used for the production of consonants. For any place of articulation, there may be several manners, and therefore several homorganic consonants.
One parameter of manner is stricture, that is, how closely the speech organs approach one another. Parameters other than stricture are those involved in the r-like sounds (taps and trills), and the sibilancy of fricatives. Often nasality and laterality are included in manner, but phoneticians such as Peter Ladefoged consider them to be independent.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Stricture
* 2 Other parameters
* 3 Individual manners
* 4 Broader classifications
* 5 Other airstream initiations
* 6 See also
* 7 References
* 8 External links
[edit] Stricture
From greatest to least stricture, speech sounds may be classified along a cline as stop consonants (with occlusion, or blocked airflow), fricative consonants (with partially blocked and therefore strongly turbulent airflow), approximants (with only slight turbulence), and vowels (with full unimpeded airflow). Affricates often behave as if they were intermediate between stops and fricatives, but phonetically they are sequences of stop plus fricative.
Historically, sounds may move along this cline toward less stricture in a process called lenition. The reverse process is fortition.
[edit] Other parameters
Sibilants are distinguished from other fricatives by the shape of the tongue and how the airflow is directed over the teeth. Fricatives at coronal places of articulation may be sibilant or non-sibilant, sibilants being the more common.
Taps and flaps are similar to very brief stops. However, their articulation and behavior is distinct enough to be considered a separate manner, rather than just length.[specify]
Trills involve the vibration of one of the speech organs. Since trilling is a separate parameter from stricture, the two may be combined. Increasing the stricture of a typical trill results in a trilled fricative. Trilled affricates are also known.
Nasal airflow may be added as an independent parameter to any speech sound. It is most commonly found in nasal stops and nasal vowels, but nasal fricatives, taps, and approximants are also found. When a sound is not nasal, it is called oral. An oral stop is often called a plosive, while a nasal stop is generally just called a nasal.
Laterality is the release of airflow at the side of the tongue. This can also be combined with other manners, resulting in lateral approximants (the most common), lateral flaps, and lateral fricatives and affricates.
[edit] Individual manners
* Plosive, or oral stop, where there is complete occlusion (blockage) of both the oral and nasal cavities of the vocal tract, and therefore no air flow. Examples include English /p t k/ (voiceless) and /b d g/ (voiced). If the consonant is voiced, the voicing is the only sound made during occlusion; if it is voiceless, a plosive is completely silent. What we hear as a /p/ or /k/ is the effect that the onset of the occlusion has on the preceding vowel, and well as the release burst and its effect on the following vowel. The shape and position of the tongue (the place of articulation) determine the resonant cavity that gives different plosives their characteristic sounds. All languages have plosives.
* Nasal stop, usually shortened to nasal, where there is complete occlusion of the oral cavity, and the air passes instead through the nose. The shape and position of the tongue determine the resonant cavity that gives different nasal stops their characteristic sounds. Examples include English /m, n/. Nearly all languages have nasals, the only exceptions being in the area of Puget Sound and a single language on Bougainville Island.
* Fricative, sometimes called spirant, where there is continuous frication (turbulent and noisy airflow) at the place of articulation. Examples include English /f, s/ (voiceless), /v, z/ (voiced), etc. Most languages have fricatives, though many have only an /s/. However, the Indigenous Australian languages are almost completely devoid of fricatives of any kind.
* Sibilants are a type of fricative where the airflow is guided by a groove in the tongue toward the teeth, creating a high-pitched and very distinctive sound. These are by far the most common fricatives. Fricatives at coronal (front of tongue) places of articulation are usually, though not always, sibilants. English sibilants include /s/ and /z/.
* Lateral fricatives are a rare type of fricative, where the frication occurs on one or both sides of the edge of the tongue. The "ll" of Welsh and the "hl" of Zulu are lateral fricatives.
* Affricate, which begins like a plosive, but this releases into a fricative rather than having a separate release of its own. The English letters "ch" and "j" represent affricates. Affricates are quite common around the world, though less common than fricatives.
* Flap, often called a tap, is a momentary closure of the oral cavity. The "tt" of "utter" and the "dd" of "udder" are pronounced as a flap in North American English. Many linguists distinguish taps from flaps, but there is no consensus on what the difference might be. No language relies on such a difference. There are also lateral flaps.
* Trill, in which the articulator (usually the tip of the tongue) is held in place, and the airstream causes it to vibrate. The double "r" of Spanish "perro" is a trill. Trills and flaps, where there are one or more brief occlusions, constitute a class of consonant called rhotics.
* Approximant, where there is very little obstruction. Examples include English /w/ and /r/. In some languages, such as Spanish, there are sounds which seem to fall between fricative and approximant.
* One use of the word semivowel, sometimes called a glide, is a type of approximant, pronounced like a vowel but with the tongue closer to the roof of the mouth, so that there is slight turbulence. In English, /w/ is the semivowel equivalent of the vowel /u/, and /j/ (spelled "y") is the semivowel equivalent of the vowel /i/ in this usage. Other descriptions use semivowel for vowel-like sounds that are not syllabic, but do not have the increased stricture of approximants. These are found as elements in diphthongs. The word may also be used to cover both concepts.
* Lateral approximants, usually shortened to lateral, are a type of approximant pronounced with the side of the tongue. English /l/ is a lateral. Together with the rhotics, which have similar behavior in many languages, these form a class of consonant called liquids.
[edit] Broader classifications
Manners of articulation with substantial obstruction of the airflow (plosives, fricatives, affricates) are called obstruents. These are prototypically voiceless, but voiced obstruents are extremely common as well. Manners without such obstruction (nasals, liquids, approximants, and also vowels) are called sonorants because they are nearly always voiced. Voiceless sonorants are uncommon, but are found in Welsh and Classical Greek (the spelling "rh"), in Tibetan (the "lh" of Lhasa), and the "wh" in those dialects of English which distinguish "which" from "witch".
Sonorants may also be called resonants, and some linguists prefer that term, restricting the word 'sonorant' to non-vocoid resonants (that is, nasals and liquids, but not vowels or semi-vowels). Another common distinction is between stops (plosives and nasals) and continuants (all else); affricates are considered to be both, because they are sequences of stop plus fricative.
[edit] Other airstream initiations
All of these manners of articulation are pronounced with an airstream mechanism called pulmonic egressive, meaning that the air flows outward, and is powered by the lungs (actually the ribs and diaphragm). Other airstream mechanisms are possible. Sounds that rely on some of these include:
* Ejectives, which are glottalic egressive. That is, the airstream is powered by an upward movement of the glottis rather than by the lungs or diaphragm. Plosives, affricates, and occasionally fricatives may occur as ejectives. All ejectives are voiceless.
* Implosives, which are glottalic ingressive. Here the glottis moves downward, but the lungs may be used simultaneously (to provide voicing), and in some languages no air may actually flow into the mouth. Implosive oral stops are not uncommon, but implosive affricates and fricatives are rare. Voiceless implosives are also rare.
* Clicks, which are velaric ingressive. Here the back of the tongue is used to create a vacuum in the mouth, causing air to rush in when the forward occlusion (tongue or lips) is released. Clicks may be oral or nasal, stop or affricate, central or lateral, voiced or voiceless. They are extremely rare in normal words outside Southern Africa. However, English has a click in its "tsk tsk" (or "tut tut") sound, and another is often used to say "giddy up" to a horse.
[edit]
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Manners of articulation
Obstruent
Stop
Affricate
Fricative
Sibilant
Sonorant
Nasal
Flaps/Tap
Trill
Approximant
Liquid
Vowel
Semivowel
Lateral
Airstreams
Ejective
Implosive
Click
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
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Human vocal tract
In linguistics (articulatory phonetics), manner of articulation describes how the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs are involved in making a sound make contact. Often the concept is only used for the production of consonants. For any place of articulation, there may be several manners, and therefore several homorganic consonants.
One parameter of manner is stricture, that is, how closely the speech organs approach one another. Parameters other than stricture are those involved in the r-like sounds (taps and trills), and the sibilancy of fricatives. Often nasality and laterality are included in manner, but phoneticians such as Peter Ladefoged consider them to be independent.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Stricture
* 2 Other parameters
* 3 Individual manners
* 4 Broader classifications
* 5 Other airstream initiations
* 6 See also
* 7 References
* 8 External links
[edit] Stricture
From greatest to least stricture, speech sounds may be classified along a cline as stop consonants (with occlusion, or blocked airflow), fricative consonants (with partially blocked and therefore strongly turbulent airflow), approximants (with only slight turbulence), and vowels (with full unimpeded airflow). Affricates often behave as if they were intermediate between stops and fricatives, but phonetically they are sequences of stop plus fricative.
Historically, sounds may move along this cline toward less stricture in a process called lenition. The reverse process is fortition.
[edit] Other parameters
Sibilants are distinguished from other fricatives by the shape of the tongue and how the airflow is directed over the teeth. Fricatives at coronal places of articulation may be sibilant or non-sibilant, sibilants being the more common.
Taps and flaps are similar to very brief stops. However, their articulation and behavior is distinct enough to be considered a separate manner, rather than just length.[specify]
Trills involve the vibration of one of the speech organs. Since trilling is a separate parameter from stricture, the two may be combined. Increasing the stricture of a typical trill results in a trilled fricative. Trilled affricates are also known.
Nasal airflow may be added as an independent parameter to any speech sound. It is most commonly found in nasal stops and nasal vowels, but nasal fricatives, taps, and approximants are also found. When a sound is not nasal, it is called oral. An oral stop is often called a plosive, while a nasal stop is generally just called a nasal.
Laterality is the release of airflow at the side of the tongue. This can also be combined with other manners, resulting in lateral approximants (the most common), lateral flaps, and lateral fricatives and affricates.
[edit] Individual manners
* Plosive, or oral stop, where there is complete occlusion (blockage) of both the oral and nasal cavities of the vocal tract, and therefore no air flow. Examples include English /p t k/ (voiceless) and /b d g/ (voiced). If the consonant is voiced, the voicing is the only sound made during occlusion; if it is voiceless, a plosive is completely silent. What we hear as a /p/ or /k/ is the effect that the onset of the occlusion has on the preceding vowel, and well as the release burst and its effect on the following vowel. The shape and position of the tongue (the place of articulation) determine the resonant cavity that gives different plosives their characteristic sounds. All languages have plosives.
* Nasal stop, usually shortened to nasal, where there is complete occlusion of the oral cavity, and the air passes instead through the nose. The shape and position of the tongue determine the resonant cavity that gives different nasal stops their characteristic sounds. Examples include English /m, n/. Nearly all languages have nasals, the only exceptions being in the area of Puget Sound and a single language on Bougainville Island.
* Fricative, sometimes called spirant, where there is continuous frication (turbulent and noisy airflow) at the place of articulation. Examples include English /f, s/ (voiceless), /v, z/ (voiced), etc. Most languages have fricatives, though many have only an /s/. However, the Indigenous Australian languages are almost completely devoid of fricatives of any kind.
* Sibilants are a type of fricative where the airflow is guided by a groove in the tongue toward the teeth, creating a high-pitched and very distinctive sound. These are by far the most common fricatives. Fricatives at coronal (front of tongue) places of articulation are usually, though not always, sibilants. English sibilants include /s/ and /z/.
* Lateral fricatives are a rare type of fricative, where the frication occurs on one or both sides of the edge of the tongue. The "ll" of Welsh and the "hl" of Zulu are lateral fricatives.
* Affricate, which begins like a plosive, but this releases into a fricative rather than having a separate release of its own. The English letters "ch" and "j" represent affricates. Affricates are quite common around the world, though less common than fricatives.
* Flap, often called a tap, is a momentary closure of the oral cavity. The "tt" of "utter" and the "dd" of "udder" are pronounced as a flap in North American English. Many linguists distinguish taps from flaps, but there is no consensus on what the difference might be. No language relies on such a difference. There are also lateral flaps.
* Trill, in which the articulator (usually the tip of the tongue) is held in place, and the airstream causes it to vibrate. The double "r" of Spanish "perro" is a trill. Trills and flaps, where there are one or more brief occlusions, constitute a class of consonant called rhotics.
* Approximant, where there is very little obstruction. Examples include English /w/ and /r/. In some languages, such as Spanish, there are sounds which seem to fall between fricative and approximant.
* One use of the word semivowel, sometimes called a glide, is a type of approximant, pronounced like a vowel but with the tongue closer to the roof of the mouth, so that there is slight turbulence. In English, /w/ is the semivowel equivalent of the vowel /u/, and /j/ (spelled "y") is the semivowel equivalent of the vowel /i/ in this usage. Other descriptions use semivowel for vowel-like sounds that are not syllabic, but do not have the increased stricture of approximants. These are found as elements in diphthongs. The word may also be used to cover both concepts.
* Lateral approximants, usually shortened to lateral, are a type of approximant pronounced with the side of the tongue. English /l/ is a lateral. Together with the rhotics, which have similar behavior in many languages, these form a class of consonant called liquids.
[edit] Broader classifications
Manners of articulation with substantial obstruction of the airflow (plosives, fricatives, affricates) are called obstruents. These are prototypically voiceless, but voiced obstruents are extremely common as well. Manners without such obstruction (nasals, liquids, approximants, and also vowels) are called sonorants because they are nearly always voiced. Voiceless sonorants are uncommon, but are found in Welsh and Classical Greek (the spelling "rh"), in Tibetan (the "lh" of Lhasa), and the "wh" in those dialects of English which distinguish "which" from "witch".
Sonorants may also be called resonants, and some linguists prefer that term, restricting the word 'sonorant' to non-vocoid resonants (that is, nasals and liquids, but not vowels or semi-vowels). Another common distinction is between stops (plosives and nasals) and continuants (all else); affricates are considered to be both, because they are sequences of stop plus fricative.
[edit] Other airstream initiations
All of these manners of articulation are pronounced with an airstream mechanism called pulmonic egressive, meaning that the air flows outward, and is powered by the lungs (actually the ribs and diaphragm). Other airstream mechanisms are possible. Sounds that rely on some of these include:
* Ejectives, which are glottalic egressive. That is, the airstream is powered by an upward movement of the glottis rather than by the lungs or diaphragm. Plosives, affricates, and occasionally fricatives may occur as ejectives. All ejectives are voiceless.
* Implosives, which are glottalic ingressive. Here the glottis moves downward, but the lungs may be used simultaneously (to provide voicing), and in some languages no air may actually flow into the mouth. Implosive oral stops are not uncommon, but implosive affricates and fricatives are rare. Voiceless implosives are also rare.
* Clicks, which are velaric ingressive. Here the back of the tongue is used to create a vacuum in the mouth, causing air to rush in when the forward occlusion (tongue or lips) is released. Clicks may be oral or nasal, stop or affricate, central or lateral, voiced or voiceless. They are extremely rare in normal words outside Southern Africa. However, English has a click in its "tsk tsk" (or "tut tut") sound, and another is often used to say "giddy up" to a horse.
[edit]
rhetorical divices
A Preface of Quotations
Whoever desires for his writings or himself, what none can reasonably condemn,the favor of mankind, must add grace to strength, and make his thoughts agreeable as well as useful. Many complain of neglect who never tried to attract regard. It cannot be expected that the patrons of science or virtue should be solicitous to discover excellencies which they who possess them shade and disguise. Few have abilities so much needed by the rest of the world as to be caressed on their own terms; and he that will not condescend to recommend himself by external embellishments must submit to the fate of just sentiments meanly expressed, and be ridiculed and forgotten before he is understood. --Samuel Johnson
Men must be taught as if you taught them not; And things unknown propos'd as things forgot. --Alexander Pope
Style in painting is the same as in writing, a power over materials, whether words or colors, by which conceptions or sentiments are conveyed. --Sir Joshua Reynolds
Whereas, if after some preparatory grounds of speech by their certain forms got into memory, they were led to the praxis thereof in some chosen short book lessoned thoroughly to them, they might then forthwith proceed to learn the substance of good things, and arts in due order, which would bring the whole language quickly into their power. --John Milton
Introduction
Good writing depends upon more than making a collection of statements worthy of belief, because writing is intended to be read by others, with minds different from your own. Your reader does not make the same mental connections you make; he does not see the world exactly as you see it; he is already flooded daily with thousands of statements demanding assent, yet which he knows or believes to be false, confused, or deceptive. If your writing is to get through to him--or even to be read and considered at all--it must be interesting, clear, persuasive, and memorable, so that he will pay attention to, understand, believe, and remember the ideas it communicates. To fulfill these requirements successfully, your work must have an appropriate and clear thesis, sufficient arguments and reasons supporting the thesis, a logical and progressive arrangement, and, importantly, an effective style.
While style is probably best learned through wide reading, comprehensive analysis and thorough practice, much can be discovered about effective writing through the study of some of the common and traditional devices of style and arrangement. By learning, practicing, altering, and perfecting them, and by testing their effects and nuances for yourself, these devices will help you to express yourself better and also teach you to see the interrelatedness of form and meaning, and the psychology of syntax, metaphor, and diction both in your own writing and in the works of others.
The rhetorical devices presented here generally fall into three categories: those involving emphasis, association, clarification, and focus; those involving physical organization, transition, and disposition or arrangement; and those involving decoration and variety. Sometimes a given device or trope will fall mainly into a single category, as for example an expletive is used mostly for emphasis; but more often the effects of a particular device are multiple, and a single one may operate in all three categories. Parallelism, for instance, helps to order, clarify, emphasize, and beautify a thought. Occasionally a device has certain effects not readily identifiable or explainable, so I have not always been able to say why or when certain ones are good or should be used. My recommendation is to practice them all and develop that sense in yourself which will tell you when and how to use them.
Lots of practice and experimentation are necessary before you will feel really comfortable with these devices, but too much practice in a single paper will most assuredly be disastrous. A journal or notebook is the best place to experiment; when a device becomes second nature to you, and when it no longer appears false or affected--when indeed it becomes genuinely built in to your writing rather than added on--then it may make its formal appearance in a paper. Remember that rhetorical devices are aids to writing and not ends of writing; you have no obligation to toss one into every paragraph. Further, if used carelessly or excessively or too frequently, almost any one of these devices will probably seem affected, dull, awkward, or mechanical. But with a little care and skill, developed by practice, anyone can master them, and their use will add not just beauty and emphasis and effectiveness to your writing, but a kind of freedom of thought and expression you never imagined possible.
Practice these; try them out. Do not worry if they sometimes ring false at first. Play with them--learn to manipulate and control your words and ideas--and eventually you will master the art of aggressive instruction: keeping the reader focused with anaphora, emphasizing a point with an expletive, explaining to him with a metaphor or simile, organizing your work in his mind with metabasis, answering his queries with hypophora or procatalepsis, balancing possibilities with antithesis. You will also have gone a long way toward fulfilling the four requirements mentioned at the beginning: the devices of decoration and variety will help make your reader pay attention, the devices of organization and clarification will help him understand your points, the devices of association and some like procatalepsis will help him believe you, and the devices of emphasis, association, beauty, and organization will help him remember.
Resources
Of course, I modestly recommend my book, Writing with Clarity and Style, that contains more than 60 of the devices discussed below, and many sidebars on style and writing effectiveness. Get it from the publisher at 123Writing.com or get a used copy from Amazon.com here: Writing With Clarity and Style.
If you want a relatively inexpensive book that through a rather dramatic coincidence includes more than half of the devices described here (and none of the many others not described here), and covers many of the same points, Amazon.com has Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers.
For really serious students of rhetoric and style, I recommend Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student by Edward P. J. Corbett and Robert J. Connors, now in its fourth edition. It's the standard and covers aspects of style as well as the tropes.
Rhetorical Devices
1. A Sentential Adverb is a single word or short phrase, usually interrupting normal syntax, used to lend emphasis to the words immediately proximate to the adverb. (We emphasize the words on each side of a pause or interruption in order to maintain continuity of the thought.) Compare:
* But the lake was not drained before April.
* But the lake was not, in fact, drained before April.
Sentential adverbs are most frequently placed near the beginning of a sentence, where important material has been placed:
* All truth is not, indeed, of equal importance; but if little violations are allowed, every violation will in time be thought little. --Samuel Johnson
But sometimes they are placed at the very beginning of a sentence, thereby serving as signals that the whole sentence is especially important. In such cases the sentence should be kept as short as possible:
* In short, the cobbler had neglected his soul.
* Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. --John 4:14 (NIV)
Or the author may show that he does not intend to underemphasize an objection or argument he rejects:
* To be sure, no one desires to live in a foul and disgusting environment. But neither do we want to desert our cities.
In a few instances, especially with short sentences, the sentential adverb can be placed last:
* It was a hot day indeed.
* Harold won, of course.
A common practice is setting off the sentential adverb by commas, which increases the emphasis on the surrounding words, though in many cases the commas are necessary for clarity as well and cannot be omitted. Note how the adverb itself is also emphasized:
* He without doubt can be trusted with a cookie.
* He, without doubt, can be trusted with a cookie.
A sentential adverb can emphasize a phrase:
* The Bradys, clearly a happy family, live in an old house with squeaky floors.
Transitional phrases, accostives, some adverbs, and other interrupters can be used for emphasizing portions of sentences, and therefore function as kinds of quasi-sentential adverbs in those circumstances.
* We find a few people, however, unwilling to come.
* "Your last remark," he said, "is impertinent."
* There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. --Samuel Johnson
Some useful sentential adverbs include the following: in fact, of course, indeed, I think, without doubt, to be sure, naturally, it seems, after all, for all that, in brief, on the whole, in short, to tell the truth, in any event, clearly, I suppose, I hope, at least, assuredly, certainly, remarkably, importantly, definitely. In formal writing, avoid these and similar colloquial emphases: you know, you see, huh, get this. And it goes without saying that you should avoid the unprintable expletives.
2. Asyndeton consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. In a list of items, asyndeton gives the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity, of an extemporaneous rather than a labored account:
* On his return he received medals, honors, treasures, titles, fame.
The lack of the "and" conjunction gives the impression that the list is perhaps not complete. Compare:
* She likes pickles, olives, raisins, dates, pretzels.
* She likes pickles, olives, raisins, dates, and pretzels.
Sometimes an asyndetic list is useful for the strong and direct climactic effect it has, much more emphatic than if a final conjunction were used. Compare:
* They spent the day wondering, searching, thinking, understanding.
* They spent the day wondering, searching, thinking, and understanding.
In certain cases, the omission of a conjunction between short phrases gives the impression of synonymity to the phrases, or makes the latter phrase appear to be an afterthought or even a substitute for the former. Compare:
* He was a winner, a hero.
* He was a winner and a hero.
Notice also the degree of spontaneity granted in some cases by asyndetic usage. "The moist, rich, fertile soil," appears more natural and spontaneous than "the moist, rich, and fertile soil - "
Generally, asyndeton offers the feeling of speed and concision to lists and phrases and clauses, but occasionally the effect cannot be so easily categorized. Consider the "flavor" of these examples:
* If, as is the case, we feel responsibility, are ashamed, are frightened, at transgressing the voice of conscience, this implies that there is One to whom we are responsible, before whom we are ashamed, whose claims upon us we fear. --John Henry Newman
* In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth the laws of peace. --Richard de Bury
* We certainly have within us the image of some person, to whom our love and veneration look, in whose smile we find our happiness, for whom we yearn, towards whom we direct our pleadings, in whose anger we are troubled and waste away. --John Henry Newman
3. Polysyndeton is the use of a conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause, and is thus structurally the opposite of asyndeton. The rhetorical effect of polysyndeton, however, often shares with that of asyndeton a feeling of multiplicity, energetic enumeration, and building up.
* They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and played and talked and flunked.
Use polysyndeton to show an attempt to encompass something complex:
* The water, like a witch's oils, / Burnt green, and blue, and white. --S. T. Coleridge
* [He] pursues his way, / And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. --John Milton
The multiple conjunctions of the polysyndetic structure call attention to themselves and therefore add the effect of persistence or intensity or emphasis to the other effect of multiplicity. The repeated use of "nor" or "or" emphasizes alternatives; repeated use of "but" or "yet" stresses qualifications. Consider the effectiveness of these:
* And to set forth the right standard, and to train according to it, and to help forward all students towards it according to their various capacities, this I conceive to be the business of a University. --John Henry Newman
* We have not power, nor influence, nor money, nor authority; but a willingness to persevere, and the hope that we shall conquer soon.
In a skilled hand, a shift from polysyndeton to asyndeton can be very impressive:
* Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. --Isaiah 24:1-2 (KJV)
4. Understatement deliberately expresses an idea as less important than it actually is, either for ironic emphasis or for politeness and tact. When the writer's audience can be expected to know the true nature of a fact which might be rather difficult to describe adequately in a brief space, the writer may choose to understate the fact as a means of employing the reader's own powers of description. For example, instead of endeavoring to describe in a few words the horrors and destruction of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, a writer might state:
* The 1906 San Francisco earthquake interrupted business somewhat in the downtown area.
The effect is not the same as a description of destruction, since understatement like this necessarily smacks of flippancy to some degree; but occasionally that is a desirable effect. Consider these usages:
* Henry and Catherine were married, the bells rang, and everybody smiled . . . . To begin perfect happiness at the respective ages of twenty-six and eighteen is to do pretty well . . . . --Jane Austen
* Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her person for the worse. --Jonathan Swift
* You know I would be a little disappointed if you were to be hit by a drunk driver at two a.m., so I hope you will be home early.
In these cases the reader supplies his own knowledge of the facts and fills out a more vivid and personal description than the writer might have.
In a more important way, understatement should be used as a tool for modesty and tactfulness. Whenever you represent your own accomplishments, and often when you just describe your own position, an understatement of the facts will help you to avoid the charge of egotism on the one hand and of self-interested puffery on the other. We are always more pleased to discover a thing greater than promised rather than less than promised--or as Samuel Johnson put it, "It is more pleasing to see smoke brightening into flame, than flame sinking into smoke." And it goes without saying that a person modest of his own talents wins our admiration more easily than an egotist. Thus an expert geologist might say, "Yes, I know a little about rocks," rather than, "Yes, I'm an expert about rocks." (An even bigger expert might raise his eyebrows if he heard that.)
Understatement is especially useful in dealing with a hostile audience or in disagreeing with someone, because the statement, while carrying the same point, is much less offensive. Compare:
* The second law of thermodynamics pretty much works against the possibility of such an event.
* The second law of thermodynamics proves conclusively that that theory is utterly false and ridiculous.
Remember, the goal of writing is to persuade, not to offend; once you insult or put off your opponent, objector, or disbeliever, you will never persuade him of anything, no matter how "obviously wrong" he is or how clearly right you are. The degree and power of pride in the human heart must never be underestimated. Many people are unwilling to hear objections of any kind, and view disagreement as a sign of contempt for their intellect. The use of understatement allows you to show a kind of respect for your reader's understanding. You have to object to his belief, but you are sympathetic with his position and see how he might have come to believe it; therefore, you humbly offer to steer him right, or at least to offer what you think is a more accurate view. Even those who agree with you already will be more persuaded because the modest thinker is always preferable to the flaming bigot. Compare these statements and consider what effect each would have on you if you read them in a persuasive article:
* Anyone who says this water is safe to drink is either stupid or foolish. The stuff is poisoned with coliform bacteria. Don't those idiots know that?
* My opponents think this water is drinkable, but I'm not sure I would drink it. Perhaps they are not aware of the dangerous bacterial count . . . [and so on, explaining the basis for your opinion].
5. Litotes, a particular form of understatement, is generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which otherwise would be used. Depending on the tone and context of the usage, litotes either retains the effect of understatement, or becomes an intensifying expression. Compare the difference between these statements:
* Heat waves are common in the summer.
* Heat waves are not rare in the summer.
Johnson uses litotes to make a modest assertion, saying "not improperly" rather than "correctly" or "best":
* This kind of writing may be termed not improperly the comedy of romance. . . .
Occasionally a litotic construction conveys an ironic sentiment by its understatement:
* We saw him throw the buckets of paint at his canvas in disgust, and the result did not perfectly represent his subject, Mrs. Jittery.
Usually, though, litotes intensifies the sentiment intended by the writer, and creates the effect of strong feelings moderately conveyed.
* Hitting that telephone pole certainly didn't do your car any good.
* If you can tell the fair one's mind, it will be no small proof of your art, for I dare say it is more than she herself can do. --Alexander Pope
* A figure lean or corpulent, tall or short, though deviating from beauty, may still have a certain union of the various parts, which may contribute to make them on the whole not unpleasing. --Sir Joshua Reynolds
* He who examines his own self will not long remain ignorant of his failings.
* Overall the flavors of the mushrooms, herbs, and spices combine to make the dish not at all disagreeable to the palate.
But note that, as George Orwell points out in "Politics and the English Language," the "not un-" construction (for example, "not unwilling") should not be used indiscriminately. Rather, find an opposite quality which as a word is something other than the quality itself with an "un" attached. For instance, instead of, "We were not unvictorious," you could write, "We were not defeated," or "We did not fail to win," or something similar.
6. Parallelism is recurrent syntactical similarity. Several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed similarly to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in importance. Parallelism also adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence.
Any sentence elements can be paralleled, any number of times (though, of course, excess quickly becomes ridiculous). You might choose parallel subjects with parallel modifiers attached to them:
* Ferocious dragons breathing fire and wicked sorcerers casting their spells do their harm by night in the forest of Darkness.
Or parallel verbs and adverbs:
* I have always sought but seldom obtained a parking space near the door.
* Quickly and happily he walked around the corner to buy the book.
Or parallel verbs and direct objects:
* He liked to eat watermelon and to avoid grapefruit.
Or just the objects:
* This wealthy car collector owns three pastel Cadillacs, two gold Rolls Royces, and ten assorted Mercedes.
Or parallel prepositional phrases:
* He found it difficult to vote for an ideal truth but against his own self interest.
* The pilot walked down the aisle, through the door, and into the cockpit, singing "Up, Up, and Away."
Notice how paralleling rather long subordinate clauses helps you to hold the whole sentence clearly in your head:
* These critics--who point out the beauties of style and ideas, who discover the faults of false constructions, and who discuss the application of the rules--usually help a lot in engendering an understanding of the writer's essay.
* When, at the conclusion of a prolonged episode of agonizing thought, you decide to buy this car; when, after a hundred frantic sessions of begging stonefaced bankers for the money, you can obtain sufficient funds; and when, after two more years of impatience and frustration, you finally get a driver's license, then come see me and we will talk about a deal.
* After you corner the market in Brazilian coffee futures, but before you manipulate the price through the ceiling, sit down and have a cup of coffee with me (while I can still afford it).
It is also possible to parallel participial, infinitive, and gerund phrases:
* He left the engine on, idling erratically and heating rapidly.
* To think accurately and to write precisely are interrelated goals.
* She liked sneaking up to Ted and putting the ice cream down his back, because he was so cool about it.
In practice some combination of parts of speech or sentence elements is used to form a statement, depending as always on what you have to say. In addition, the parallelism, while it normally should be pretty close, does not have to be exact in its syntactical similarity. For example, you might write,
* He ran up to the bookshelves, grabbed a chair standing nearby, stepped painfully on his tiptoes, and pulled the fifty-pound volume on top of him, crushing his ribs and impressing him with the power of knowledge.
Here are some other examples of parallelism:
* I shall never envy the honors which wit and learning obtain in any other cause, if I can be numbered among the writers who have given ardor to virtue, and confidence to truth. --Samuel Johnson
* They had great skill in optics, and had instructed him to see faults in others, and beauties in himself, that could be discovered by nobody else. . . . --Alexander Pope
* For the end of a theoretical science is truth, but the end of a practical science is performance. --Aristotle
7. Chiasmus might be called "reverse parallelism," since the second part of a grammatical construction is balanced or paralleled by the first part, only in reverse order. Instead of an A,B structure (e.g., "learned unwillingly") paralleled by another A,B structure ("forgotten gladly"), the A,B will be followed by B,A ("gladly forgotten"). So instead of writing, "What is learned unwillingly is forgotten gladly," you could write, "What is learned unwillingly is gladly forgotten." Similarly, the parallel sentence, "What is now great was at first little," could be written chiastically as, "What is now great was little at first." Here are some examples:
* He labors without complaining and without bragging rests.
* Polished in courts and hardened in the field, Renowned for conquest, and in council skilled. --Joseph Addison
* For the Lord is a Great God . . . in whose hand are the depths of the earth; the peaks of the mountains are his also. --Psalm 95:4
Chiasmus is easiest to write and yet can be made very beautiful and effective simply by moving subordinate clauses around:
* If you come to them, they are not asleep; if you ask and inquire of them, they do not withdraw themselves; they do not chide if you make mistakes; they do not laugh at you if you are ignorant. --Richard de Bury
Prepositional phrases or other modifiers can also be moved around to form chiastic structures. Sometimes the effect is rather emphatic:
* Tell me not of your many perfections; of your great modesty tell me not either.
* Just as the term "menial" does not apply to any honest labor, so no dishonest work can be called "prestigious."
At other times the effect is more subdued but still desirable. Compare the versions of these sentences, written first in chiastic and then in strictly parallel form. Which do you like better in each case?
* On the way to school, my car ran out of gas; then it had a flat on the way home.
* On the way to school, my car ran out of gas; then on the way home it had a flat.
* Sitting together at lunch, the kids talked incessantly; but they said nothing at all sitting in the dentist's office.
* Sitting together at lunch, the kids talked incessantly; but sitting in the dentist's office, they said nothing at all.
* The computer mainframe is now on sale; available also at a discount is the peripheral equipment.
* The computer mainframe is now on sale; the peripheral equipment is also available at a discount.
Chiasmus may be useful for those sentences in which you want balance, but which cannot be paralleled effectively, either because they are too short, or because the emphasis is placed on the wrong words. And sometimes a chiastic structure will just seem to "work" when a parallel one will not.
8. Zeugma includes several similar rhetorical devices, all involving a grammatically correct linkage (or yoking together) of two or more parts of speech by another part of speech. Thus examples of zeugmatic usage would include one subject with two (or more) verbs, a verb with two (or more) direct objects, two (or more) subjects with one verb, and so forth. The main benefit of the linking is that it shows relationships between ideas and actions more clearly.
In one form (prozeugma), the yoking word precedes the words yoked. So, for example, you could have a verb stated in the first clause understood in the following clauses:
* Pride opresseth humility; hatred love; cruelty compassion. --Peacham
* Fred excelled at sports; Harvey at eating; Tom with girls.
* Alexander conquered the world; I, Minneapolis.
A more important version of this form (with its own name, diazeugma) is the single subject with multiple verbs:
* . . . It operated through the medium of unconscious self-deception and terminated in inveterate avarice. --Thomas Love Peacock
* Mr. Glowry held his memory in high honor, and made a punchbowl of his skull. --Ibid.
* This terrace . . . took in an oblique view of the open sea, and fronted a long track of level sea-coast . . . . --Ibid.
* Fluffy rolled on her back, raised her paws, and meowed to be petted.
Notice that two or three verb phrases are the usual proportion. But if you have a lot to say about the actions of the subject, or if you want to show a sort of multiplicity of behavior or doings, you can use several verbs:
* When at Nightmare Abbey, he would condole with Mr. Glowry, drink Madeira with Scythrop, crack jokes with Mr. Hilary, hand Mrs. Hilary to the piano, take charge of her fan and gloves, and turn over her music with surprising dexterity, quote Revelations with Mr. Toobad, and lament the good old times of feudal darkness with the Transcendental Mr. Flosky. --Thomas Love Peacock
Two or more subordinate relative pronoun clauses can be linked prozeugmatically, with the noun becoming the yoking word:
* His father, to comfort him, read him a Commentary on Ecclesiastes, which he had himself composed, and which demonstrated incontrovertibly that all is vanity. --Thomas Love Peacock
* O books who alone are liberal and free, who give to all who ask of you and enfranchise all who serve you faithfully! --Richard de Bury
You could have two or more direct objects:
* With one mighty swing he knocked the ball through the window and two spectators off their chairs.
* He grabbed his hat from the rack in the closet, his gloves from the table near the door, and his car keys from the punchbowl.
Or a preposition with two objects:
* Mr. Glowry was horror-struck by the sight of a round, ruddy face, and a pair of laughing eyes. --Thomas Love Peacock
Sometimes you might want to create a linkage in which the verb must be understood in a slightly different sense:
* He grabbed his hat from the rack by the stairs and a kiss from the lips of his wife.
* He smashed the clock into bits and his fist through the wall.
In hypozeugma the yoking word follows the words it yokes together. A common form is multiple subjects:
* Hours, days, weeks, months, and years do pass away. --Sherry
* The moat at its base, and the fens beyond comprised the whole of his prospect. --Peacock
* To generate that much electricity and to achieve that kind of durability would require a completely new generator design.
It is possible also to hold off a verb until the last clause:
* The little baby from his crib, the screaming lady off the roof, and the man from the flooded basement were all rescued.
Hypozeugma can be used with adjectives or adjective phrases, too. Here, Peacock uses two participial phrases, one past and one present:
* Disappointed both in love and in friendship, and looking upon human learning as vanity, he had come to a conclusion that there was but one good thing in the world, videlicet, a good dinner . . . .
The utility of the zeugmatic devices lies partly in their economy (for they save repetition of subjects or verbs or other words), and partly in the connections they create between thoughts. The more connections between ideas you can make in an essay, whether those connections are simple transitional devices or more elaborate rhetorical ones, the fewer your reader will have to guess at, and therefore the clearer your points will be.
9. Antithesis establishes a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure. Human beings are inveterate systematizers and categorizers, so the mind has a natural love for antithesis, which creates a definite and systematic relationship between ideas:
* To err is human; to forgive, divine. --Pope
* That short and easy trip made a lasting and profound change in Harold's outlook.
* That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. --Neil Armstrong
Antithesis can convey some sense of complexity in a person or idea by admitting opposite or nearly opposite truths:
* Though surprising, it is true; though frightening at first, it is really harmless.
* If we try, we might succeed; if we do not try, we cannot succeed.
* Success makes men proud; failure makes them wise.
Antithesis, because of its close juxtaposition and intentional
contrast of two terms or ideas, is also very useful for making relatively fine distinctions or for clarifying differences which might be otherwise overlooked by a careless thinker or casual reader:
* In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it. --Samuel Johnson
* The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice. --Matt. 23:2-3 (RSV)
* I agree that it is legal; but my question was, Is it moral?
* The advertisement indeed says that these shoes are the best, but it means that they are equal; for in advertising "best" is a parity claim and only "better" indicates superiority.
Note also that short phrases can be made antithetical:
* Every man who proposes to grow eminent by learning should carry in his mind, at once, the difficulty of excellence and the force of industry; and remember that fame is not conferred but as the recompense of labor, and that labor, vigorously continued, has not often failed of its reward. --Samuel Johnson
10. Anaphora is the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and with parallelism:
* To think on death it is a misery,/ To think on life it is a vanity;/ To think on the world verily it is,/ To think that here man hath no perfect bliss. --Peacham
* In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth the laws of peace. --Richard de Bury
* Finally, we must consider what pleasantness of teaching there is in books, how easy, how secret! How safely we lay bare the poverty of human ignorance to books without feeling any shame! --Ibid.
* The wish of the genuine painter must be more extensive: instead of endeavoring to amuse mankind with the minute neatness of his imitations, he must endeavor to improve them by the grandeur of his ideas; instead of seeking praise, by deceiving the superficial sense of the spectator, he must strive for fame by captivating the imagination. --Sir Joshua Reynolds
* Slowly and grimly they advanced, not knowing what lay ahead, not knowing what they would find at the top of the hill, not knowing that they were so near to Disneyland.
* They are the entertainment of minds unfurnished with ideas, and therefore easily susceptible of impressions; not fixed by principles, and therefore easily following the current of fancy; not informed by experience, and consequently open to every false suggestion and partial account. --Samuel Johnson
Anaphora can be used with questions, negations, hypotheses, conclusions, and subordinating conjunctions, although care must be taken not to become affected or to sound rhetorical and bombastic. Consider these selections:
* Will he read the book? Will he learn what it has to teach him? Will he live according to what he has learned?
* Not time, not money, not laws, but willing diligence will get this done.
* If we can get the lantern lit, if we can find the main cave, and if we can see the stalagmites, I'll show you the one with the bat skeleton in it. be used for
Adverbs and prepositions can anaphora, too:
* They are masters who instruct us without rod or ferule, without angry words, without clothes or money. --Richard de Bury
* She stroked her kitty cat very softly, very slowly, very smoothly.
11. Epistrophe (also called antistrophe) forms the counterpart to anaphora, because the repetition of the same word or words comes at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences:
* Where affections bear rule, there reason is subdued, honesty is subdued, good will is subdued, and all things else that withstand evil, for ever are subdued. --Wilson
* And all the night he did nothing but weep Philoclea, sigh Philoclea, and cry out Philoclea. --Philip Sidney
* You will find washing beakers helpful in passing this course, using the gas chromatograph desirable for passing this course, and studying hours on end essential to passing this course.
Epistrophe is an extremely emphatic device because of the emphasis placed on the last word in a phrase or sentence. If you have a concept you wish to stress heavily, then epistrophe might be a good construction to use. The danger as usual lies in this device's tendency to become too rhetorical. Consider whether these are successful and effective or hollow and bombastic:
* The cars do not sell because the engineering is inferior, the quality of materials is inferior, and the workmanship is inferior.
* The energies of mankind are often exerted in pursuit, consolidation, and enjoyment; which is to say, many men spend their lives pursuing power, consolidating power, and enjoying power.
12. Anadiplosis repeats the last word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at or very near the beginning of the next. it can be generated in series for the sake of beauty or to give a sense of logical progression:
* Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,/ Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain . . . . --Philip Sidney
Most commonly, though, anadiplosis is used for emphasis of the repeated word or idea, since repetition has a reinforcing effect:
* They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. --Jer. 2:13
* The question next arises, How much confidence can we put in the people, when the people have elected Joe Doax?
* This treatment plant has a record of uncommon reliability, a reliability envied by every other water treatment facility on the coast.
* In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. --John 1:1
Notice how the main point of the sentence becomes immediately clear by repeating the same word twice in close succession. There can be no doubt about the focus of your thought when you use anadiplosis.
13. Conduplicatio resembles anadiplosis in the repetition of a preceding word, but it repeats a key word (not just the last word) from a preceding phrase, clause, or sentence, at the beginning of the next.
* If this is the first time duty has moved him to act against his desires, he is a very weak man indeed. Duty should be cultivated and obeyed in spite of its frequent conflict with selfish wishes.
* The strength of the passions will never be accepted as an excuse for complying with them; the passions were designed for subjection, and if a man suffers them to get the upper hand, he then betrays the liberty of his own soul. --Alexander Pope
* She fed the goldfish every day with the new pellets brought from Japan. Gradually the goldfish began to turn a brighter orange than before.
Like anadiplosis, conduplicatio serves as an effective focusing device because with it you can pull out that important idea from the sentence before and put it clearly at the front of the new sentence, showing the reader just what he should be concentrating on. Since keeping the reader focused on your train of thought is critical to good writing, this device can be especially helpful as a transitional connector when the previous sentence has two or more possible main points, only one of which is to be continued in the discussion. Suppose, for example, you have this sentence:
* Submitting a constitutional amendment to a popular vote through a general referendum always runs the risk of a campaign and a vote based upon the selfishness rather than the sense of justice of the voter.
Now, the next sentence could begin with, "Previous campaigns . . ." or "The strength of the appeal to selfish interests . . . "or "Therefore constitutional amendments are best left . . ." all depending on which concept you wish to develop. If you began the next sentence with, "But there certainly can be no doubt that the general referendum will continue to be exploited by those whose issues are aided by the innate selfishness of human beings," the reader would have to go a considerable distance into the sentence before he would find out exactly which idea is being carried forward and developed.
14. Epanalepsis repeats the beginning word of a clause or sentence at the end. The beginning and the end are the two positions of strongest emphasis in a sentence, so by having the same word in both places, you call special attention to it:
* Water alone dug this giant canyon; yes, just plain water.
* To report that your committee is still investigating the matter is to tell me that you have nothing to report.
Many writers use epanalepsis in a kind of "yes, but" construction to cite common ground or admit a truth and then to show how that truth relates to a more important context:
* Our eyes saw it, but we could not believe our eyes.
* The theory sounds all wrong; but if the machine works, we cannot worry about theory.
* In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. --John 16:33 (NASB)
15. Hypophora consists of raising one or more questions and then proceeding to answer them, usually at some length. A common usage is to ask the question at the beginning of a paragraph and then use that paragraph to answer it:
* There is a striking and basic difference between a man's ability to imagine something and an animal's failure. . . . Where is it that the animal falls short? We get a clue to the answer, I think, when Hunter tells us . . . . --Jacob Bronowski
* What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter?. . . What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God. --Rom. 4:1,3 (NIV)
This is an attractive rhetorical device, because asking an appropriate question appears quite natural and helps to maintain curiosity and interest. You can use hypophora to raise questions which you think the reader obviously has on his mind and would like to see formulated and answered:
* What behavior, then, is uniquely human? My theory is this . . . . --H. J. Campbell
* But what was the result of this move on the steel industry? The annual reports for that year clearly indicate. . . .
Hypophora can also be used to raise questions or to introduce material of importance, but which the reader might not have the knowledge or thought to ask for himself:
* How then, in the middle of the twentieth century, are we to define the obligation of the historian to his facts?..... The duty of the historian to respect his facts is not exhausted by . . . . --Edward Hallett Carr
* But it is certainly possible to ask, How hot is the oven at its hottest point, when the average temperature is 425 degrees? We learned that the peak temperatures approached . . . .
And hypophora can be used as a transitional or guiding device to change directions or enter a new area of discussion:
* But what are the implications of this theory? And how can it be applied to the present problem?
* How and why did caveat emptor develop? The question presents us with mysteries never fully answered. --Ivan L. Preston
Notice how a series of reasonable questions can keep a discussion lively and interesting:
* How do we know the FTC strategy is the best, particularly in view of the complaints consumerists have made against it? Isn't there some chance that greater penalties would amount to greater deterrents? Why not get the most consumer protection simultaneously with the most punishment to offenders by easing the requirements for guilt without easing the punishment? . . . It happens that that's been tried, and it didn't work very well. --Ivan L. Preston
In the above example, the writer went on for several paragraphs to discuss the case which "didn't work very well." It would also be possible for a writer to ask several questions and then answer them in an orderly way, though that has the danger of appearing too mechanical if not carefully done.
16. Rhetorical question (erotesis) differs from hypophora in that it is not answered by the writer, because its answer is obvious or obviously desired, and usually just a yes or no. It is used for effect, emphasis, or provocation, or for drawing a conclusionary statement from the facts at hand.
* But how can we expect to enjoy the scenery when the scenery consists entirely of garish billboards?
* . . . For if we lose the ability to perceive our faults, what is the good of living on? --Marcus Aurelius
* Is justice then to be considered merely a word? Or is it whatever results from the bartering between attorneys?
Often the rhetorical question and its implied answer will lead to further discussion:
* Is this the end to which we are reduced? Is the disaster film the highest form of art we can expect from our era? Perhaps we should examine the alternatives presented by independent film maker Joe Blow . . . .
* I agree the funding and support are still minimal, but shouldn't worthy projects be tried, even though they are not certain to succeed? So the plans in effect now should be expanded to include . . . . [Note: Here is an example where the answer "yes" is clearly desired rhetorically by the writer, though conceivably someone might say "no" to the question if asked straightforwardly.]
Several rhetorical questions together can form a nicely developed and directed paragraph by changing a series of logical statements into queries:
* We shrink from change; yet is there anything that can come into being without it? What does Nature hold dearer, or more proper to herself? Could you have a hot bath unless the firewood underwent some change? Could you be nourished if the food suffered no change? Do you not see, then, that change in yourself is of the same order, and no less necessary to Nature? --Marcus Aurelius
Sometimes the desired answer to the rhetorical question is made obvious by the discussion preceding it:
* The gods, though they live forever, feel no resentment at having to put up eternally with the generations of men and their misdeeds; nay more, they even show every possible care and concern for them. Are you, then, whose abiding is but for a moment, to lose patience--you who are yourself one of the culprits? --Marcus Aurelius
When you are thinking about a rhetorical question, be careful to avoid sinking to absurdity. You would not want to ask, for example, "But is it right to burn down the campus and sack the bookstore?" The use of this device allows your reader to think, query, and conclude along with you; but if your questions become ridiculous, your essay may become wastepaper.
17. Procatalepsis, by anticipating an objection and answering it, permits an argument to continue moving forward while taking into account points or reasons opposing either the train of thought or its final conclusions. Often the objections are standard ones:
* It is usually argued at this point that if the government gets out of the mail delivery business, small towns like Podunk will not have any mail service. The answer to this can be found in the history of the Pony Express . . . .
* To discuss trivialities in an exalted style is, as the saying is, like beautifying a pestle. Yet some people say we should discourse in the grand manner on trivialities and they think that this is a proof of outstanding oratorical talent. Now I admit that Polycrates [did this]. But he was doing this in jest, . - . and the dignified tone of the whole work was itself a game. Let us be playful..... [but] also observe what is fitting in each case . . . . --Demetrius
Sometimes the writer will invent probable or possible difficulties in order to strengthen his position by showing how they could be handled if they should arise, as well as to present an answer in case the reader or someone else might raise them in the course of subsequent consideration:
* But someone might say that this battle really had no effect on history. Such a statement could arise only from ignoring the effect the battle had on the career of General Bombast, who was later a principal figure at the Battle of the Bulge.
* I can think of no one objection that will possibly be raised against this proposal, unless it should be urged that the number of people will be thereby much lessened in the kingdom. This I freely own, and it was indeed the principal design in offering it to the world. --Jonathan Swift
Objections can be treated with varying degrees of seriousness and with differing relationships to the reader. The reader himself might be the objector:
* Yet this is the prime service a man would think, wherein this order should give proof of itself. If it were executed, you'll say. But certain, if execution be remiss or blindfold now, and in this particular, what will it be hereafter and in other books? --John Milton
Or the objector may be someone whose outlook, attitude, or belief differs substantially from both writer and reader-though you should be careful not to set up an artificial, straw-man objector:
* Men of cold fancies and philosophical dispositions object to this kind of poetry, [saying] that it has not probability enough to affect the imagination. But to this it may be answered that we are sure, in general, there are many intellectual beings in the world besides ourselves . . . who are subject to different laws and economies from those of mankind . . . . --Joseph Addison
* Occasionally a person of rash judgment will argue here that the high-speed motor is better than the low-speed one, because for the same output, high speed motors are lighter, smaller, and cheaper. But they are also noisier and less efficient, and have much greater wear and shorter life; so that overall they are not better.
By mentioning the obvious, and even the imaginatively discovered objections to your argument, you show that (1) you are aware of them and have considered them and (2) there is some kind of reasonable response to them, whether given in a sentence or in several paragraphs. An objection answered in advance is weakened should your opponent bring it up, while an objection ignored, if brought up, may show you to be either ignorant or dishonest. Indeed, it might be better to admit an objection you cannot answer than to suppress it and put yourself on the side of darkness and sophistry:
* Those favoring the other edition argue that the same words in this text cost more money. This I admit, and it does seem unfortunate to pay twice the price for essentially the same thing. Nevertheless, this text has larger type, is made better, and above all has more informative notes, so I think it is worth the difference.
Finally, note that procatalepsis can be combined with hypophora, so that the objection is presented in the form of a question:
* I now come to the precepts of Longinus, and pretend to show from them that the greatest sublimity is to be derived from religious ideas. But why then, says the reader, has not Longinus plainly told us so? He was not ignorant that he ought to make his subject as plain as he could. For he has told us. . . . --John Dennis
* But you might object that, if what I say is actually true, why would people buy products advertised illogically? The answer to that lies in human psychology . . . .
18. Metabasis consists of a brief statement of what has been said and what will follow. It might be called a linking, running, or transitional summary, whose function is to keep the discussion ordered and clear in its progress:
* Such, then, would be my diagnosis of the present condition of art. I must now, by special request, say what I think will happen to art in the future. --Kenneth Clark
* We have to this point been examining the proposal advanced by Smervits only in regard to its legal practicability; but next we need to consider the effect it would have in retarding research and development work in private laboratories.
* I have hitherto made mention of his noble enterprises in France, and now I will rehearse his worthy acts done near to Rome. --Peacham
The brief little summary of what has been said helps the reader immensely to understand, organize, and remember that portion of your essay.
Metabasis serves well as a transitional device, refocusing the discussion on a new but clearly derivative area:
* Now that I have made this catalogue of swindles and perversions, let me give another example of the kind of writing that they lead to. --George Orwell
It can also be used to clarify the movement of a discussion by quickly summing up large sections of preceding material:
* By the foregoing quotation I have shown that the language of prose may yet be well adapted to poetry; and I have previously asserted that a large portion of the language of every good poem can in no respect differ from that of good prose. I will go further. I do not doubt that it may be safely affirmed, that there neither is, nor can be, any essential difference between the language of prose and metrical composition. --William Wordsworth
* Having thus explained a few of the reasons why I have written in verse, and why I have chosen subjects from common life, and endeavored to bring my language near to the real language of men, . . . I request the reader's permission to add a few words with reference solely to these particular poems and to some defects which will probably be found in them. --Ibid.
* Now that we have discussed the different kinds of cactus plants available to the landscape architect, their physical requirements for sun, soil, irrigation, and drainage, and the typical design groupings selected for residential areas, we ought to examine the architectural contexts which can best use-enhance and be enhanced by--cactus planters and gardens.
* Thus we have surveyed the state of authors as they are influenced from without, either by the frowns or favor of the great, or by the applause or censure of the critics. It remains only to consider how the people, or world in general, stand affected towards our modern penmen, and what occasion these adventurers may have of complaint or boast from their encounter with the public. --Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury
One caution should be mentioned. Metabasis is very difficult to use effectively in short papers: since it is a summarizing device, it must have some discussion to sum up. In practice, this means something on the order of five pages or more. Thus, metabasis could be very handy in the middle of a ten or twenty page paper; in a three page paper, though, both its necessity and its utility would be questionable. But use your own judgment.
Words used to signal further discussion after the summary include these: now, next, additionally, further, besides, equally important, also interesting, also important, also necessary to mention, it remains. You can also use words of comparison and contrast, such as these: similarly, on the other hand, by contrast.
19. Distinctio is an explicit reference to a particular meaning or to the various meanings of a word, in order to remove or prevent ambiguity.
* To make methanol for twenty-five cents a gallon is impossible; by "impossible" I mean currently beyond our technological capabilities.
* The precipitate should be moved from the filter paper to the crucible quickly--that is, within three minutes.
* Mr. Haskins describes the process as a simple one. If by simple he means easy to explain on paper, he is correct. But if he means there are no complexities involved in getting it to work, he is quite mistaken.
* The modern automobile (and here I refer to the post-1975, desmogged American car) is more a product of bolt-on solutions than of revolutionary engineering.
Many of our words, like those of evaluation (better, failure high quality, efficient, unacceptable) and those referring to abstract concepts which are often debated (democracy, justice, equality, oppression) have different meanings to different people, and sometimes to the same person at different times. For example, the governments of both Communist China and the United States are described as "democracies," while it could be argued rather convincingly that neither really is, depending on the definition of democracy used. Semanticist S. I. Hayakawa even goes so far as to claim that "no word ever has exactly the same meaning twice," and while that for practical purposes seems to be a substantial exaggeration, we should keep in mind the great flexibility of meaning in a lot of our words. Whenever there might be some doubt about your meaning, it would be wise to clarify your statement or terms. And distinctio is one good way to do that.
Some helpful phrases for distinctio include these: blank here must be taken to mean, in this context [or case] blank means, by blank I mean, that is, which is to say. You can sometimes use a parenthetical explanation or a colon, too: Is this dangerous (will I be physically harmed by it)?
20. Amplification involves repeating a word or expression while adding more detail to it, in order to emphasize what might otherwise be passed over. In other words, amplification allows you to call attention to, emphasize, and expand a word or idea to make sure the reader realizes its importance or centrality in the discussion.
* In my hunger after ten days of rigorous dieting I saw visions of ice cream--mountains of creamy, luscious ice cream, dripping with gooey syrup and calories.
* This orchard, this lovely, shady orchard, is the main reason I bought this property.
* . . . Even in Leonardo's time, there were certain obscure needs and patterns of the spirit, which could discover themselves only through less precise analogies--the analogies provided by stains on walls or the embers of a fire. --Kenneth Clark
* Pride--boundless pride--is the bane of civilization.
* He showed a rather simple taste, a taste for good art, good food, and good friends.
But amplification can overlap with or include a repetitive device like anaphora when the repeated word gains further definition or detail:
* The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed,/ A refuge in times of trouble. --Psalm 9:9 (KJV)
Notice the much greater effectiveness this repetition-plus detail form can have over a "straight" syntax. Compare each of these pairs:
* The utmost that we can threaten to one another is death, a death which, indeed, we may precipitate, but cannot retard, and from which, therefore, it cannot become a wise man to buy a reprieve at the expense of virtue, since he knows not how small a portion of time he can purchase, but knows that, whether short or long, it will be made less valuable by the remembrance of the price at which it has been obtained. --adapted from S. Johnson
* The utmost that we can threaten to one another is that death which, indeed, we may precipitate . . . .
* In everything remember the passing of time, a time which cannot be called again.
* In everything remember the passing of a time which cannot be called again.
21. Scesis Onomaton emphasizes an idea by expressing it in a string of generally synonymous phrases or statements. While it should be used carefully, this deliberate and obvious restatement can be quite effective:
* We succeeded, we were victorious, we accomplished the feat!
* Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that deal corruptly. --Isaiah 1:4
* But there is one thing these glassy-eyed idealists forget: such a scheme would be extremely costly, horrendously expensive, and require a ton of money.
* Wendy lay there, motionless in a peaceful slumber, very still in the arms of sleep.
* May God arise, may his enemies be scattered, may his foes flee before him. --Psalm 68:1 (NIV)
Scesis onomaton does have a tendency to call attention to itself and to be repetitive, so it is not used in formal writing as frequently as some other devices. But if well done, it is both beautiful and emphatic.
22. Apophasis (also called praeteritio or occupatio) asserts or emphasizes something by pointedly seeming to pass over, ignore, or deny it. This device has both legitimate and illegitimate uses. Legitimately, a writer uses it to call attention to sensitive or inflammatory facts or statements while he remains apparently detached from them:
* We will not bring up the matter of the budget deficit here, or how programs like the one under consideration have nearly pushed us into bankruptcy, because other reasons clearly enough show . . . .
* Therefore, let no man talk to me of other expedients: of taxing our absentees . . . of curing the expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and gaming of learning to love our country . . . .--Jonathan Swift
* If you were not my father, I would say you were perverse. --Antigone
* I will not even mention Houdini's many writings, both on magic and other subjects, nor the tricks he invented, nor his numerous impressive escapes, since I want to concentrate on . . . .
* She's bright, well-read, and personable--to say nothing of her modesty and generosity.
Does the first example above make you feel a little uneasy? That can be a clue to the legitimacy (or lack of it) of usage. If apophasis is employed to bring in irrelevant statements while it supplies a screen to hide behind, then it is not being used rightly:
* I pass over the fact that Jenkins beats his wife, is an alcoholic, and sells dope to kids, because we will not allow personal matters to enter into our political discussion.
* I do not mean to suggest that Mr. Gates is mainly responsible for the inefficiency and work blockage in this office, just because the paperwork goes through him. . . .
The "I do not mean to suggest [or imply]" construction has special problems of its own, because many writers use it quite straightforwardly to maintain clarity and to preclude jumping to conclusions by the reader. Others, however, "do not mean to imply" things that the reader would himself never dream are being implied. The suggestion is given, though, and takes hold in the brain--so that the implication is there, while being safely denied by the writer.
Apophasis is handy for reminding people of something in a polite way:
* Of course, I do not need to mention that you should bring a No. 2 pencil to the exam.
* Nothing need be said here about the non-energy uses of coal, such as the manufacture of plastics, drugs, and industrial chemicals . . . .
Some useful phrases for apophasis: nothing need be said about, I pass over, it need not be said (or mentioned), I will not mention (or dwell on or bring up), we will overlook ' I do not mean to suggest (or imply), you need not be reminded, it is unnecessary to bring up, we can forget about, no one would suggest.
23. Metanoia (correctio) qualifies a statement by recalling it (or part of it) and expressing it in a better, milder, or stronger way. A negative is often used to do the recalling:
* Fido was the friendliest of all St. Bernards, nay of all dogs.
* The chief thing to look for in impact sockets is hardness; no, not so much hardness as resistance to shock and shattering.
* And if I am still far from the goal, the fault is my own for not paying heed to the reminders--nay, the virtual directions--which I have had from above. --Marcus Aurelius
* Even a blind man can see, as the saying is, that poetic language gives a certain grandeur to prose, except that some writers imitate the poets quite openly, or rather they do not so much imitate them as transpose their words into their own work, as Herodotus does. --Demetrius
Metanoia can be used to coax the reader into expanding his belief or comprehension by moving from modest to bold:
* These new textbooks will genuinely improve the lives of our children, or rather the children of the whole district.
Or it can be used to tone down and qualify an excessive outburst (while, of course, retaining the outburst for good effect):
* While the crack widens and the cliff every minute comes closer to crashing down around our ears, the bureaucrats are just standing by twiddling their thumbs--or at least they have been singularly unresponsive to our appeals for action.
The most common word in the past for invoking metanoia was "nay," but this word is quickly falling out of the language and even now would probably sound a bit strange if you used it. So you should probably substitute "no" for it. Other words and phrases useful for this device include these: rather, at least, let us say, I should say, I mean, to be more exact, or better, or rather, or maybe. When you use one of the "or" phrases (or rather, or to be more exact), a comma is fine preceding the device; when you use just "no," I think a dash is most effective.
24. Aporia expresses doubt about an idea or conclusion. Among its several uses are the suggesting of alternatives without making a commitment to either or any:
* I am not sure whether to side with those who say that higher taxes reduce inflation or with those who say that higher taxes increase inflation.
* I have never been able to decide whether I really approve of dress codes, because extremism seems to reign both with them and without them.
Such a statement of uncertainty can tie off a piece of discussion you do not have time to pursue, or it could begin an examination of the issue, and lead you into a conclusion resolving your doubt.
Aporia can also dismiss assertions irrelevant to your discussion without either conceding or denying them:
* I do not know whether this legislation will work all the miracles promised by its backers, but it does seem clear that . . . .
* I am not sure about the other reasons offered in favor of the new freeway, but I do believe . . . .
* Yes, I know the assay report shows twenty pounds of gold per ton of ore, and I do not know what to say about that. What I do know is that the richest South African mines yield only about three ounces of gold per ton.
You can use aporia to cast doubt in a modest way, as a kind of understatement:
* I am not so sure I can accept Tom's reasons for wanting another new jet.
* I have not yet been fully convinced that dorm living surpasses living at home. For one thing, there is no refrigerator nearby . . . .
Ironic doubt--doubt about which of several closely judgable things exceeds the others, for example--can be another possibility:
* . . . Whether he took them from his fellows more impudently, gave them to a harlot more lasciviously, removed them from the Roman people more wickedly, or altered them more presumptuously, I cannot well declare. --Cicero
* And who was genuinely most content--whether old Mr. Jennings dozing in the sun, or Bill and Molly holding hands and toying under the palm tree, or old Mrs. Jennings watching them agape through the binoculars-I cannot really say.
And you can display ignorance about something while still showing your attitude toward it or toward something else:
* It is hard to know which ice cream is better, banana or coffee.
* I have often wondered whether they realize that those same clothes are available for half the price under a different label.
25. Simile is a comparison between two different things that resemble each other in at least one way. In formal prose the simile is a device both of art and explanation, comparing an unfamiliar thing to some familiar thing (an object, event, process, etc.) known to the reader.
When you compare a noun to a noun, the simile is usually introduced by like:
* I see men, but they look like trees, walking. --Mark 8:24
* After such long exposure to the direct sun, the leaves of the houseplant looked like pieces of overcooked bacon.
* The soul in the body is like a bird in a cage.
When a verb or phrase is compared to a verb or phrase, as is used:
* They remained constantly attentive to their goal, as a sunflower always turns and stays focused on the sun.
* Here is your pencil and paper. I want you to compete as the greatest hero would in the race of his life.
Often the simile--the object or circumstances of imaginative identity (called the vehicle, since it carries or conveys a meaning about the word or thing which is likened to it)-precedes the thing likened to it (the tenor). In such cases, so usually shows the comparison:
* The grass bends with every wind; so does Harvey.
* The seas are quiet when the winds give o're; / So calm are we when passions are no more. --Edmund Waller
But sometimes the so is understood rather than expressed:
* As wax melts before the fire,/ may the wicked perish before God. --Psalm 68:2b
Whenever it is not immediately clear to the reader, the point of similarity between the unlike objects must be specified to avoid confusion and vagueness. Rather than say, then, that "Money is like muck," and "Fortune is like glass," a writer will show clearly how these very different things are like each other:
* And money is like muck, not good except it be spread. --Francis Bacon
* Fortune is like glass--the brighter the glitter, the more easily broken. --Publilius Syrus
* Like a skunk, he suffered from bad publicity for one noticeable flaw, but bore no one any ill will.
* James now felt like an old adding machine: he had been punched and poked so much that he had finally worn out.
* This paper is just like an accountant's report: precise and accurate but absolutely useless.
Many times the point of similarity can be expressed in just a word or two:
* Yes, he is a cute puppy, but when he grows up he will be as big as a house.
* The pitching mound is humped too much like a camel's back.
And occasionally, the simile word can be used as an adjective:
* The argument of this book utilizes pretzel-like logic.
* This gear has a flower-like symmetry to it.
Similes can be negative, too, asserting that two things are unlike in one or more respects:
* My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun. . . . --Shakespeare
* John certainly does not attack the way a Sherman tank does; but if you encourage him, he is bold enough.
Other ways to create similes include the use of comparison:
* Norman was more anxious to leave the area than Herman Milquetoast after seeing ten abominable snowmen charging his way with hunger in their eyes.
* But this truth is more obvious than the sun--here it is; look at it; its brightness blinds you.
Or the use of another comparative word is possible:
* Microcomputer EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) resembles a chalk board in that it is used for consultation instead of figuring, and shows at each glance the same information unless erased and rewritten.
* His temper reminds me of a volcano; his heart, of a rock; his personality, of sandpaper.
* His speech was smoother than butter. . . .--Psalm 55:21
So a variety of ways exists for invoking the simile. Here are a few of the possibilities:
x is like y x is not like y x is the same as y
x is more than y x is less than y x does y; so does z
x is similar to y x resembles y x is as y as z
x is y like z x is more y than z x is less y than z
But a simile can sometimes be implied, or as it is often called, submerged. In such cases no comparative word is needed:
* The author of this poem is almost in the position of a man with boxes and boxes of tree ornaments, but with no tree to decorate. The poet has enough imagery handy to decorate anything he can think of, if only he can fix upon a "trim invention." The "sense" he does locate is obscured; the ivy hides the building completely.
* When I think of the English final exam, I think of dungeons and chains and racks and primal screams.
* Leslie has silky hair and the skin of an angel.
26. Analogy compares two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one. While simile and analogy often overlap, the simile is generally a more artistic likening, done briefly for effect and emphasis, while analogy serves the more practical end of explaining a thought process or a line of reasoning or the abstract in terms of the concrete, and may therefore be more extended.
* You may abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one. You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables. --Samuel Johnson
* He that voluntarily continues ignorance is guilty of all the crimes which ignorance produces, as to him that should extinguish the tapers of a lighthouse might justly be imputed the calamities of shipwrecks. --Samuel Johnson
* . . . For answers successfully arrived at are solutions to difficulties previously discussed, and one cannot untie a knot if he is ignorant of it. --Aristotle
Notice in these examples that the analogy is used to establish the pattern of reasoning by using a familiar or less abstract argument which the reader can understand easily and probably agree with.
Some analogies simply offer an explanation for clarification rather than a substitute argument:
* Knowledge always desires increase: it is like fire, which must first be kindled by some external agent, but which will afterwards propagate itself. --Samuel Johnson
* The beginning of all evil temptations is inconstancy of mind, and too little trust in God. For as a ship without a guide is driven hither and thither with every storm, so an unstable man, that anon leaveth his good purpose in God, is diversely tempted. The fire proveth gold, and temptation proveth the righteous man. --Thomas a Kempis
When the matter is complex and the analogy particularly useful for explaining it, the analogy can be extended into a rather long, multiple-point comparison:
* The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. (And so forth, to the end of the chapter.] --l Cor. 12:12 (NIV)
The importance of simile and analogy for teaching and writing cannot be overemphasized. To impress this upon you better, I would like to step aside a moment and offer two persuasive quotations:
* The country parson is full of all knowledge. They say, it is an ill mason that refuseth any stone: and there is no knowledge, but, in a skilful hand, serves either positively as it is, or else to illustrate some other knowledge. He condescends even to the knowledge of tillage, and pastorage, and makes great use of them in teaching, because people by what they understand are best led to what they understand not. --George Herbert
* To illustrate one thing by its resemblance to another has been always the most popular and efficacious art of instruction. There is indeed no other method of teaching that of which anyone is ignorant but by means of something already known; and a mind so enlarged by contemplation and enquiry that it has always many objects within its view will seldom be long without some near and familiar image through which an easy transition may be made to truths more distant and obscure. --Samuel Johnson
27. Metaphor compares two different things by speaking of one in terms of the other. Unlike a simile or analogy, metaphor asserts that one thing is another thing, not just that one is like another. Very frequently a metaphor is invoked by the to be verb:
Affliction then is ours; / We are the trees whom shaking fastens more. --George Herbert
* Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life." --John 6:35 [And compare the use of metaphor in 6:32-63]
* Thus a mind that is free from passion is a very citadel; man has no stronger fortress in which to seek shelter and defy every assault. Failure to perceive this is ignorance; but to perceive it, and still not to seek its refuge, is misfortune indeed. --Marcus Aurelius
* The mind is but a barren soil; a soil which is soon exhausted and will produce no crop, or only one, unless it be continually fertilized and enriched with foreign matter. --Joshua Reynolds
Just as frequently, though, the comparison is clear enough that the a-is-b form is not necessary:
* The fountain of knowledge will dry up unless it is continuously replenished by streams of new learning.
* This first beam of hope that had ever darted into his mind rekindled youth in his cheeks and doubled the lustre of his eyes. --Samuel Johnson
* I wonder when motor mouth is going to run out of gas.
* When it comes to midterms, it's kill or be killed. Let's go in and slay this test.
* What sort of a monster then is man? What a novelty, what a portent, what a chaos, what a mass of contradictions, what a prodigy! Judge of all things, a ridiculous earthworm who is the repository of truth, a sink of uncertainty and error; the glory and the scum of the world. --Blaise Pascal
* The most learned philosopher knew little more. He had partially unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortal lineaments were still a wonder and a mystery. . . . I had gazed upon the fortifications and impediments that seemed to keep human beings from entering the citadel of nature, and rashly and ignorantly I had repined. --Mary Shelley
* The furnace of affliction had softened his heart and purified his soul.
Compare the different degrees of direct identification between tenor and vehicle. There is fully expressed:
* Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. --Luke 11:34 (RSV)
Here, the comparison, "the eye is a lamp," is declared directly, and the point of similarity is spelled out.
There is semi-implied:
* And he said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course."' --Luke 13:32 (RSV)
Here, the comparison, "Herod is a fox," is not directly stated, but is understood as if it had been.
There is implied:
* . . . For thou hast been my help, and in the shadow of thy wings I sing for joy. --Psalm 63:7 (RSV)
Here, the comparison, "God is a bird [or hen]" is only implied. Stating the metaphorical equation directly would have been rhetorically ineffective or worse because of the awkward thought it creates. The classical rhetorician Demetrius tells us that when there is a great difference between the subject and the comparison, the subject should always be compared to something greater than itself, or diminishment and rhetorical failure result. You might write, "The candle was a little sun in the dark room," but you wouldn't write, "The sun was a big candle that day in the desert." In Psalm 63, however, there is nothing greater than God to compare him to, and the psalmist wants to create a sense of tenderness and protection, drawing upon a familiar image. So, the comparison is saved by using an implied metaphor.
And there is very implied:
* For if men do these things when the tree is green what will happen when it is dry? --Luke 23:31 (NIV)
Here the comparison is something like "a prosperous time [or freedom from persecution] is a green [flourishing, healthy] tree." And the other half of the metaphor is that "a time of persecution or lack of prosperity is a dry [unhealthy, dead(?)] tree." So the rhetorical question is, "If men do these [bad] things during times of prosperity, what will they do when persecution or their own suffering arrives?"
Like simile and analogy, metaphor is a profoundly important and useful device. Aristotle says in his Rhetoric, "It is metaphor above all else that gives clearness, charm, and distinction to the style." And Joseph Addison says of it:
* By these allusions a truth in the understanding is as it were reflected by the imagination; we are able to see something like color and shape in a notion, and to discover a scheme of thoughts traced out upon matter. And here the mind receives a great deal of satisfaction, and has two of its faculties gratified at the same time, while the fancy is busy in copying after the understanding, and transcribing ideas out of the intellectual world into the material.
So a metaphor not only explains by making the abstract or unknown concrete and familiar, but it also enlivens by touching the reader's imagination. Further, it affirms one more interconnection in the unity of all things by showing a relationship between things seemingly alien to each other.
And the fact that two very unlike things can be equated or referred to in terms of one another comments upon them both. No metaphor is "just a metaphor." All have significant implications, and they must be chosen carefully, especially in regard to the connotations the vehicle (image) will transfer to the tenor. Consider, for example, the differences in meaning conveyed by these statements:
* That club is spreading like wildfire.
* That club is spreading like cancer.
* That club is really blossoming now.
* That club, in its amoebic motions, is engulfing the campus.
And do you see any reason that one of these metaphors was chosen over the others?
* The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. --Luke 10:2
* The pile of dirt is high, but we do not have many shovels.
* The diamonds cover the ground, but we need more people to pick them up.
So bold and striking is metaphor that it is sometimes taken literally rather than as a comparison. (Jesus' disciples sometimes failed here--see John 4:32ff and John 6:46-60; a few religious groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses interpret such passages as Psalm 75:8 and 118:15 literally and thus see God as anthropomorphic; and even today a lot of controversy surrounds the interpretation of Matthew 26:26.) Always be careful in your own writing, therefore, to avoid possible confusion between metaphor and reality. In practice this is usually not very difficult.
28. Catachresis is an extravagant, implied metaphor using words in an alien or unusual way. While difficult to invent, it can be wonderfully effective:
* I will speak daggers to her. --Hamlet [In a more futuristic metaphor, we might say, "I will laser-tongue her." Or as a more romantic student suggested, "I will speak flowers to her."]
One way to write catachresis is to substitute an associated idea for the intended one (as Hamlet did, using "daggers" instead of "angry words"):
* "It's a dentured lake," he said, pointing at the dam. "Break a tooth out of that grin and she will spit all the way to Duganville."
Sometimes you can substitute a noun for a verb or a verb for a noun, a noun for an adjective, and so on. The key is to be effective rather than abysmal. I am not sure which classification these examples fit into:
* The little old lady turtled along at ten miles per hour.
* She typed the paper machine-gunnedly, without pausing at all.
* They had expected that this news would paint an original grief, but the only result was silk-screamed platitudes.
* Give him a quart or two of self esteem and he will stop knocking himself. [This was intended to suggest motor oil; if it makes you think of cheap gin, the metaphor did not work.]
29. Synecdoche is a type of metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, the whole for a part, the genus for the species, the species for the genus, the material for the thing made, or in short, any portion, section, or main quality for the whole or the thing itself (or vice versa).
* Farmer Jones has two hundred head of cattle and three hired hands.
Here we recognize that Jones also owns the bodies of the cattle, and that the hired hands have bodies attached. This is a simple part-for-whole synecdoche. Here are a few more:
* If I had some wheels, I'd put on my best threads and ask for Jane's hand in marriage.
* The army included two hundred horse and three hundred foot.
* It is sure hard to earn a dollar these days.
* Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. --Genesis 2:7
And notice the other kinds of substitutions that can be made:
* Get in here this instant or I'll spank your body. [Whole for part--i.e. "body" for "rear end"]
* Put Beethoven on the turntable and turn up the volume. [Composer substituted for record]
* A few hundred pounds of twenty dollar bills ought to solve that problem nicely. [Weight for amount]
* He drew his steel from his scabbard and welcomed all comers. [Material for thing made]
* Patty's hobby is exposing film; Harold's is burning up gasoline in his dune buggy. [Part for whole]
* Okay team. Get those blades back on the ice. [Part for whole]
Take care to make your synecdoche clear by choosing an important and obvious part to represent the whole. Compare:
* His pet purr was home alone and asleep.
* His pet paws [whiskers?] was home alone and asleep.
One of the easiest kinds of synecdoche to write is the substitution of genus for species. Here you choose the class to which the idea or thing to be expressed belongs, and use that rather than the idea or thing itself:
* There sits my animal [instead of "dog"] guarding the door to the henhouse.
* He hurled the barbed weapon [instead of "harpoon"] at the whale.
A possible problem can arise with the genus-for-species substitution because the movement is from more specific to more general; this can result in vagueness and loss of information. Note that in the example above some additional contextual information will be needed to clarify that "weapon" means "harpoon" in this case, rather than, say, "dagger" or something else. The same is true for the animal-for-dog substitution.
Perhaps a better substitution is the species for the genus--a single, specific, representative item symbolic of the whole. This form of synecdoche will usually be clearer and more effective than the other:
* A major lesson Americans need to learn is that life consists of more than cars and television sets. [Two specific items substituted for the concept of material wealth]
* Give us this day our daily bread. --Matt. 6:11
* If you still do not feel well, you'd better call up a sawbones and have him examine you.
* This program is for the little old lady in Cleveland who cannot afford to pay her heating bill.
30. Metonymy is another form of metaphor, very similar to synecdoche (and, in fact, some rhetoricians do not distinguish between the two), in which the thing chosen for the metaphorical image is closely associated with (but not an actual part of) the subject with which it is to be compared.
* The orders came directly from the White House.
In this example we know that the writer means the President issued the orders, because "White House" is quite closely associated with "President," even though it is not physically a part of him. Consider these substitutions, and notice that some are more obvious than others, but that in context all are clear:
* You can't fight city hall.
* This land belongs to the crown.
* In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread . . . . --Genesis 3:19
* Boy, I'm dying from the heat. Just look how the mercury is rising.
* His blood be on us and on our children. --Matt. 27:25
* The checkered flag waved and victory crossed the finish line.
* Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. --Psalm 100:1-2 (KJV)
The use of a particular metonymy makes a comment about the idea for which it has been substituted, and thereby helps to define that idea. Note how much more vivid "in the sweat of thy face" is in the third example above than "by labor" would have been. And in the fourth example, "mercury rising" has a more graphic, physical, and pictorial effect than would "temperature increasing." Attune yourself to such subtleties of language, and study the effects of connotation, suggestion, substitution, and metaphor.
31. Personification metaphorically represents an animal or inanimate object as having human attributes--attributes of form, character, feelings, behavior, and so on. Ideas and abstractions can also be personified.
* The ship began to creak and protest as it struggled against the rising sea.
* We bought this house instead of the one on Maple because this one is more friendly.
* This coffee is strong enough to get up and walk away.
* I can't get the fuel pump back on because this bolt is being uncooperative.
* Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. --Genesis 4:10b (NIV)
* That ignorance and perverseness should always obtain what they like was never considered as the end of government; of which it is the great and standing benefit that the wise see for the simple, and the regular act for the capricious. --Samuel Johnson
* Wisdom cries aloud in the streets; in the markets she raises her voice . . . .--Psalm 1:20 (RSV; and cf. 1:21-33)
While personification functions primarily as a device of art, it can often serve to make an abstraction clearer and more real to the reader by defining or explaining the concept in terms of everyday human action (as for example man's rejection of readily available wisdom is presented as a woman crying out to be heard but being ignored). Ideas can be brought to life through personification and objects can be given greater interest. But try always to be fresh: "winking stars" is worn out; "winking dewdrops" may be all right.
Personification of just the natural world has its own name, fictio. And when this natural-world personification is limited to emotion, John Ruskin called it the pathetic fallacy. Ruskin considered this latter to be a vice because it was so often overdone (and let this be a caution to you). We do not receive much pleasure from an overwrought vision like this:
* The angry clouds in the hateful sky cruelly spat down on the poor man who had forgotten his umbrella.
Nevertheless, humanizing a cold abstraction or even some natural phenomenon gives us a way to understand it, one more way to arrange the world in our own terms, so that we can further comprehend it. And even the so-called pathetic fallacy can sometimes be turned to advantage, when the writer sees his own feelings in the inanimate world around him:
* After two hours of political platitudes, everyone grew bored. The delegates were bored; the guests were bored; the speaker himself was bored. Even the chairs were bored.
32. Hyperbole, the counterpart of understatement, deliberately exaggerates conditions for emphasis or effect. In formal writing the hyperbole must be clearly intended as an exaggeration, and should be carefully restricted. That is, do not exaggerate everything, but treat hyperbole like an exclamation point, to be used only once a year. Then it will be quite effective as a table-thumping attention getter, introductory to your essay or some section thereof:
* There are a thousand reasons why more research is needed on solar energy.
Or it can make a single point very enthusiastically:
* I said "rare," not "raw." I've seen cows hurt worse than this get up and get well.
Or you can exaggerate one thing to show how really different it is from something supposedly similar to which it is being compared:
* This stuff is used motor oil compared to the coffee you make, my love.
* If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. --Luke 14:26 (NASB)
Hyperbole is the most overused and overdone rhetorical figure in the whole world (and that is no hyperbole); we are a society of excess and exaggeration. Nevertheless, hyperbole still has a rightful and useful place in art and letters; just handle it like dynamite, and do not blow up everything you can find.
33. Allusion is a short, informal reference to a famous person or event:
* You must borrow me Gargantua's mouth first. 'Tis a word too great for any mouth of this age's size. --Shakespeare
* If you take his parking place, you can expect World War II all over again.
* Plan ahead: it wasn't raining when Noah built the ark. --Richard Cushing
* Our examination of the relation of the historian to the facts of history finds us, therefore, in an apparently precarious situation, navigating delicately between the Scylla of an untenable theory of history as an objective compilation of facts . . . and the Charybdis of an equally untenable theory of history as the subjective product of the mind of the historian . . . . --Edward Hallett Carr
Notice in these examples that the allusions are to very well known characters or events, not to obscure ones. (The best sources for allusions are literature, history, Greek myth, and the Bible.) Note also that the reference serves to explain or clarify or enhance whatever subject is under discussion, without sidetracking the reader.
Allusion can be wonderfully attractive in your writing because it can introduce variety and energy into an otherwise limited discussion (an exciting historical adventure rises suddenly in the middle of a discussion of chemicals or some abstract argument), and it can please the reader by reminding him of a pertinent story or figure with which he is familiar, thus helping (like analogy) to explain something difficult. The instantaneous pause and reflection on the analogy refreshes and strengthens the reader's mind.
34. Eponym substitutes for a particular attribute the name of a famous person recognized for that attribute. By their nature eponyms often border on the cliche, but many times they can be useful without seeming too obviously trite. Finding new or infrequently used ones is best, though hard, because the name-and-attribute relationship needs to be well established. Consider the effectiveness of these:
* Is he smart? Why, the man is an Einstein. Has he suffered? This poor Job can tell you himself.
* That little Caesar is fooling nobody. He knows he is no Patrick Henry.
* When it comes to watching girls, Fred is a regular Argus.
* You think your boyfriend is tight. I had a date with Scrooge himself last night.
* We all must realize that Uncle Sam is not supposed to be Santa Claus.
* An earthworm is the Hercules of the soil.
Some people or characters are famous for more than one attribute, so that when using them, you must somehow specify the meaning you intend:
* With a bow and arrow, Kathy is a real Diana. [Diana was goddess of the moon, of the hunt, and of chastity.]
* Those of us who cannot become a Ulysses and see the world must trust our knowledge to picture books and descriptions. [Ulysses was a hero in the Trojan War as well as a wanderer afterwards.]
In cases where the eponym might be less than clear or famous, you should add the quality to it:
* The wisdom of a Solomon was needed to figure out the actions of the appliance marketplace this quarter.
Eponym is one of those once-in-awhile devices which can give a nice touch in the right place.
35. Oxymoron is a paradox reduced to two words, usually in an adjective-noun ("eloquent silence") or adverb-adjective ("inertly strong") relationship, and is used for effect, complexity, emphasis, or wit:
* I do here make humbly bold to present them with a short account of themselves and their art.....--Jonathan Swift
* The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, / With loads of learned lumber in his head . . . .--Alexander Pope
* He was now sufficiently composed to order a funeral of modest magnificence, suitable at once to the rank of a Nouradin's profession, and the reputation of his wealth. --Samuel Johnson
Oxymoron can be useful when things have gone contrary to expectation, belief, desire, or assertion, or when your position is opposite to another's which you are discussing. The figure then produces an ironic contrast which shows, in your view, how something has been misunderstood or mislabeled:
* Senator Rosebud calls this a useless plan; if so, it is the most helpful useless plan we have ever enacted.
* The cost-saving program became an expensive economy.
Other oxymorons, as more or less true paradoxes, show the complexity of a situation where two apparently opposite things are true simultaneously, either literally ("desirable calamity") or imaginatively ("love precipitates delay"). Some examples other writers have used are these: scandalously nice, sublimely bad, darkness visible, cheerful pessimist, sad joy, wise fool, tender cruelty, despairing hope, freezing fire. An oxymoron should preferably be yours uniquely; do not use another's, unless it is a relatively obvious formulation (like "expensive economy") which anyone might think of. Also, the device is most effective when the terms are not common opposites. So, instead of "a low high point," you might try "depressed apex" or something.
36. Epithet is an adjective or adjective phrase appropriately qualifying a subject (noun) by naming a key or important characteristic of the subject, as in "laughing happiness," "sneering contempt," "untroubled sleep," "peaceful dawn," and "lifegiving water." Sometimes a metaphorical epithet will be good to use, as in "lazy road," "tired landscape," "smirking billboards," "anxious apple." Aptness and brilliant effectiveness are the key considerations in choosing epithets. Be fresh, seek striking images, pay attention to connotative value.
A transferred epithet is an adjective modifying a noun which it does not normally modify, but which makes figurative sense:
* At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth of thieves and murderers . . . . --George Herbert
* Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold / A sheep hook . . . . --John Milton
* In an age of pressurized happiness, we sometimes grow insensitive to subtle joys.
The striking and unusual quality of the transferred epithet calls attention to it, and it can therefore be used to introduce emphatically an idea you plan to develop. The phrase will stay with the reader, so there is no need to repeat it, for that would make it too obviously rhetorical and even a little annoying. Thus, if you introduce the phrase, "diluted electricity," your subsequent development ought to return to more mundane synonyms, such as "low voltage," "brownouts," and so forth. It may be best to save your transferred epithet for a space near the conclusion of the discussion where it will be not only clearer (as a synonym for previously stated and clearly understandable terms) but more effective, as a kind of final, quintessential, and yet novel conceptualization of the issue. The reader will love it.
37. Hyperbaton includes several rhetorical devices involving departure from normal word order. One device, a form of inversion, might be called delayed epithet, since the adjective follows the noun. If you want to amplify the adjective, the inversion is very useful:
* From his seat on the bench he saw the girl content-content with the promise that she could ride on the train again next week.
But the delayed epithet can also be used by itself, though in only a relatively few cases:
* She had a personality indescribable.
* His was a countenance sad.
Some rhetoricians condemn delayed epithet altogether in formal writing because of its potential for abuse. Each case must be tested carefully, to make sure it does not sound too poetic:
* His was a countenance friendly.
* These are rumors strange.
And especially make sure the phrase is not affected, offensive, or even disgusting:
* Welcome to our home comfortable.
* That is a story amazing.
I cannot give you a rule (why does "countenance sad" seem okay when "countenance friendly" does not?) other than to consult your own taste or sense of what sounds all right and what does not.
A similar form of inversion we might call divided epithets. Here two adjectives are separated by the noun they modify, as in Milton's "with wandering steps and slow." Once again, be careful, but go ahead and try it. Some examples:
* It was a long operation but successful.
* Let's go on a cooler day and less busy.
* So many pages will require a longer staple, heavy-duty style.
Another form of hyperbaton involves the separation of words normally belonging together, done for effect or convenience:
* In this room there sit twenty (though I will not name them) distinguished people.
You can emphasize a verb by putting it at the end of the sentence:
* We will not, from this house, under any circumstances, be evicted.
* Sandy, after a long struggle, all the way across the lake, finally swam to shore.
You might want to have a friend check your excursions into hyperbatonic syntax, and if he looks at you askance and says, "My, talk funny you do," you might want to do a little rewriting. But, again, do not mark this off your list just because you might not be always successful at it.
38. Parenthesis, a final form of hyperbaton, consists of a word, phrase, or whole sentence inserted as an aside in the middle of another sentence:
* But the new calculations--and here we see the value of relying upon up-to-date information--showed that man-powered flight was possible with this design.
* Every time I try to think of a good rhetorical example, I rack my brains but--you guessed--nothing happens.
* As the earthy portion has its origin from earth, the watery from a different element, my breath from one source and my hot and fiery parts from another of their own elsewhere (for nothing comes from nothing, or can return to nothing), so too there must be an origin for the mind. --Marcus Aurelius
* But in whatever respect anyone else is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am just as bold myself. --2 Cor. 11:21b (NASB)
The violence involved in jumping into (or out of) the middle of your sentence to address the reader momentarily about something has a pronounced effect. Parenthesis can be circumscribed either by dashes--they are more dramatic and forceful--or by parentheses (to make your aside less stringent). This device creates the effect of extemporaneity and immediacy: you are relating some fact when suddenly something very important arises, or else you cannot resist an instant comment, so you just stop the sentence and the thought you are on right where they are and insert the fact or comment. The parenthetical form also serves to give some statements a context (stuffed right into the middle of another sentence at the most pertinent point) which they would not have if they had to be written as complete sentences following another sentence. Note that in the first example above the bit of moralizing placed into the sentence appears to be more natural and acceptable than if it were stated separately as a kind of moral conclusion, which was not the purpose or drift of the article.
39. Alliteration is the recurrence of initial consonant sounds. The repetition can be juxtaposed (and then it is usually limited to two words):
* Ah, what a delicious day!
* Yes, I have read that little bundle of pernicious prose, but I have no comment to make upon it.
* Done well, alliteration is a satisfying sensation.
This two-word alliteration calls attention to the phrase and fixes it in the reader's mind, and so is useful for emphasis as well as art. Often, though, several words not next to each other are alliterated in a sentence. Here the use is more artistic. And note in the second example how wonderfully alliteration combines with antithesis:
* I shall delight to hear the ocean roar, or see the stars twinkle, in the company of men to whom Nature does not spread her volumes or utter her voice in vain. --Samuel Johnson
* Do not let such evils overwhelm you as thousands have suffered, and thousands have surmounted; but turn your thoughts with vigor to some other plan of life, and keep always in your mind, that, with due submission to Providence, a man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself. --Samuel Johnson
* I conceive therefore, as to the business of being profound, that it is with writers, as with wells; a person with good eyes may see to the bottom of the deepest, provided any water be there; and that often, when there is nothing in the world at the bottom, besides dryness and dirt, though it be but a yard and a half under ground, it shall pass, however, for wondrous deep, upon no wiser a reason than because it is wondrous dark. --Jonathan Swift
40. Onomatopoeia is the use of words whose pronunciation imitates the sound the word describes. "Buzz," for example, when spoken is intended to resemble the sound of a flying insect. Other examples include these: slam, pow, screech, whirr, crush, sizzle, crunch, wring, wrench, gouge, grind, mangle, bang, blam, pow, zap, fizz, urp, roar, growl, blip, click, whimper, and, of course, snap, crackle, and pop. Note that the connection between sound and pronunciation is sometimes rather a product of imagination ("slam" and "wring" are not very good imitations). And note also that written language retains an aural quality, so that even unspoken your writing has a sound to it. Compare these sentences, for instance:
* Someone yelled, "Look out!" and I heard the skidding of tires and the horrible noise of bending metal and breaking glass.
* Someone yelled "Look out!" and I heard a loud screech followed by a grinding, wrenching crash.
Onomatopoeia can produce a lively sentence, adding a kind of flavoring by its sound effects:
The flies buzzing and whizzing around their ears kept them from finishing the experiment at the swamp.
* No one talks in these factories. Everyone is too busy. The only sounds are the snip, snip of scissors and the hum of sewing machines.
* But I loved that old car. I never heard the incessant rattle on a rough road, or the squeakitysqueak whenever I hit a bump; and as for the squeal of the tires around every corner--well, that was macho.
* If you like the plop, plop, plop of a faucet at three in the morning, you will like this record.
41. Apostrophe interrupts the discussion or discourse and addresses directly a person or personified thing, either present or absent. Its most common purpose in prose is to give vent to or display intense emotion, which can no longer be held back:
* O value of wisdom that fadeth not away with time, virtue ever flourishing, that cleanseth its possessor from all venom! O heavenly gift of the divine bounty, descending from the Father of lights, that thou mayest exalt the rational soul to the very heavens! Thou art the celestial nourishment of the intellect . . . . --Richard de Bury
* O books who alone are liberal and free, who give to all who ask of you and enfranchise all who serve you faithfully! -- Richard de Bury
* O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! --Luke 13:34 (NASB)
Apostrophe does not appear very often in argumentative writing because formal argument is by its nature fairly restrained and intellectual rather than emotional; but under the right circumstances an apostrophe could be useful:
* But all such reasons notwithstanding, dear reader, does not the cost in lives persuade you by itself that we must do something immediately about the situation?
42. Enthymeme is an informally-stated syllogism which omits either one of the premises or the conclusion. The omitted part must be clearly understood by the reader. The usual form of this logical shorthand omits the major premise:
* Since your application was submitted before April 10th, it will be considered. [Omitted premise: All applications submitted before April 10 will be considered.]
* He is an American citizen, so he is entitled to due process. [All American citizens are entitled to due process.]
An enthymeme can also be written by omitting the minor premise:
* Ed is allergic to foods containing monosodium glutamate, so he cannot eat Chinese food seasoned with it.
* A political system can be just only when those who make its laws keep well informed about the subject and effect of those laws. This is why our system is in danger of growing unjust.
It is also possible to omit the conclusion to form an enthymeme, when the two premises clearly point to it:
* If, as Anatole France said, "It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly," then I must propose that the Board of Supervisors in this case is demonstrating human nature perfectly well.
* The Fenton Lumber Company never undertakes a clearcut until at least eighty percent of the trees are mature, and the 4800-acre stand of pine above Mill Creek will not be that mature for another fifteen years.
Whenever a premise is omitted in an enthymeme (and understood by the reader), it is assumed to be either a truism or an acceptable and non-controversial generalization. But sometimes the omitted premise is one with which the reader would not agree, and the enthymeme then becomes a logical fallacy-an unacceptable enthymeme. What are the omitted premises here, and why are they unacceptable?
* You can tell this tape recorder is a bunch of junk: it's made in Japan.
* He says he believes that Jesus was a great moral teacher, so he must be a Christian.
* Those kids are from Southern California? Then they must be either crazy or perverted.
It goes without saying that you should be careful in your own writing not to use enthymemes dishonestly--that is, not to use clearly controversial assertions for the omitted premises.
Aside from its everyday use as a logical shorthand, enthymeme finds its greatest use in writing as an instrument for slightly understating yet clearly pointing out some assertion, often in the form of omitted conclusion. By making the reader work out the syllogism for himself, you impress the conclusion upon him, yet in a way gentler than if you spelled it out in so many words:
* It is essential to anchor the dam in genuine solid rock, rather than in sandstone, and the Trapper's Bluff area provides the only solid rock for seven miles on either side of the designated optimum site.
* Yes, it is a beautiful car, but it does not have an automatic hood-ornament washer, and I just will not have a car without one.
43. Climax (gradatio) consists of arranging words, clauses, or sentences in the order of increasing importance, weight, or emphasis. Parallelism usually forms a part of the arrangement, because it offers a sense of continuity, order, and movement-up the ladder of importance. But if you wish to vary the amount of discussion on each point, parallelism is not essential.
* The concerto was applauded at the house of Baron von Schnooty, it was praised highly at court, it was voted best concerto of the year by the Academy, it was considered by Mozart the highlight of his career, and it has become known today as the best concerto in the world.
* At 6:20 a.m. the ground began to heave. Windows rattled; then they broke. Objects started falling from shelves. Water heaters fell from their pedestals, tearing out plumbing. Outside, the road began to break up. Water mains and gas lines were wrenched apart, causing flooding and the danger of explosion. Office buildings began cracking; soon twenty, thirty, forty stories of concrete were diving at the helpless pedestrians panicking below.
* To have faults is not good, but faults are human. Worse is to have them and not see them. Yet beyond that is to have faults, to see them, and to do nothing about them. But even that seems mild compared to him who knows his faults, and who parades them about and encourages them as though they were virtues.
In addition to arranging sentences or groups of short ideas in climactic order, you generally should also arrange the large sections of ideas in your papers, the points in your arugments, and the examples for your generalizations climactically; although in these cases, the first item should not be the very least important (because its weakness might alienate the reader). Always begin with a point or proof substantial enough to generate interest, and then continue with ideas of increasing importance. That way your argument gets stronger as it moves along, and every point hits harder than the previous one.
44. Diacope: repetition of a word or phrase after an intervening word or phrase as a method of emphasis:
* We will do it, I tell you; we will do it.
* We give thanks to Thee, 0 God, we give thanks . . . . --Psalm 75:1 (NASB)
45. Antimetabole: reversing the order of repeated words or phrases (a loosely chiastic structure, AB-BA) to intensify the final formulation, to present alternatives, or to show contrast:
* All work and no play is as harmful to mental health as all play and no work.
* Ask not what you can do for rhetoric, but what rhetoric can do for you.
46. Antiphrasis: one word irony, established by context:
* "Come here, Tiny," he said to the fat man.
* It was a cool 115 degrees in the shade.
47. Epizeuxis: repetition of one word (for emphasis):
* The best way to describe this portion of South America is lush, lush, lush.
* What do you see? Wires, wires, everywhere wires.
* Polonius: "What are you reading?" Hamlet: "Words, words, words."
48. Aposiopesis: stopping abruptly and leaving a statement unfinished:
* If they use that section of the desert for bombing practice, the rock hunters will--.
* I've got to make the team or I'll--.
49. Anacoluthon: finishing a sentence with a different grammatical structure from that with which it began:
* And then the deep rumble from the explosion began to shake the very bones of--no one had ever felt anything like it.
* Be careful with these two devices because improperly used they can--well, I have cautioned you enough.
50. Enumeratio: detailing parts, causes, effects, or consequences to make a point more forcibly:
* I love her eyes, her hair, her nose, her cheeks, her lips [etc.].
* When the new highway opened, more than just the motels and restaurants prospered. The stores noted a substantial increase in sales, more people began moving to town, a new dairy farm was started, the old Main Street Theater doubled its showings and put up a new building . . . .
51. Antanagoge: placing a good point or benefit next to a fault criticism, or problem in order to reduce the impact or significance of the negative point:
* True, he always forgets my birthday, but he buys me presents all year round.
* The new anti-pollution equipment will increase the price of the product slightly, I am aware; but the effluent water from the plant will be actually cleaner than the water coming in.
52. Parataxis: writing successive independent clauses, with coordinating conjunctions, or no conjunctions:
* We walked to the top of the hill, and we sat down.
* In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. --Genesis 1:1-2 (KJV)
* The Starfish went into dry-dock, it got a barnacle treatment, it went back to work.
In this last example above, note that a string of very short sentences can be connected by commas when the elements are parallel. Longer sentences and unparallel sentence structures need at least semicolons to connect them.
53. Hypotaxis: using subordination to show the relationship between clauses or phrases (and hence the opposite of parataxis):
* They asked the question because they were curious.
* If a person observing an unusual or unfamiliar object concludes that it is probably a spaceship from another world, he can readily adduce that the object is reacting to his presence or actions when in reality there is absolutely no cause-effect relationship. --Philip Klass
* While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. --John 9:5
54. Sententia: quoting a maxim or wise saying to apply a general truth to the situation; concluding or summing foregoing material by offering a single, pithy statement of general wisdom:
* But, of course, to understand all is to forgive all.
* As the saying is, art is long and life is short.
* For as Pascal reminds us, "It is not good to have all your wants satisfied."
55. Exemplum: citing an example; using an illustrative story, either true or fictitious:
* Let me give you an example. In the early 1920's in Germany, the government let the printing presses turn out endless quantities of paper money, and soon, instead of 50-pfennige postage stamps, denominations up to 50 billion marks were being issued.
Examples can be introduced by the obvious choice of "For example," but there are other possibilities. For quick introductions, such as those attached to a sentence, you migiht use "such as," or "for instance." Examples placed into separate sentences can be introduced by "A case in point," "An instance," "A typical situation," "A common example," "To illustrate, let's consider the situation," and so forth.
56. Pleonasm: using more words than required to express an idea; being redundant. Normally a vice, it is done on purpose on rare occasions for emphasis:
* We heard it with our own ears.
* And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus Himself alone. --Matthew 17:8
57. Assonance: similar vowel sounds repeated in successive or proximate words containing different consonants:
* A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. --Matthew 5:14b (KJV)
* Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. --Matthew 5:16 (KJV)
58. Dirimens Copulatio: mentioning a balancing or opposing fact to prevent the argument from being one-sided or unqualified:
* This car is extremely sturdy and durable. It's low maintenance; things never go wrong with it. Of course, if you abuse it, it will break.
* . . . But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. --l Cor. 1:23-24 (NASB; cf. Rom. 13:4-5)
59. Symploce: combining anaphora and epistrophe, so that one word or phrase is repeated at the beginning and another word or phrase is repeated at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences:
* To think clearly and rationally should be a major goal for man; but to think clearly and rationally is always the greatest difficulty faced by man.
60. Appositive: a noun or noun substitute placed next to (in apposition to) another noun to be described or defined by the appositive. Don't think that appositives are for subjects only and that they always follow the subject. The appositive can be placed before or after any noun:
* Henry Jameson, the boss of the operation, always wore a red baseball cap. [This shows the subject (Henry Jameson) with the appositive (the boss of the operation) following the subject. This is the most commonly used variety.]
* A notorious annual feast, the picnic was well attended. [Here, the appositive (notorious annual feast) is in front of the subject (the picnic).]
* That evening we were all at the concert, a really elaborate and exciting affair. [Here the appositive (elaborate and exciting etc.) follows the noun, which is the object of a preposition (concert).]
With very short appositives, the commas setting off the second noun from the first are often omitted:
* That afternoon Kathy Todd the pianist met the poet Thompson.
* Is your friend George going to run for office?
Self Test
Identify the rhetorical device or devices used in each of the following examples. Answers are at the end of the test.
1. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. --Philippians 4:8
2. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? --Job 2:10b
3. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise) that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. --Ephesians 6:2-3
4. Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made should say to its maker, "He did not make me"; or what is formed say to him who formed it, "He has no understanding"? --Isaiah. 29:16
5. ". . . For in your days, 0 rebellious house, I shall speak the word and perform it," declares the Lord. --Ezek. 12:25
6. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. --Matt. 5:17b
7. . . . We have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, and rebelled, even turning aside from Thy commandments and ordinances. --Daniel 9:5
8. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-for we walk by faith, not by sight--we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. --2 Corinthians 5:6-8
9. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever. --I Chron. 28:9b
10. When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. --l Corinthians 13:11
11. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? --l Corinthians 12:29
12. But whom you forgive anything, I forgive also . . . in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes. --2 Corinthians 2:10-11
13. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?) and not a new convert, lest he become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. --l Timothy 3:4-6
14. Moreover, we have not listened to Thy servants the prophets, who spoke in Thy name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land. --Daniel 9:6
15. But if possibility of evil be to exclude good, no good ever can be done. --Samuel Johnson
16. It is in art as in morals: no character would inspire us with an enthusiastic admiration of his virtue, if that virtue consisted only in an absence of vice; something more is required; a man must do more than merely his duty to be a hero. --Joshua Reynolds
17. What, then, is the effect of imagery when it is used in oratory? Among other things, it can infuse much passion and energy into speeches, but when it is combined with the argumentative passages it not only persuades the hearer, but actually masters him. --Longinus
18. The true nature of man, his true good, true virtue, and true religion are things which cannot be known separately. --Pascal
19. Now, what advantage do we derive from hearing a man say that he has shaken off the yoke, that he does not believe that there is a God who watches over his actions, that he regards himself as sole judge of his conduct, and that he does not think of accounting for it to anyone but himself? Does he imagine that by saying this he is encouraging us to feel great confidence in him in the future and to expect comfort, advice, and help from him in the difficult situations of life? Do such men imagine that they have greatly rejoiced us by telling us that they think our soul is only a puff of wind or smoke, and still more by telling us so in an arrogant, self-satisfied tone? Is it a thing to be said cheerily? Is it not rather something to be admitted mournfully as though it were the saddest thing in the whole world? --Pascal
20. Greatness, in the works of architecture, may be considered as relating to the bulk and body of the structure. . . . Not to mention the Tower of Babel, of which an old author says there were the foundations to be seen in his time, which looked like a spacious mountain . . . . --Joseph Addison
21. . . . Let them recognize that there are only two kinds of person whom we can describe as reasonable: those who serve God with all their heart because they have found him, and those who seek him with all their heart because they have not found him. --Pascal
22. Other things may be seized by might, or purchased with money, but knowledge is to be gained only by study, and study to be prosecuted only in retirement. --Samuel Johnson
23. Man seeth the face, but God beholdeth the heart. --Thomas a Kempis
24. 0 soul of mine, will you never be good and sincere, all one, all open, visible to the beholder more clearly than even your encompassing body of flesh? Will you never taste the sweetness of a loving and affectionate heart? Will you never be filled full and unwanting; craving nothing, yearning for no creature or thing to minister to your pleasures, no prolongation of days to enjoy them, no place or country or pleasant clime or sweet human company? --Marcus Aurelius
25. Shame on the soul, to falter on the road of life while the body still perseveres. --Marcus Aurelius
Answers To Self Test
1. anaphora (and parallelism)
2. sentential adverb (and antithesis)
3. parenthesis
4. rhetorical question (and analogy, with personification)
5. metonymy (and zeugma of S-V-V)
6. antithesis
7. scesis onomaton
8. parenthesis and antimetabole
9. antithesis and parallelism
10. epistrophe and anyndeton (and parallelism and zeugma of S-V-V)
11. rhetorical question and symploce
12. litotes
13. parenthesis and rhetorical question
14. appositive, enumeratio and anaphora
15. anadiplosis
16. analogy, anadiplosis, sententia
17. hypophora
18. anaphora
19. zeugma (verb + subordinate clauses), rhetorical question, and metaphor
20. alliteration, apophasis, and simile
21. parallelism and antithesis
22. anadiplosis
23. antithesis
24. apostrophe, simile, rhetorical question, metaphor, anaphora, polysyndeton (and enumeratio or scesis onomaton)
25. metaphor
Whoever desires for his writings or himself, what none can reasonably condemn,the favor of mankind, must add grace to strength, and make his thoughts agreeable as well as useful. Many complain of neglect who never tried to attract regard. It cannot be expected that the patrons of science or virtue should be solicitous to discover excellencies which they who possess them shade and disguise. Few have abilities so much needed by the rest of the world as to be caressed on their own terms; and he that will not condescend to recommend himself by external embellishments must submit to the fate of just sentiments meanly expressed, and be ridiculed and forgotten before he is understood. --Samuel Johnson
Men must be taught as if you taught them not; And things unknown propos'd as things forgot. --Alexander Pope
Style in painting is the same as in writing, a power over materials, whether words or colors, by which conceptions or sentiments are conveyed. --Sir Joshua Reynolds
Whereas, if after some preparatory grounds of speech by their certain forms got into memory, they were led to the praxis thereof in some chosen short book lessoned thoroughly to them, they might then forthwith proceed to learn the substance of good things, and arts in due order, which would bring the whole language quickly into their power. --John Milton
Introduction
Good writing depends upon more than making a collection of statements worthy of belief, because writing is intended to be read by others, with minds different from your own. Your reader does not make the same mental connections you make; he does not see the world exactly as you see it; he is already flooded daily with thousands of statements demanding assent, yet which he knows or believes to be false, confused, or deceptive. If your writing is to get through to him--or even to be read and considered at all--it must be interesting, clear, persuasive, and memorable, so that he will pay attention to, understand, believe, and remember the ideas it communicates. To fulfill these requirements successfully, your work must have an appropriate and clear thesis, sufficient arguments and reasons supporting the thesis, a logical and progressive arrangement, and, importantly, an effective style.
While style is probably best learned through wide reading, comprehensive analysis and thorough practice, much can be discovered about effective writing through the study of some of the common and traditional devices of style and arrangement. By learning, practicing, altering, and perfecting them, and by testing their effects and nuances for yourself, these devices will help you to express yourself better and also teach you to see the interrelatedness of form and meaning, and the psychology of syntax, metaphor, and diction both in your own writing and in the works of others.
The rhetorical devices presented here generally fall into three categories: those involving emphasis, association, clarification, and focus; those involving physical organization, transition, and disposition or arrangement; and those involving decoration and variety. Sometimes a given device or trope will fall mainly into a single category, as for example an expletive is used mostly for emphasis; but more often the effects of a particular device are multiple, and a single one may operate in all three categories. Parallelism, for instance, helps to order, clarify, emphasize, and beautify a thought. Occasionally a device has certain effects not readily identifiable or explainable, so I have not always been able to say why or when certain ones are good or should be used. My recommendation is to practice them all and develop that sense in yourself which will tell you when and how to use them.
Lots of practice and experimentation are necessary before you will feel really comfortable with these devices, but too much practice in a single paper will most assuredly be disastrous. A journal or notebook is the best place to experiment; when a device becomes second nature to you, and when it no longer appears false or affected--when indeed it becomes genuinely built in to your writing rather than added on--then it may make its formal appearance in a paper. Remember that rhetorical devices are aids to writing and not ends of writing; you have no obligation to toss one into every paragraph. Further, if used carelessly or excessively or too frequently, almost any one of these devices will probably seem affected, dull, awkward, or mechanical. But with a little care and skill, developed by practice, anyone can master them, and their use will add not just beauty and emphasis and effectiveness to your writing, but a kind of freedom of thought and expression you never imagined possible.
Practice these; try them out. Do not worry if they sometimes ring false at first. Play with them--learn to manipulate and control your words and ideas--and eventually you will master the art of aggressive instruction: keeping the reader focused with anaphora, emphasizing a point with an expletive, explaining to him with a metaphor or simile, organizing your work in his mind with metabasis, answering his queries with hypophora or procatalepsis, balancing possibilities with antithesis. You will also have gone a long way toward fulfilling the four requirements mentioned at the beginning: the devices of decoration and variety will help make your reader pay attention, the devices of organization and clarification will help him understand your points, the devices of association and some like procatalepsis will help him believe you, and the devices of emphasis, association, beauty, and organization will help him remember.
Resources
Of course, I modestly recommend my book, Writing with Clarity and Style, that contains more than 60 of the devices discussed below, and many sidebars on style and writing effectiveness. Get it from the publisher at 123Writing.com or get a used copy from Amazon.com here: Writing With Clarity and Style.
If you want a relatively inexpensive book that through a rather dramatic coincidence includes more than half of the devices described here (and none of the many others not described here), and covers many of the same points, Amazon.com has Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers.
For really serious students of rhetoric and style, I recommend Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student by Edward P. J. Corbett and Robert J. Connors, now in its fourth edition. It's the standard and covers aspects of style as well as the tropes.
Rhetorical Devices
1. A Sentential Adverb is a single word or short phrase, usually interrupting normal syntax, used to lend emphasis to the words immediately proximate to the adverb. (We emphasize the words on each side of a pause or interruption in order to maintain continuity of the thought.) Compare:
* But the lake was not drained before April.
* But the lake was not, in fact, drained before April.
Sentential adverbs are most frequently placed near the beginning of a sentence, where important material has been placed:
* All truth is not, indeed, of equal importance; but if little violations are allowed, every violation will in time be thought little. --Samuel Johnson
But sometimes they are placed at the very beginning of a sentence, thereby serving as signals that the whole sentence is especially important. In such cases the sentence should be kept as short as possible:
* In short, the cobbler had neglected his soul.
* Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. --John 4:14 (NIV)
Or the author may show that he does not intend to underemphasize an objection or argument he rejects:
* To be sure, no one desires to live in a foul and disgusting environment. But neither do we want to desert our cities.
In a few instances, especially with short sentences, the sentential adverb can be placed last:
* It was a hot day indeed.
* Harold won, of course.
A common practice is setting off the sentential adverb by commas, which increases the emphasis on the surrounding words, though in many cases the commas are necessary for clarity as well and cannot be omitted. Note how the adverb itself is also emphasized:
* He without doubt can be trusted with a cookie.
* He, without doubt, can be trusted with a cookie.
A sentential adverb can emphasize a phrase:
* The Bradys, clearly a happy family, live in an old house with squeaky floors.
Transitional phrases, accostives, some adverbs, and other interrupters can be used for emphasizing portions of sentences, and therefore function as kinds of quasi-sentential adverbs in those circumstances.
* We find a few people, however, unwilling to come.
* "Your last remark," he said, "is impertinent."
* There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. --Samuel Johnson
Some useful sentential adverbs include the following: in fact, of course, indeed, I think, without doubt, to be sure, naturally, it seems, after all, for all that, in brief, on the whole, in short, to tell the truth, in any event, clearly, I suppose, I hope, at least, assuredly, certainly, remarkably, importantly, definitely. In formal writing, avoid these and similar colloquial emphases: you know, you see, huh, get this. And it goes without saying that you should avoid the unprintable expletives.
2. Asyndeton consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. In a list of items, asyndeton gives the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity, of an extemporaneous rather than a labored account:
* On his return he received medals, honors, treasures, titles, fame.
The lack of the "and" conjunction gives the impression that the list is perhaps not complete. Compare:
* She likes pickles, olives, raisins, dates, pretzels.
* She likes pickles, olives, raisins, dates, and pretzels.
Sometimes an asyndetic list is useful for the strong and direct climactic effect it has, much more emphatic than if a final conjunction were used. Compare:
* They spent the day wondering, searching, thinking, understanding.
* They spent the day wondering, searching, thinking, and understanding.
In certain cases, the omission of a conjunction between short phrases gives the impression of synonymity to the phrases, or makes the latter phrase appear to be an afterthought or even a substitute for the former. Compare:
* He was a winner, a hero.
* He was a winner and a hero.
Notice also the degree of spontaneity granted in some cases by asyndetic usage. "The moist, rich, fertile soil," appears more natural and spontaneous than "the moist, rich, and fertile soil - "
Generally, asyndeton offers the feeling of speed and concision to lists and phrases and clauses, but occasionally the effect cannot be so easily categorized. Consider the "flavor" of these examples:
* If, as is the case, we feel responsibility, are ashamed, are frightened, at transgressing the voice of conscience, this implies that there is One to whom we are responsible, before whom we are ashamed, whose claims upon us we fear. --John Henry Newman
* In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth the laws of peace. --Richard de Bury
* We certainly have within us the image of some person, to whom our love and veneration look, in whose smile we find our happiness, for whom we yearn, towards whom we direct our pleadings, in whose anger we are troubled and waste away. --John Henry Newman
3. Polysyndeton is the use of a conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause, and is thus structurally the opposite of asyndeton. The rhetorical effect of polysyndeton, however, often shares with that of asyndeton a feeling of multiplicity, energetic enumeration, and building up.
* They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and played and talked and flunked.
Use polysyndeton to show an attempt to encompass something complex:
* The water, like a witch's oils, / Burnt green, and blue, and white. --S. T. Coleridge
* [He] pursues his way, / And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. --John Milton
The multiple conjunctions of the polysyndetic structure call attention to themselves and therefore add the effect of persistence or intensity or emphasis to the other effect of multiplicity. The repeated use of "nor" or "or" emphasizes alternatives; repeated use of "but" or "yet" stresses qualifications. Consider the effectiveness of these:
* And to set forth the right standard, and to train according to it, and to help forward all students towards it according to their various capacities, this I conceive to be the business of a University. --John Henry Newman
* We have not power, nor influence, nor money, nor authority; but a willingness to persevere, and the hope that we shall conquer soon.
In a skilled hand, a shift from polysyndeton to asyndeton can be very impressive:
* Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. --Isaiah 24:1-2 (KJV)
4. Understatement deliberately expresses an idea as less important than it actually is, either for ironic emphasis or for politeness and tact. When the writer's audience can be expected to know the true nature of a fact which might be rather difficult to describe adequately in a brief space, the writer may choose to understate the fact as a means of employing the reader's own powers of description. For example, instead of endeavoring to describe in a few words the horrors and destruction of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, a writer might state:
* The 1906 San Francisco earthquake interrupted business somewhat in the downtown area.
The effect is not the same as a description of destruction, since understatement like this necessarily smacks of flippancy to some degree; but occasionally that is a desirable effect. Consider these usages:
* Henry and Catherine were married, the bells rang, and everybody smiled . . . . To begin perfect happiness at the respective ages of twenty-six and eighteen is to do pretty well . . . . --Jane Austen
* Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her person for the worse. --Jonathan Swift
* You know I would be a little disappointed if you were to be hit by a drunk driver at two a.m., so I hope you will be home early.
In these cases the reader supplies his own knowledge of the facts and fills out a more vivid and personal description than the writer might have.
In a more important way, understatement should be used as a tool for modesty and tactfulness. Whenever you represent your own accomplishments, and often when you just describe your own position, an understatement of the facts will help you to avoid the charge of egotism on the one hand and of self-interested puffery on the other. We are always more pleased to discover a thing greater than promised rather than less than promised--or as Samuel Johnson put it, "It is more pleasing to see smoke brightening into flame, than flame sinking into smoke." And it goes without saying that a person modest of his own talents wins our admiration more easily than an egotist. Thus an expert geologist might say, "Yes, I know a little about rocks," rather than, "Yes, I'm an expert about rocks." (An even bigger expert might raise his eyebrows if he heard that.)
Understatement is especially useful in dealing with a hostile audience or in disagreeing with someone, because the statement, while carrying the same point, is much less offensive. Compare:
* The second law of thermodynamics pretty much works against the possibility of such an event.
* The second law of thermodynamics proves conclusively that that theory is utterly false and ridiculous.
Remember, the goal of writing is to persuade, not to offend; once you insult or put off your opponent, objector, or disbeliever, you will never persuade him of anything, no matter how "obviously wrong" he is or how clearly right you are. The degree and power of pride in the human heart must never be underestimated. Many people are unwilling to hear objections of any kind, and view disagreement as a sign of contempt for their intellect. The use of understatement allows you to show a kind of respect for your reader's understanding. You have to object to his belief, but you are sympathetic with his position and see how he might have come to believe it; therefore, you humbly offer to steer him right, or at least to offer what you think is a more accurate view. Even those who agree with you already will be more persuaded because the modest thinker is always preferable to the flaming bigot. Compare these statements and consider what effect each would have on you if you read them in a persuasive article:
* Anyone who says this water is safe to drink is either stupid or foolish. The stuff is poisoned with coliform bacteria. Don't those idiots know that?
* My opponents think this water is drinkable, but I'm not sure I would drink it. Perhaps they are not aware of the dangerous bacterial count . . . [and so on, explaining the basis for your opinion].
5. Litotes, a particular form of understatement, is generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which otherwise would be used. Depending on the tone and context of the usage, litotes either retains the effect of understatement, or becomes an intensifying expression. Compare the difference between these statements:
* Heat waves are common in the summer.
* Heat waves are not rare in the summer.
Johnson uses litotes to make a modest assertion, saying "not improperly" rather than "correctly" or "best":
* This kind of writing may be termed not improperly the comedy of romance. . . .
Occasionally a litotic construction conveys an ironic sentiment by its understatement:
* We saw him throw the buckets of paint at his canvas in disgust, and the result did not perfectly represent his subject, Mrs. Jittery.
Usually, though, litotes intensifies the sentiment intended by the writer, and creates the effect of strong feelings moderately conveyed.
* Hitting that telephone pole certainly didn't do your car any good.
* If you can tell the fair one's mind, it will be no small proof of your art, for I dare say it is more than she herself can do. --Alexander Pope
* A figure lean or corpulent, tall or short, though deviating from beauty, may still have a certain union of the various parts, which may contribute to make them on the whole not unpleasing. --Sir Joshua Reynolds
* He who examines his own self will not long remain ignorant of his failings.
* Overall the flavors of the mushrooms, herbs, and spices combine to make the dish not at all disagreeable to the palate.
But note that, as George Orwell points out in "Politics and the English Language," the "not un-" construction (for example, "not unwilling") should not be used indiscriminately. Rather, find an opposite quality which as a word is something other than the quality itself with an "un" attached. For instance, instead of, "We were not unvictorious," you could write, "We were not defeated," or "We did not fail to win," or something similar.
6. Parallelism is recurrent syntactical similarity. Several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed similarly to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in importance. Parallelism also adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence.
Any sentence elements can be paralleled, any number of times (though, of course, excess quickly becomes ridiculous). You might choose parallel subjects with parallel modifiers attached to them:
* Ferocious dragons breathing fire and wicked sorcerers casting their spells do their harm by night in the forest of Darkness.
Or parallel verbs and adverbs:
* I have always sought but seldom obtained a parking space near the door.
* Quickly and happily he walked around the corner to buy the book.
Or parallel verbs and direct objects:
* He liked to eat watermelon and to avoid grapefruit.
Or just the objects:
* This wealthy car collector owns three pastel Cadillacs, two gold Rolls Royces, and ten assorted Mercedes.
Or parallel prepositional phrases:
* He found it difficult to vote for an ideal truth but against his own self interest.
* The pilot walked down the aisle, through the door, and into the cockpit, singing "Up, Up, and Away."
Notice how paralleling rather long subordinate clauses helps you to hold the whole sentence clearly in your head:
* These critics--who point out the beauties of style and ideas, who discover the faults of false constructions, and who discuss the application of the rules--usually help a lot in engendering an understanding of the writer's essay.
* When, at the conclusion of a prolonged episode of agonizing thought, you decide to buy this car; when, after a hundred frantic sessions of begging stonefaced bankers for the money, you can obtain sufficient funds; and when, after two more years of impatience and frustration, you finally get a driver's license, then come see me and we will talk about a deal.
* After you corner the market in Brazilian coffee futures, but before you manipulate the price through the ceiling, sit down and have a cup of coffee with me (while I can still afford it).
It is also possible to parallel participial, infinitive, and gerund phrases:
* He left the engine on, idling erratically and heating rapidly.
* To think accurately and to write precisely are interrelated goals.
* She liked sneaking up to Ted and putting the ice cream down his back, because he was so cool about it.
In practice some combination of parts of speech or sentence elements is used to form a statement, depending as always on what you have to say. In addition, the parallelism, while it normally should be pretty close, does not have to be exact in its syntactical similarity. For example, you might write,
* He ran up to the bookshelves, grabbed a chair standing nearby, stepped painfully on his tiptoes, and pulled the fifty-pound volume on top of him, crushing his ribs and impressing him with the power of knowledge.
Here are some other examples of parallelism:
* I shall never envy the honors which wit and learning obtain in any other cause, if I can be numbered among the writers who have given ardor to virtue, and confidence to truth. --Samuel Johnson
* They had great skill in optics, and had instructed him to see faults in others, and beauties in himself, that could be discovered by nobody else. . . . --Alexander Pope
* For the end of a theoretical science is truth, but the end of a practical science is performance. --Aristotle
7. Chiasmus might be called "reverse parallelism," since the second part of a grammatical construction is balanced or paralleled by the first part, only in reverse order. Instead of an A,B structure (e.g., "learned unwillingly") paralleled by another A,B structure ("forgotten gladly"), the A,B will be followed by B,A ("gladly forgotten"). So instead of writing, "What is learned unwillingly is forgotten gladly," you could write, "What is learned unwillingly is gladly forgotten." Similarly, the parallel sentence, "What is now great was at first little," could be written chiastically as, "What is now great was little at first." Here are some examples:
* He labors without complaining and without bragging rests.
* Polished in courts and hardened in the field, Renowned for conquest, and in council skilled. --Joseph Addison
* For the Lord is a Great God . . . in whose hand are the depths of the earth; the peaks of the mountains are his also. --Psalm 95:4
Chiasmus is easiest to write and yet can be made very beautiful and effective simply by moving subordinate clauses around:
* If you come to them, they are not asleep; if you ask and inquire of them, they do not withdraw themselves; they do not chide if you make mistakes; they do not laugh at you if you are ignorant. --Richard de Bury
Prepositional phrases or other modifiers can also be moved around to form chiastic structures. Sometimes the effect is rather emphatic:
* Tell me not of your many perfections; of your great modesty tell me not either.
* Just as the term "menial" does not apply to any honest labor, so no dishonest work can be called "prestigious."
At other times the effect is more subdued but still desirable. Compare the versions of these sentences, written first in chiastic and then in strictly parallel form. Which do you like better in each case?
* On the way to school, my car ran out of gas; then it had a flat on the way home.
* On the way to school, my car ran out of gas; then on the way home it had a flat.
* Sitting together at lunch, the kids talked incessantly; but they said nothing at all sitting in the dentist's office.
* Sitting together at lunch, the kids talked incessantly; but sitting in the dentist's office, they said nothing at all.
* The computer mainframe is now on sale; available also at a discount is the peripheral equipment.
* The computer mainframe is now on sale; the peripheral equipment is also available at a discount.
Chiasmus may be useful for those sentences in which you want balance, but which cannot be paralleled effectively, either because they are too short, or because the emphasis is placed on the wrong words. And sometimes a chiastic structure will just seem to "work" when a parallel one will not.
8. Zeugma includes several similar rhetorical devices, all involving a grammatically correct linkage (or yoking together) of two or more parts of speech by another part of speech. Thus examples of zeugmatic usage would include one subject with two (or more) verbs, a verb with two (or more) direct objects, two (or more) subjects with one verb, and so forth. The main benefit of the linking is that it shows relationships between ideas and actions more clearly.
In one form (prozeugma), the yoking word precedes the words yoked. So, for example, you could have a verb stated in the first clause understood in the following clauses:
* Pride opresseth humility; hatred love; cruelty compassion. --Peacham
* Fred excelled at sports; Harvey at eating; Tom with girls.
* Alexander conquered the world; I, Minneapolis.
A more important version of this form (with its own name, diazeugma) is the single subject with multiple verbs:
* . . . It operated through the medium of unconscious self-deception and terminated in inveterate avarice. --Thomas Love Peacock
* Mr. Glowry held his memory in high honor, and made a punchbowl of his skull. --Ibid.
* This terrace . . . took in an oblique view of the open sea, and fronted a long track of level sea-coast . . . . --Ibid.
* Fluffy rolled on her back, raised her paws, and meowed to be petted.
Notice that two or three verb phrases are the usual proportion. But if you have a lot to say about the actions of the subject, or if you want to show a sort of multiplicity of behavior or doings, you can use several verbs:
* When at Nightmare Abbey, he would condole with Mr. Glowry, drink Madeira with Scythrop, crack jokes with Mr. Hilary, hand Mrs. Hilary to the piano, take charge of her fan and gloves, and turn over her music with surprising dexterity, quote Revelations with Mr. Toobad, and lament the good old times of feudal darkness with the Transcendental Mr. Flosky. --Thomas Love Peacock
Two or more subordinate relative pronoun clauses can be linked prozeugmatically, with the noun becoming the yoking word:
* His father, to comfort him, read him a Commentary on Ecclesiastes, which he had himself composed, and which demonstrated incontrovertibly that all is vanity. --Thomas Love Peacock
* O books who alone are liberal and free, who give to all who ask of you and enfranchise all who serve you faithfully! --Richard de Bury
You could have two or more direct objects:
* With one mighty swing he knocked the ball through the window and two spectators off their chairs.
* He grabbed his hat from the rack in the closet, his gloves from the table near the door, and his car keys from the punchbowl.
Or a preposition with two objects:
* Mr. Glowry was horror-struck by the sight of a round, ruddy face, and a pair of laughing eyes. --Thomas Love Peacock
Sometimes you might want to create a linkage in which the verb must be understood in a slightly different sense:
* He grabbed his hat from the rack by the stairs and a kiss from the lips of his wife.
* He smashed the clock into bits and his fist through the wall.
In hypozeugma the yoking word follows the words it yokes together. A common form is multiple subjects:
* Hours, days, weeks, months, and years do pass away. --Sherry
* The moat at its base, and the fens beyond comprised the whole of his prospect. --Peacock
* To generate that much electricity and to achieve that kind of durability would require a completely new generator design.
It is possible also to hold off a verb until the last clause:
* The little baby from his crib, the screaming lady off the roof, and the man from the flooded basement were all rescued.
Hypozeugma can be used with adjectives or adjective phrases, too. Here, Peacock uses two participial phrases, one past and one present:
* Disappointed both in love and in friendship, and looking upon human learning as vanity, he had come to a conclusion that there was but one good thing in the world, videlicet, a good dinner . . . .
The utility of the zeugmatic devices lies partly in their economy (for they save repetition of subjects or verbs or other words), and partly in the connections they create between thoughts. The more connections between ideas you can make in an essay, whether those connections are simple transitional devices or more elaborate rhetorical ones, the fewer your reader will have to guess at, and therefore the clearer your points will be.
9. Antithesis establishes a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure. Human beings are inveterate systematizers and categorizers, so the mind has a natural love for antithesis, which creates a definite and systematic relationship between ideas:
* To err is human; to forgive, divine. --Pope
* That short and easy trip made a lasting and profound change in Harold's outlook.
* That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. --Neil Armstrong
Antithesis can convey some sense of complexity in a person or idea by admitting opposite or nearly opposite truths:
* Though surprising, it is true; though frightening at first, it is really harmless.
* If we try, we might succeed; if we do not try, we cannot succeed.
* Success makes men proud; failure makes them wise.
Antithesis, because of its close juxtaposition and intentional
contrast of two terms or ideas, is also very useful for making relatively fine distinctions or for clarifying differences which might be otherwise overlooked by a careless thinker or casual reader:
* In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it. --Samuel Johnson
* The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice. --Matt. 23:2-3 (RSV)
* I agree that it is legal; but my question was, Is it moral?
* The advertisement indeed says that these shoes are the best, but it means that they are equal; for in advertising "best" is a parity claim and only "better" indicates superiority.
Note also that short phrases can be made antithetical:
* Every man who proposes to grow eminent by learning should carry in his mind, at once, the difficulty of excellence and the force of industry; and remember that fame is not conferred but as the recompense of labor, and that labor, vigorously continued, has not often failed of its reward. --Samuel Johnson
10. Anaphora is the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and with parallelism:
* To think on death it is a misery,/ To think on life it is a vanity;/ To think on the world verily it is,/ To think that here man hath no perfect bliss. --Peacham
* In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth the laws of peace. --Richard de Bury
* Finally, we must consider what pleasantness of teaching there is in books, how easy, how secret! How safely we lay bare the poverty of human ignorance to books without feeling any shame! --Ibid.
* The wish of the genuine painter must be more extensive: instead of endeavoring to amuse mankind with the minute neatness of his imitations, he must endeavor to improve them by the grandeur of his ideas; instead of seeking praise, by deceiving the superficial sense of the spectator, he must strive for fame by captivating the imagination. --Sir Joshua Reynolds
* Slowly and grimly they advanced, not knowing what lay ahead, not knowing what they would find at the top of the hill, not knowing that they were so near to Disneyland.
* They are the entertainment of minds unfurnished with ideas, and therefore easily susceptible of impressions; not fixed by principles, and therefore easily following the current of fancy; not informed by experience, and consequently open to every false suggestion and partial account. --Samuel Johnson
Anaphora can be used with questions, negations, hypotheses, conclusions, and subordinating conjunctions, although care must be taken not to become affected or to sound rhetorical and bombastic. Consider these selections:
* Will he read the book? Will he learn what it has to teach him? Will he live according to what he has learned?
* Not time, not money, not laws, but willing diligence will get this done.
* If we can get the lantern lit, if we can find the main cave, and if we can see the stalagmites, I'll show you the one with the bat skeleton in it. be used for
Adverbs and prepositions can anaphora, too:
* They are masters who instruct us without rod or ferule, without angry words, without clothes or money. --Richard de Bury
* She stroked her kitty cat very softly, very slowly, very smoothly.
11. Epistrophe (also called antistrophe) forms the counterpart to anaphora, because the repetition of the same word or words comes at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences:
* Where affections bear rule, there reason is subdued, honesty is subdued, good will is subdued, and all things else that withstand evil, for ever are subdued. --Wilson
* And all the night he did nothing but weep Philoclea, sigh Philoclea, and cry out Philoclea. --Philip Sidney
* You will find washing beakers helpful in passing this course, using the gas chromatograph desirable for passing this course, and studying hours on end essential to passing this course.
Epistrophe is an extremely emphatic device because of the emphasis placed on the last word in a phrase or sentence. If you have a concept you wish to stress heavily, then epistrophe might be a good construction to use. The danger as usual lies in this device's tendency to become too rhetorical. Consider whether these are successful and effective or hollow and bombastic:
* The cars do not sell because the engineering is inferior, the quality of materials is inferior, and the workmanship is inferior.
* The energies of mankind are often exerted in pursuit, consolidation, and enjoyment; which is to say, many men spend their lives pursuing power, consolidating power, and enjoying power.
12. Anadiplosis repeats the last word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at or very near the beginning of the next. it can be generated in series for the sake of beauty or to give a sense of logical progression:
* Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,/ Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain . . . . --Philip Sidney
Most commonly, though, anadiplosis is used for emphasis of the repeated word or idea, since repetition has a reinforcing effect:
* They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. --Jer. 2:13
* The question next arises, How much confidence can we put in the people, when the people have elected Joe Doax?
* This treatment plant has a record of uncommon reliability, a reliability envied by every other water treatment facility on the coast.
* In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. --John 1:1
Notice how the main point of the sentence becomes immediately clear by repeating the same word twice in close succession. There can be no doubt about the focus of your thought when you use anadiplosis.
13. Conduplicatio resembles anadiplosis in the repetition of a preceding word, but it repeats a key word (not just the last word) from a preceding phrase, clause, or sentence, at the beginning of the next.
* If this is the first time duty has moved him to act against his desires, he is a very weak man indeed. Duty should be cultivated and obeyed in spite of its frequent conflict with selfish wishes.
* The strength of the passions will never be accepted as an excuse for complying with them; the passions were designed for subjection, and if a man suffers them to get the upper hand, he then betrays the liberty of his own soul. --Alexander Pope
* She fed the goldfish every day with the new pellets brought from Japan. Gradually the goldfish began to turn a brighter orange than before.
Like anadiplosis, conduplicatio serves as an effective focusing device because with it you can pull out that important idea from the sentence before and put it clearly at the front of the new sentence, showing the reader just what he should be concentrating on. Since keeping the reader focused on your train of thought is critical to good writing, this device can be especially helpful as a transitional connector when the previous sentence has two or more possible main points, only one of which is to be continued in the discussion. Suppose, for example, you have this sentence:
* Submitting a constitutional amendment to a popular vote through a general referendum always runs the risk of a campaign and a vote based upon the selfishness rather than the sense of justice of the voter.
Now, the next sentence could begin with, "Previous campaigns . . ." or "The strength of the appeal to selfish interests . . . "or "Therefore constitutional amendments are best left . . ." all depending on which concept you wish to develop. If you began the next sentence with, "But there certainly can be no doubt that the general referendum will continue to be exploited by those whose issues are aided by the innate selfishness of human beings," the reader would have to go a considerable distance into the sentence before he would find out exactly which idea is being carried forward and developed.
14. Epanalepsis repeats the beginning word of a clause or sentence at the end. The beginning and the end are the two positions of strongest emphasis in a sentence, so by having the same word in both places, you call special attention to it:
* Water alone dug this giant canyon; yes, just plain water.
* To report that your committee is still investigating the matter is to tell me that you have nothing to report.
Many writers use epanalepsis in a kind of "yes, but" construction to cite common ground or admit a truth and then to show how that truth relates to a more important context:
* Our eyes saw it, but we could not believe our eyes.
* The theory sounds all wrong; but if the machine works, we cannot worry about theory.
* In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. --John 16:33 (NASB)
15. Hypophora consists of raising one or more questions and then proceeding to answer them, usually at some length. A common usage is to ask the question at the beginning of a paragraph and then use that paragraph to answer it:
* There is a striking and basic difference between a man's ability to imagine something and an animal's failure. . . . Where is it that the animal falls short? We get a clue to the answer, I think, when Hunter tells us . . . . --Jacob Bronowski
* What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter?. . . What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God. --Rom. 4:1,3 (NIV)
This is an attractive rhetorical device, because asking an appropriate question appears quite natural and helps to maintain curiosity and interest. You can use hypophora to raise questions which you think the reader obviously has on his mind and would like to see formulated and answered:
* What behavior, then, is uniquely human? My theory is this . . . . --H. J. Campbell
* But what was the result of this move on the steel industry? The annual reports for that year clearly indicate. . . .
Hypophora can also be used to raise questions or to introduce material of importance, but which the reader might not have the knowledge or thought to ask for himself:
* How then, in the middle of the twentieth century, are we to define the obligation of the historian to his facts?..... The duty of the historian to respect his facts is not exhausted by . . . . --Edward Hallett Carr
* But it is certainly possible to ask, How hot is the oven at its hottest point, when the average temperature is 425 degrees? We learned that the peak temperatures approached . . . .
And hypophora can be used as a transitional or guiding device to change directions or enter a new area of discussion:
* But what are the implications of this theory? And how can it be applied to the present problem?
* How and why did caveat emptor develop? The question presents us with mysteries never fully answered. --Ivan L. Preston
Notice how a series of reasonable questions can keep a discussion lively and interesting:
* How do we know the FTC strategy is the best, particularly in view of the complaints consumerists have made against it? Isn't there some chance that greater penalties would amount to greater deterrents? Why not get the most consumer protection simultaneously with the most punishment to offenders by easing the requirements for guilt without easing the punishment? . . . It happens that that's been tried, and it didn't work very well. --Ivan L. Preston
In the above example, the writer went on for several paragraphs to discuss the case which "didn't work very well." It would also be possible for a writer to ask several questions and then answer them in an orderly way, though that has the danger of appearing too mechanical if not carefully done.
16. Rhetorical question (erotesis) differs from hypophora in that it is not answered by the writer, because its answer is obvious or obviously desired, and usually just a yes or no. It is used for effect, emphasis, or provocation, or for drawing a conclusionary statement from the facts at hand.
* But how can we expect to enjoy the scenery when the scenery consists entirely of garish billboards?
* . . . For if we lose the ability to perceive our faults, what is the good of living on? --Marcus Aurelius
* Is justice then to be considered merely a word? Or is it whatever results from the bartering between attorneys?
Often the rhetorical question and its implied answer will lead to further discussion:
* Is this the end to which we are reduced? Is the disaster film the highest form of art we can expect from our era? Perhaps we should examine the alternatives presented by independent film maker Joe Blow . . . .
* I agree the funding and support are still minimal, but shouldn't worthy projects be tried, even though they are not certain to succeed? So the plans in effect now should be expanded to include . . . . [Note: Here is an example where the answer "yes" is clearly desired rhetorically by the writer, though conceivably someone might say "no" to the question if asked straightforwardly.]
Several rhetorical questions together can form a nicely developed and directed paragraph by changing a series of logical statements into queries:
* We shrink from change; yet is there anything that can come into being without it? What does Nature hold dearer, or more proper to herself? Could you have a hot bath unless the firewood underwent some change? Could you be nourished if the food suffered no change? Do you not see, then, that change in yourself is of the same order, and no less necessary to Nature? --Marcus Aurelius
Sometimes the desired answer to the rhetorical question is made obvious by the discussion preceding it:
* The gods, though they live forever, feel no resentment at having to put up eternally with the generations of men and their misdeeds; nay more, they even show every possible care and concern for them. Are you, then, whose abiding is but for a moment, to lose patience--you who are yourself one of the culprits? --Marcus Aurelius
When you are thinking about a rhetorical question, be careful to avoid sinking to absurdity. You would not want to ask, for example, "But is it right to burn down the campus and sack the bookstore?" The use of this device allows your reader to think, query, and conclude along with you; but if your questions become ridiculous, your essay may become wastepaper.
17. Procatalepsis, by anticipating an objection and answering it, permits an argument to continue moving forward while taking into account points or reasons opposing either the train of thought or its final conclusions. Often the objections are standard ones:
* It is usually argued at this point that if the government gets out of the mail delivery business, small towns like Podunk will not have any mail service. The answer to this can be found in the history of the Pony Express . . . .
* To discuss trivialities in an exalted style is, as the saying is, like beautifying a pestle. Yet some people say we should discourse in the grand manner on trivialities and they think that this is a proof of outstanding oratorical talent. Now I admit that Polycrates [did this]. But he was doing this in jest, . - . and the dignified tone of the whole work was itself a game. Let us be playful..... [but] also observe what is fitting in each case . . . . --Demetrius
Sometimes the writer will invent probable or possible difficulties in order to strengthen his position by showing how they could be handled if they should arise, as well as to present an answer in case the reader or someone else might raise them in the course of subsequent consideration:
* But someone might say that this battle really had no effect on history. Such a statement could arise only from ignoring the effect the battle had on the career of General Bombast, who was later a principal figure at the Battle of the Bulge.
* I can think of no one objection that will possibly be raised against this proposal, unless it should be urged that the number of people will be thereby much lessened in the kingdom. This I freely own, and it was indeed the principal design in offering it to the world. --Jonathan Swift
Objections can be treated with varying degrees of seriousness and with differing relationships to the reader. The reader himself might be the objector:
* Yet this is the prime service a man would think, wherein this order should give proof of itself. If it were executed, you'll say. But certain, if execution be remiss or blindfold now, and in this particular, what will it be hereafter and in other books? --John Milton
Or the objector may be someone whose outlook, attitude, or belief differs substantially from both writer and reader-though you should be careful not to set up an artificial, straw-man objector:
* Men of cold fancies and philosophical dispositions object to this kind of poetry, [saying] that it has not probability enough to affect the imagination. But to this it may be answered that we are sure, in general, there are many intellectual beings in the world besides ourselves . . . who are subject to different laws and economies from those of mankind . . . . --Joseph Addison
* Occasionally a person of rash judgment will argue here that the high-speed motor is better than the low-speed one, because for the same output, high speed motors are lighter, smaller, and cheaper. But they are also noisier and less efficient, and have much greater wear and shorter life; so that overall they are not better.
By mentioning the obvious, and even the imaginatively discovered objections to your argument, you show that (1) you are aware of them and have considered them and (2) there is some kind of reasonable response to them, whether given in a sentence or in several paragraphs. An objection answered in advance is weakened should your opponent bring it up, while an objection ignored, if brought up, may show you to be either ignorant or dishonest. Indeed, it might be better to admit an objection you cannot answer than to suppress it and put yourself on the side of darkness and sophistry:
* Those favoring the other edition argue that the same words in this text cost more money. This I admit, and it does seem unfortunate to pay twice the price for essentially the same thing. Nevertheless, this text has larger type, is made better, and above all has more informative notes, so I think it is worth the difference.
Finally, note that procatalepsis can be combined with hypophora, so that the objection is presented in the form of a question:
* I now come to the precepts of Longinus, and pretend to show from them that the greatest sublimity is to be derived from religious ideas. But why then, says the reader, has not Longinus plainly told us so? He was not ignorant that he ought to make his subject as plain as he could. For he has told us. . . . --John Dennis
* But you might object that, if what I say is actually true, why would people buy products advertised illogically? The answer to that lies in human psychology . . . .
18. Metabasis consists of a brief statement of what has been said and what will follow. It might be called a linking, running, or transitional summary, whose function is to keep the discussion ordered and clear in its progress:
* Such, then, would be my diagnosis of the present condition of art. I must now, by special request, say what I think will happen to art in the future. --Kenneth Clark
* We have to this point been examining the proposal advanced by Smervits only in regard to its legal practicability; but next we need to consider the effect it would have in retarding research and development work in private laboratories.
* I have hitherto made mention of his noble enterprises in France, and now I will rehearse his worthy acts done near to Rome. --Peacham
The brief little summary of what has been said helps the reader immensely to understand, organize, and remember that portion of your essay.
Metabasis serves well as a transitional device, refocusing the discussion on a new but clearly derivative area:
* Now that I have made this catalogue of swindles and perversions, let me give another example of the kind of writing that they lead to. --George Orwell
It can also be used to clarify the movement of a discussion by quickly summing up large sections of preceding material:
* By the foregoing quotation I have shown that the language of prose may yet be well adapted to poetry; and I have previously asserted that a large portion of the language of every good poem can in no respect differ from that of good prose. I will go further. I do not doubt that it may be safely affirmed, that there neither is, nor can be, any essential difference between the language of prose and metrical composition. --William Wordsworth
* Having thus explained a few of the reasons why I have written in verse, and why I have chosen subjects from common life, and endeavored to bring my language near to the real language of men, . . . I request the reader's permission to add a few words with reference solely to these particular poems and to some defects which will probably be found in them. --Ibid.
* Now that we have discussed the different kinds of cactus plants available to the landscape architect, their physical requirements for sun, soil, irrigation, and drainage, and the typical design groupings selected for residential areas, we ought to examine the architectural contexts which can best use-enhance and be enhanced by--cactus planters and gardens.
* Thus we have surveyed the state of authors as they are influenced from without, either by the frowns or favor of the great, or by the applause or censure of the critics. It remains only to consider how the people, or world in general, stand affected towards our modern penmen, and what occasion these adventurers may have of complaint or boast from their encounter with the public. --Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury
One caution should be mentioned. Metabasis is very difficult to use effectively in short papers: since it is a summarizing device, it must have some discussion to sum up. In practice, this means something on the order of five pages or more. Thus, metabasis could be very handy in the middle of a ten or twenty page paper; in a three page paper, though, both its necessity and its utility would be questionable. But use your own judgment.
Words used to signal further discussion after the summary include these: now, next, additionally, further, besides, equally important, also interesting, also important, also necessary to mention, it remains. You can also use words of comparison and contrast, such as these: similarly, on the other hand, by contrast.
19. Distinctio is an explicit reference to a particular meaning or to the various meanings of a word, in order to remove or prevent ambiguity.
* To make methanol for twenty-five cents a gallon is impossible; by "impossible" I mean currently beyond our technological capabilities.
* The precipitate should be moved from the filter paper to the crucible quickly--that is, within three minutes.
* Mr. Haskins describes the process as a simple one. If by simple he means easy to explain on paper, he is correct. But if he means there are no complexities involved in getting it to work, he is quite mistaken.
* The modern automobile (and here I refer to the post-1975, desmogged American car) is more a product of bolt-on solutions than of revolutionary engineering.
Many of our words, like those of evaluation (better, failure high quality, efficient, unacceptable) and those referring to abstract concepts which are often debated (democracy, justice, equality, oppression) have different meanings to different people, and sometimes to the same person at different times. For example, the governments of both Communist China and the United States are described as "democracies," while it could be argued rather convincingly that neither really is, depending on the definition of democracy used. Semanticist S. I. Hayakawa even goes so far as to claim that "no word ever has exactly the same meaning twice," and while that for practical purposes seems to be a substantial exaggeration, we should keep in mind the great flexibility of meaning in a lot of our words. Whenever there might be some doubt about your meaning, it would be wise to clarify your statement or terms. And distinctio is one good way to do that.
Some helpful phrases for distinctio include these: blank here must be taken to mean, in this context [or case] blank means, by blank I mean, that is, which is to say. You can sometimes use a parenthetical explanation or a colon, too: Is this dangerous (will I be physically harmed by it)?
20. Amplification involves repeating a word or expression while adding more detail to it, in order to emphasize what might otherwise be passed over. In other words, amplification allows you to call attention to, emphasize, and expand a word or idea to make sure the reader realizes its importance or centrality in the discussion.
* In my hunger after ten days of rigorous dieting I saw visions of ice cream--mountains of creamy, luscious ice cream, dripping with gooey syrup and calories.
* This orchard, this lovely, shady orchard, is the main reason I bought this property.
* . . . Even in Leonardo's time, there were certain obscure needs and patterns of the spirit, which could discover themselves only through less precise analogies--the analogies provided by stains on walls or the embers of a fire. --Kenneth Clark
* Pride--boundless pride--is the bane of civilization.
* He showed a rather simple taste, a taste for good art, good food, and good friends.
But amplification can overlap with or include a repetitive device like anaphora when the repeated word gains further definition or detail:
* The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed,/ A refuge in times of trouble. --Psalm 9:9 (KJV)
Notice the much greater effectiveness this repetition-plus detail form can have over a "straight" syntax. Compare each of these pairs:
* The utmost that we can threaten to one another is death, a death which, indeed, we may precipitate, but cannot retard, and from which, therefore, it cannot become a wise man to buy a reprieve at the expense of virtue, since he knows not how small a portion of time he can purchase, but knows that, whether short or long, it will be made less valuable by the remembrance of the price at which it has been obtained. --adapted from S. Johnson
* The utmost that we can threaten to one another is that death which, indeed, we may precipitate . . . .
* In everything remember the passing of time, a time which cannot be called again.
* In everything remember the passing of a time which cannot be called again.
21. Scesis Onomaton emphasizes an idea by expressing it in a string of generally synonymous phrases or statements. While it should be used carefully, this deliberate and obvious restatement can be quite effective:
* We succeeded, we were victorious, we accomplished the feat!
* Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that deal corruptly. --Isaiah 1:4
* But there is one thing these glassy-eyed idealists forget: such a scheme would be extremely costly, horrendously expensive, and require a ton of money.
* Wendy lay there, motionless in a peaceful slumber, very still in the arms of sleep.
* May God arise, may his enemies be scattered, may his foes flee before him. --Psalm 68:1 (NIV)
Scesis onomaton does have a tendency to call attention to itself and to be repetitive, so it is not used in formal writing as frequently as some other devices. But if well done, it is both beautiful and emphatic.
22. Apophasis (also called praeteritio or occupatio) asserts or emphasizes something by pointedly seeming to pass over, ignore, or deny it. This device has both legitimate and illegitimate uses. Legitimately, a writer uses it to call attention to sensitive or inflammatory facts or statements while he remains apparently detached from them:
* We will not bring up the matter of the budget deficit here, or how programs like the one under consideration have nearly pushed us into bankruptcy, because other reasons clearly enough show . . . .
* Therefore, let no man talk to me of other expedients: of taxing our absentees . . . of curing the expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and gaming of learning to love our country . . . .--Jonathan Swift
* If you were not my father, I would say you were perverse. --Antigone
* I will not even mention Houdini's many writings, both on magic and other subjects, nor the tricks he invented, nor his numerous impressive escapes, since I want to concentrate on . . . .
* She's bright, well-read, and personable--to say nothing of her modesty and generosity.
Does the first example above make you feel a little uneasy? That can be a clue to the legitimacy (or lack of it) of usage. If apophasis is employed to bring in irrelevant statements while it supplies a screen to hide behind, then it is not being used rightly:
* I pass over the fact that Jenkins beats his wife, is an alcoholic, and sells dope to kids, because we will not allow personal matters to enter into our political discussion.
* I do not mean to suggest that Mr. Gates is mainly responsible for the inefficiency and work blockage in this office, just because the paperwork goes through him. . . .
The "I do not mean to suggest [or imply]" construction has special problems of its own, because many writers use it quite straightforwardly to maintain clarity and to preclude jumping to conclusions by the reader. Others, however, "do not mean to imply" things that the reader would himself never dream are being implied. The suggestion is given, though, and takes hold in the brain--so that the implication is there, while being safely denied by the writer.
Apophasis is handy for reminding people of something in a polite way:
* Of course, I do not need to mention that you should bring a No. 2 pencil to the exam.
* Nothing need be said here about the non-energy uses of coal, such as the manufacture of plastics, drugs, and industrial chemicals . . . .
Some useful phrases for apophasis: nothing need be said about, I pass over, it need not be said (or mentioned), I will not mention (or dwell on or bring up), we will overlook ' I do not mean to suggest (or imply), you need not be reminded, it is unnecessary to bring up, we can forget about, no one would suggest.
23. Metanoia (correctio) qualifies a statement by recalling it (or part of it) and expressing it in a better, milder, or stronger way. A negative is often used to do the recalling:
* Fido was the friendliest of all St. Bernards, nay of all dogs.
* The chief thing to look for in impact sockets is hardness; no, not so much hardness as resistance to shock and shattering.
* And if I am still far from the goal, the fault is my own for not paying heed to the reminders--nay, the virtual directions--which I have had from above. --Marcus Aurelius
* Even a blind man can see, as the saying is, that poetic language gives a certain grandeur to prose, except that some writers imitate the poets quite openly, or rather they do not so much imitate them as transpose their words into their own work, as Herodotus does. --Demetrius
Metanoia can be used to coax the reader into expanding his belief or comprehension by moving from modest to bold:
* These new textbooks will genuinely improve the lives of our children, or rather the children of the whole district.
Or it can be used to tone down and qualify an excessive outburst (while, of course, retaining the outburst for good effect):
* While the crack widens and the cliff every minute comes closer to crashing down around our ears, the bureaucrats are just standing by twiddling their thumbs--or at least they have been singularly unresponsive to our appeals for action.
The most common word in the past for invoking metanoia was "nay," but this word is quickly falling out of the language and even now would probably sound a bit strange if you used it. So you should probably substitute "no" for it. Other words and phrases useful for this device include these: rather, at least, let us say, I should say, I mean, to be more exact, or better, or rather, or maybe. When you use one of the "or" phrases (or rather, or to be more exact), a comma is fine preceding the device; when you use just "no," I think a dash is most effective.
24. Aporia expresses doubt about an idea or conclusion. Among its several uses are the suggesting of alternatives without making a commitment to either or any:
* I am not sure whether to side with those who say that higher taxes reduce inflation or with those who say that higher taxes increase inflation.
* I have never been able to decide whether I really approve of dress codes, because extremism seems to reign both with them and without them.
Such a statement of uncertainty can tie off a piece of discussion you do not have time to pursue, or it could begin an examination of the issue, and lead you into a conclusion resolving your doubt.
Aporia can also dismiss assertions irrelevant to your discussion without either conceding or denying them:
* I do not know whether this legislation will work all the miracles promised by its backers, but it does seem clear that . . . .
* I am not sure about the other reasons offered in favor of the new freeway, but I do believe . . . .
* Yes, I know the assay report shows twenty pounds of gold per ton of ore, and I do not know what to say about that. What I do know is that the richest South African mines yield only about three ounces of gold per ton.
You can use aporia to cast doubt in a modest way, as a kind of understatement:
* I am not so sure I can accept Tom's reasons for wanting another new jet.
* I have not yet been fully convinced that dorm living surpasses living at home. For one thing, there is no refrigerator nearby . . . .
Ironic doubt--doubt about which of several closely judgable things exceeds the others, for example--can be another possibility:
* . . . Whether he took them from his fellows more impudently, gave them to a harlot more lasciviously, removed them from the Roman people more wickedly, or altered them more presumptuously, I cannot well declare. --Cicero
* And who was genuinely most content--whether old Mr. Jennings dozing in the sun, or Bill and Molly holding hands and toying under the palm tree, or old Mrs. Jennings watching them agape through the binoculars-I cannot really say.
And you can display ignorance about something while still showing your attitude toward it or toward something else:
* It is hard to know which ice cream is better, banana or coffee.
* I have often wondered whether they realize that those same clothes are available for half the price under a different label.
25. Simile is a comparison between two different things that resemble each other in at least one way. In formal prose the simile is a device both of art and explanation, comparing an unfamiliar thing to some familiar thing (an object, event, process, etc.) known to the reader.
When you compare a noun to a noun, the simile is usually introduced by like:
* I see men, but they look like trees, walking. --Mark 8:24
* After such long exposure to the direct sun, the leaves of the houseplant looked like pieces of overcooked bacon.
* The soul in the body is like a bird in a cage.
When a verb or phrase is compared to a verb or phrase, as is used:
* They remained constantly attentive to their goal, as a sunflower always turns and stays focused on the sun.
* Here is your pencil and paper. I want you to compete as the greatest hero would in the race of his life.
Often the simile--the object or circumstances of imaginative identity (called the vehicle, since it carries or conveys a meaning about the word or thing which is likened to it)-precedes the thing likened to it (the tenor). In such cases, so usually shows the comparison:
* The grass bends with every wind; so does Harvey.
* The seas are quiet when the winds give o're; / So calm are we when passions are no more. --Edmund Waller
But sometimes the so is understood rather than expressed:
* As wax melts before the fire,/ may the wicked perish before God. --Psalm 68:2b
Whenever it is not immediately clear to the reader, the point of similarity between the unlike objects must be specified to avoid confusion and vagueness. Rather than say, then, that "Money is like muck," and "Fortune is like glass," a writer will show clearly how these very different things are like each other:
* And money is like muck, not good except it be spread. --Francis Bacon
* Fortune is like glass--the brighter the glitter, the more easily broken. --Publilius Syrus
* Like a skunk, he suffered from bad publicity for one noticeable flaw, but bore no one any ill will.
* James now felt like an old adding machine: he had been punched and poked so much that he had finally worn out.
* This paper is just like an accountant's report: precise and accurate but absolutely useless.
Many times the point of similarity can be expressed in just a word or two:
* Yes, he is a cute puppy, but when he grows up he will be as big as a house.
* The pitching mound is humped too much like a camel's back.
And occasionally, the simile word can be used as an adjective:
* The argument of this book utilizes pretzel-like logic.
* This gear has a flower-like symmetry to it.
Similes can be negative, too, asserting that two things are unlike in one or more respects:
* My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun. . . . --Shakespeare
* John certainly does not attack the way a Sherman tank does; but if you encourage him, he is bold enough.
Other ways to create similes include the use of comparison:
* Norman was more anxious to leave the area than Herman Milquetoast after seeing ten abominable snowmen charging his way with hunger in their eyes.
* But this truth is more obvious than the sun--here it is; look at it; its brightness blinds you.
Or the use of another comparative word is possible:
* Microcomputer EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) resembles a chalk board in that it is used for consultation instead of figuring, and shows at each glance the same information unless erased and rewritten.
* His temper reminds me of a volcano; his heart, of a rock; his personality, of sandpaper.
* His speech was smoother than butter. . . .--Psalm 55:21
So a variety of ways exists for invoking the simile. Here are a few of the possibilities:
x is like y x is not like y x is the same as y
x is more than y x is less than y x does y; so does z
x is similar to y x resembles y x is as y as z
x is y like z x is more y than z x is less y than z
But a simile can sometimes be implied, or as it is often called, submerged. In such cases no comparative word is needed:
* The author of this poem is almost in the position of a man with boxes and boxes of tree ornaments, but with no tree to decorate. The poet has enough imagery handy to decorate anything he can think of, if only he can fix upon a "trim invention." The "sense" he does locate is obscured; the ivy hides the building completely.
* When I think of the English final exam, I think of dungeons and chains and racks and primal screams.
* Leslie has silky hair and the skin of an angel.
26. Analogy compares two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one. While simile and analogy often overlap, the simile is generally a more artistic likening, done briefly for effect and emphasis, while analogy serves the more practical end of explaining a thought process or a line of reasoning or the abstract in terms of the concrete, and may therefore be more extended.
* You may abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one. You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables. --Samuel Johnson
* He that voluntarily continues ignorance is guilty of all the crimes which ignorance produces, as to him that should extinguish the tapers of a lighthouse might justly be imputed the calamities of shipwrecks. --Samuel Johnson
* . . . For answers successfully arrived at are solutions to difficulties previously discussed, and one cannot untie a knot if he is ignorant of it. --Aristotle
Notice in these examples that the analogy is used to establish the pattern of reasoning by using a familiar or less abstract argument which the reader can understand easily and probably agree with.
Some analogies simply offer an explanation for clarification rather than a substitute argument:
* Knowledge always desires increase: it is like fire, which must first be kindled by some external agent, but which will afterwards propagate itself. --Samuel Johnson
* The beginning of all evil temptations is inconstancy of mind, and too little trust in God. For as a ship without a guide is driven hither and thither with every storm, so an unstable man, that anon leaveth his good purpose in God, is diversely tempted. The fire proveth gold, and temptation proveth the righteous man. --Thomas a Kempis
When the matter is complex and the analogy particularly useful for explaining it, the analogy can be extended into a rather long, multiple-point comparison:
* The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. (And so forth, to the end of the chapter.] --l Cor. 12:12 (NIV)
The importance of simile and analogy for teaching and writing cannot be overemphasized. To impress this upon you better, I would like to step aside a moment and offer two persuasive quotations:
* The country parson is full of all knowledge. They say, it is an ill mason that refuseth any stone: and there is no knowledge, but, in a skilful hand, serves either positively as it is, or else to illustrate some other knowledge. He condescends even to the knowledge of tillage, and pastorage, and makes great use of them in teaching, because people by what they understand are best led to what they understand not. --George Herbert
* To illustrate one thing by its resemblance to another has been always the most popular and efficacious art of instruction. There is indeed no other method of teaching that of which anyone is ignorant but by means of something already known; and a mind so enlarged by contemplation and enquiry that it has always many objects within its view will seldom be long without some near and familiar image through which an easy transition may be made to truths more distant and obscure. --Samuel Johnson
27. Metaphor compares two different things by speaking of one in terms of the other. Unlike a simile or analogy, metaphor asserts that one thing is another thing, not just that one is like another. Very frequently a metaphor is invoked by the to be verb:
Affliction then is ours; / We are the trees whom shaking fastens more. --George Herbert
* Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life." --John 6:35 [And compare the use of metaphor in 6:32-63]
* Thus a mind that is free from passion is a very citadel; man has no stronger fortress in which to seek shelter and defy every assault. Failure to perceive this is ignorance; but to perceive it, and still not to seek its refuge, is misfortune indeed. --Marcus Aurelius
* The mind is but a barren soil; a soil which is soon exhausted and will produce no crop, or only one, unless it be continually fertilized and enriched with foreign matter. --Joshua Reynolds
Just as frequently, though, the comparison is clear enough that the a-is-b form is not necessary:
* The fountain of knowledge will dry up unless it is continuously replenished by streams of new learning.
* This first beam of hope that had ever darted into his mind rekindled youth in his cheeks and doubled the lustre of his eyes. --Samuel Johnson
* I wonder when motor mouth is going to run out of gas.
* When it comes to midterms, it's kill or be killed. Let's go in and slay this test.
* What sort of a monster then is man? What a novelty, what a portent, what a chaos, what a mass of contradictions, what a prodigy! Judge of all things, a ridiculous earthworm who is the repository of truth, a sink of uncertainty and error; the glory and the scum of the world. --Blaise Pascal
* The most learned philosopher knew little more. He had partially unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortal lineaments were still a wonder and a mystery. . . . I had gazed upon the fortifications and impediments that seemed to keep human beings from entering the citadel of nature, and rashly and ignorantly I had repined. --Mary Shelley
* The furnace of affliction had softened his heart and purified his soul.
Compare the different degrees of direct identification between tenor and vehicle. There is fully expressed:
* Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. --Luke 11:34 (RSV)
Here, the comparison, "the eye is a lamp," is declared directly, and the point of similarity is spelled out.
There is semi-implied:
* And he said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course."' --Luke 13:32 (RSV)
Here, the comparison, "Herod is a fox," is not directly stated, but is understood as if it had been.
There is implied:
* . . . For thou hast been my help, and in the shadow of thy wings I sing for joy. --Psalm 63:7 (RSV)
Here, the comparison, "God is a bird [or hen]" is only implied. Stating the metaphorical equation directly would have been rhetorically ineffective or worse because of the awkward thought it creates. The classical rhetorician Demetrius tells us that when there is a great difference between the subject and the comparison, the subject should always be compared to something greater than itself, or diminishment and rhetorical failure result. You might write, "The candle was a little sun in the dark room," but you wouldn't write, "The sun was a big candle that day in the desert." In Psalm 63, however, there is nothing greater than God to compare him to, and the psalmist wants to create a sense of tenderness and protection, drawing upon a familiar image. So, the comparison is saved by using an implied metaphor.
And there is very implied:
* For if men do these things when the tree is green what will happen when it is dry? --Luke 23:31 (NIV)
Here the comparison is something like "a prosperous time [or freedom from persecution] is a green [flourishing, healthy] tree." And the other half of the metaphor is that "a time of persecution or lack of prosperity is a dry [unhealthy, dead(?)] tree." So the rhetorical question is, "If men do these [bad] things during times of prosperity, what will they do when persecution or their own suffering arrives?"
Like simile and analogy, metaphor is a profoundly important and useful device. Aristotle says in his Rhetoric, "It is metaphor above all else that gives clearness, charm, and distinction to the style." And Joseph Addison says of it:
* By these allusions a truth in the understanding is as it were reflected by the imagination; we are able to see something like color and shape in a notion, and to discover a scheme of thoughts traced out upon matter. And here the mind receives a great deal of satisfaction, and has two of its faculties gratified at the same time, while the fancy is busy in copying after the understanding, and transcribing ideas out of the intellectual world into the material.
So a metaphor not only explains by making the abstract or unknown concrete and familiar, but it also enlivens by touching the reader's imagination. Further, it affirms one more interconnection in the unity of all things by showing a relationship between things seemingly alien to each other.
And the fact that two very unlike things can be equated or referred to in terms of one another comments upon them both. No metaphor is "just a metaphor." All have significant implications, and they must be chosen carefully, especially in regard to the connotations the vehicle (image) will transfer to the tenor. Consider, for example, the differences in meaning conveyed by these statements:
* That club is spreading like wildfire.
* That club is spreading like cancer.
* That club is really blossoming now.
* That club, in its amoebic motions, is engulfing the campus.
And do you see any reason that one of these metaphors was chosen over the others?
* The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. --Luke 10:2
* The pile of dirt is high, but we do not have many shovels.
* The diamonds cover the ground, but we need more people to pick them up.
So bold and striking is metaphor that it is sometimes taken literally rather than as a comparison. (Jesus' disciples sometimes failed here--see John 4:32ff and John 6:46-60; a few religious groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses interpret such passages as Psalm 75:8 and 118:15 literally and thus see God as anthropomorphic; and even today a lot of controversy surrounds the interpretation of Matthew 26:26.) Always be careful in your own writing, therefore, to avoid possible confusion between metaphor and reality. In practice this is usually not very difficult.
28. Catachresis is an extravagant, implied metaphor using words in an alien or unusual way. While difficult to invent, it can be wonderfully effective:
* I will speak daggers to her. --Hamlet [In a more futuristic metaphor, we might say, "I will laser-tongue her." Or as a more romantic student suggested, "I will speak flowers to her."]
One way to write catachresis is to substitute an associated idea for the intended one (as Hamlet did, using "daggers" instead of "angry words"):
* "It's a dentured lake," he said, pointing at the dam. "Break a tooth out of that grin and she will spit all the way to Duganville."
Sometimes you can substitute a noun for a verb or a verb for a noun, a noun for an adjective, and so on. The key is to be effective rather than abysmal. I am not sure which classification these examples fit into:
* The little old lady turtled along at ten miles per hour.
* She typed the paper machine-gunnedly, without pausing at all.
* They had expected that this news would paint an original grief, but the only result was silk-screamed platitudes.
* Give him a quart or two of self esteem and he will stop knocking himself. [This was intended to suggest motor oil; if it makes you think of cheap gin, the metaphor did not work.]
29. Synecdoche is a type of metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, the whole for a part, the genus for the species, the species for the genus, the material for the thing made, or in short, any portion, section, or main quality for the whole or the thing itself (or vice versa).
* Farmer Jones has two hundred head of cattle and three hired hands.
Here we recognize that Jones also owns the bodies of the cattle, and that the hired hands have bodies attached. This is a simple part-for-whole synecdoche. Here are a few more:
* If I had some wheels, I'd put on my best threads and ask for Jane's hand in marriage.
* The army included two hundred horse and three hundred foot.
* It is sure hard to earn a dollar these days.
* Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. --Genesis 2:7
And notice the other kinds of substitutions that can be made:
* Get in here this instant or I'll spank your body. [Whole for part--i.e. "body" for "rear end"]
* Put Beethoven on the turntable and turn up the volume. [Composer substituted for record]
* A few hundred pounds of twenty dollar bills ought to solve that problem nicely. [Weight for amount]
* He drew his steel from his scabbard and welcomed all comers. [Material for thing made]
* Patty's hobby is exposing film; Harold's is burning up gasoline in his dune buggy. [Part for whole]
* Okay team. Get those blades back on the ice. [Part for whole]
Take care to make your synecdoche clear by choosing an important and obvious part to represent the whole. Compare:
* His pet purr was home alone and asleep.
* His pet paws [whiskers?] was home alone and asleep.
One of the easiest kinds of synecdoche to write is the substitution of genus for species. Here you choose the class to which the idea or thing to be expressed belongs, and use that rather than the idea or thing itself:
* There sits my animal [instead of "dog"] guarding the door to the henhouse.
* He hurled the barbed weapon [instead of "harpoon"] at the whale.
A possible problem can arise with the genus-for-species substitution because the movement is from more specific to more general; this can result in vagueness and loss of information. Note that in the example above some additional contextual information will be needed to clarify that "weapon" means "harpoon" in this case, rather than, say, "dagger" or something else. The same is true for the animal-for-dog substitution.
Perhaps a better substitution is the species for the genus--a single, specific, representative item symbolic of the whole. This form of synecdoche will usually be clearer and more effective than the other:
* A major lesson Americans need to learn is that life consists of more than cars and television sets. [Two specific items substituted for the concept of material wealth]
* Give us this day our daily bread. --Matt. 6:11
* If you still do not feel well, you'd better call up a sawbones and have him examine you.
* This program is for the little old lady in Cleveland who cannot afford to pay her heating bill.
30. Metonymy is another form of metaphor, very similar to synecdoche (and, in fact, some rhetoricians do not distinguish between the two), in which the thing chosen for the metaphorical image is closely associated with (but not an actual part of) the subject with which it is to be compared.
* The orders came directly from the White House.
In this example we know that the writer means the President issued the orders, because "White House" is quite closely associated with "President," even though it is not physically a part of him. Consider these substitutions, and notice that some are more obvious than others, but that in context all are clear:
* You can't fight city hall.
* This land belongs to the crown.
* In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread . . . . --Genesis 3:19
* Boy, I'm dying from the heat. Just look how the mercury is rising.
* His blood be on us and on our children. --Matt. 27:25
* The checkered flag waved and victory crossed the finish line.
* Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. --Psalm 100:1-2 (KJV)
The use of a particular metonymy makes a comment about the idea for which it has been substituted, and thereby helps to define that idea. Note how much more vivid "in the sweat of thy face" is in the third example above than "by labor" would have been. And in the fourth example, "mercury rising" has a more graphic, physical, and pictorial effect than would "temperature increasing." Attune yourself to such subtleties of language, and study the effects of connotation, suggestion, substitution, and metaphor.
31. Personification metaphorically represents an animal or inanimate object as having human attributes--attributes of form, character, feelings, behavior, and so on. Ideas and abstractions can also be personified.
* The ship began to creak and protest as it struggled against the rising sea.
* We bought this house instead of the one on Maple because this one is more friendly.
* This coffee is strong enough to get up and walk away.
* I can't get the fuel pump back on because this bolt is being uncooperative.
* Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. --Genesis 4:10b (NIV)
* That ignorance and perverseness should always obtain what they like was never considered as the end of government; of which it is the great and standing benefit that the wise see for the simple, and the regular act for the capricious. --Samuel Johnson
* Wisdom cries aloud in the streets; in the markets she raises her voice . . . .--Psalm 1:20 (RSV; and cf. 1:21-33)
While personification functions primarily as a device of art, it can often serve to make an abstraction clearer and more real to the reader by defining or explaining the concept in terms of everyday human action (as for example man's rejection of readily available wisdom is presented as a woman crying out to be heard but being ignored). Ideas can be brought to life through personification and objects can be given greater interest. But try always to be fresh: "winking stars" is worn out; "winking dewdrops" may be all right.
Personification of just the natural world has its own name, fictio. And when this natural-world personification is limited to emotion, John Ruskin called it the pathetic fallacy. Ruskin considered this latter to be a vice because it was so often overdone (and let this be a caution to you). We do not receive much pleasure from an overwrought vision like this:
* The angry clouds in the hateful sky cruelly spat down on the poor man who had forgotten his umbrella.
Nevertheless, humanizing a cold abstraction or even some natural phenomenon gives us a way to understand it, one more way to arrange the world in our own terms, so that we can further comprehend it. And even the so-called pathetic fallacy can sometimes be turned to advantage, when the writer sees his own feelings in the inanimate world around him:
* After two hours of political platitudes, everyone grew bored. The delegates were bored; the guests were bored; the speaker himself was bored. Even the chairs were bored.
32. Hyperbole, the counterpart of understatement, deliberately exaggerates conditions for emphasis or effect. In formal writing the hyperbole must be clearly intended as an exaggeration, and should be carefully restricted. That is, do not exaggerate everything, but treat hyperbole like an exclamation point, to be used only once a year. Then it will be quite effective as a table-thumping attention getter, introductory to your essay or some section thereof:
* There are a thousand reasons why more research is needed on solar energy.
Or it can make a single point very enthusiastically:
* I said "rare," not "raw." I've seen cows hurt worse than this get up and get well.
Or you can exaggerate one thing to show how really different it is from something supposedly similar to which it is being compared:
* This stuff is used motor oil compared to the coffee you make, my love.
* If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. --Luke 14:26 (NASB)
Hyperbole is the most overused and overdone rhetorical figure in the whole world (and that is no hyperbole); we are a society of excess and exaggeration. Nevertheless, hyperbole still has a rightful and useful place in art and letters; just handle it like dynamite, and do not blow up everything you can find.
33. Allusion is a short, informal reference to a famous person or event:
* You must borrow me Gargantua's mouth first. 'Tis a word too great for any mouth of this age's size. --Shakespeare
* If you take his parking place, you can expect World War II all over again.
* Plan ahead: it wasn't raining when Noah built the ark. --Richard Cushing
* Our examination of the relation of the historian to the facts of history finds us, therefore, in an apparently precarious situation, navigating delicately between the Scylla of an untenable theory of history as an objective compilation of facts . . . and the Charybdis of an equally untenable theory of history as the subjective product of the mind of the historian . . . . --Edward Hallett Carr
Notice in these examples that the allusions are to very well known characters or events, not to obscure ones. (The best sources for allusions are literature, history, Greek myth, and the Bible.) Note also that the reference serves to explain or clarify or enhance whatever subject is under discussion, without sidetracking the reader.
Allusion can be wonderfully attractive in your writing because it can introduce variety and energy into an otherwise limited discussion (an exciting historical adventure rises suddenly in the middle of a discussion of chemicals or some abstract argument), and it can please the reader by reminding him of a pertinent story or figure with which he is familiar, thus helping (like analogy) to explain something difficult. The instantaneous pause and reflection on the analogy refreshes and strengthens the reader's mind.
34. Eponym substitutes for a particular attribute the name of a famous person recognized for that attribute. By their nature eponyms often border on the cliche, but many times they can be useful without seeming too obviously trite. Finding new or infrequently used ones is best, though hard, because the name-and-attribute relationship needs to be well established. Consider the effectiveness of these:
* Is he smart? Why, the man is an Einstein. Has he suffered? This poor Job can tell you himself.
* That little Caesar is fooling nobody. He knows he is no Patrick Henry.
* When it comes to watching girls, Fred is a regular Argus.
* You think your boyfriend is tight. I had a date with Scrooge himself last night.
* We all must realize that Uncle Sam is not supposed to be Santa Claus.
* An earthworm is the Hercules of the soil.
Some people or characters are famous for more than one attribute, so that when using them, you must somehow specify the meaning you intend:
* With a bow and arrow, Kathy is a real Diana. [Diana was goddess of the moon, of the hunt, and of chastity.]
* Those of us who cannot become a Ulysses and see the world must trust our knowledge to picture books and descriptions. [Ulysses was a hero in the Trojan War as well as a wanderer afterwards.]
In cases where the eponym might be less than clear or famous, you should add the quality to it:
* The wisdom of a Solomon was needed to figure out the actions of the appliance marketplace this quarter.
Eponym is one of those once-in-awhile devices which can give a nice touch in the right place.
35. Oxymoron is a paradox reduced to two words, usually in an adjective-noun ("eloquent silence") or adverb-adjective ("inertly strong") relationship, and is used for effect, complexity, emphasis, or wit:
* I do here make humbly bold to present them with a short account of themselves and their art.....--Jonathan Swift
* The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, / With loads of learned lumber in his head . . . .--Alexander Pope
* He was now sufficiently composed to order a funeral of modest magnificence, suitable at once to the rank of a Nouradin's profession, and the reputation of his wealth. --Samuel Johnson
Oxymoron can be useful when things have gone contrary to expectation, belief, desire, or assertion, or when your position is opposite to another's which you are discussing. The figure then produces an ironic contrast which shows, in your view, how something has been misunderstood or mislabeled:
* Senator Rosebud calls this a useless plan; if so, it is the most helpful useless plan we have ever enacted.
* The cost-saving program became an expensive economy.
Other oxymorons, as more or less true paradoxes, show the complexity of a situation where two apparently opposite things are true simultaneously, either literally ("desirable calamity") or imaginatively ("love precipitates delay"). Some examples other writers have used are these: scandalously nice, sublimely bad, darkness visible, cheerful pessimist, sad joy, wise fool, tender cruelty, despairing hope, freezing fire. An oxymoron should preferably be yours uniquely; do not use another's, unless it is a relatively obvious formulation (like "expensive economy") which anyone might think of. Also, the device is most effective when the terms are not common opposites. So, instead of "a low high point," you might try "depressed apex" or something.
36. Epithet is an adjective or adjective phrase appropriately qualifying a subject (noun) by naming a key or important characteristic of the subject, as in "laughing happiness," "sneering contempt," "untroubled sleep," "peaceful dawn," and "lifegiving water." Sometimes a metaphorical epithet will be good to use, as in "lazy road," "tired landscape," "smirking billboards," "anxious apple." Aptness and brilliant effectiveness are the key considerations in choosing epithets. Be fresh, seek striking images, pay attention to connotative value.
A transferred epithet is an adjective modifying a noun which it does not normally modify, but which makes figurative sense:
* At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth of thieves and murderers . . . . --George Herbert
* Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold / A sheep hook . . . . --John Milton
* In an age of pressurized happiness, we sometimes grow insensitive to subtle joys.
The striking and unusual quality of the transferred epithet calls attention to it, and it can therefore be used to introduce emphatically an idea you plan to develop. The phrase will stay with the reader, so there is no need to repeat it, for that would make it too obviously rhetorical and even a little annoying. Thus, if you introduce the phrase, "diluted electricity," your subsequent development ought to return to more mundane synonyms, such as "low voltage," "brownouts," and so forth. It may be best to save your transferred epithet for a space near the conclusion of the discussion where it will be not only clearer (as a synonym for previously stated and clearly understandable terms) but more effective, as a kind of final, quintessential, and yet novel conceptualization of the issue. The reader will love it.
37. Hyperbaton includes several rhetorical devices involving departure from normal word order. One device, a form of inversion, might be called delayed epithet, since the adjective follows the noun. If you want to amplify the adjective, the inversion is very useful:
* From his seat on the bench he saw the girl content-content with the promise that she could ride on the train again next week.
But the delayed epithet can also be used by itself, though in only a relatively few cases:
* She had a personality indescribable.
* His was a countenance sad.
Some rhetoricians condemn delayed epithet altogether in formal writing because of its potential for abuse. Each case must be tested carefully, to make sure it does not sound too poetic:
* His was a countenance friendly.
* These are rumors strange.
And especially make sure the phrase is not affected, offensive, or even disgusting:
* Welcome to our home comfortable.
* That is a story amazing.
I cannot give you a rule (why does "countenance sad" seem okay when "countenance friendly" does not?) other than to consult your own taste or sense of what sounds all right and what does not.
A similar form of inversion we might call divided epithets. Here two adjectives are separated by the noun they modify, as in Milton's "with wandering steps and slow." Once again, be careful, but go ahead and try it. Some examples:
* It was a long operation but successful.
* Let's go on a cooler day and less busy.
* So many pages will require a longer staple, heavy-duty style.
Another form of hyperbaton involves the separation of words normally belonging together, done for effect or convenience:
* In this room there sit twenty (though I will not name them) distinguished people.
You can emphasize a verb by putting it at the end of the sentence:
* We will not, from this house, under any circumstances, be evicted.
* Sandy, after a long struggle, all the way across the lake, finally swam to shore.
You might want to have a friend check your excursions into hyperbatonic syntax, and if he looks at you askance and says, "My, talk funny you do," you might want to do a little rewriting. But, again, do not mark this off your list just because you might not be always successful at it.
38. Parenthesis, a final form of hyperbaton, consists of a word, phrase, or whole sentence inserted as an aside in the middle of another sentence:
* But the new calculations--and here we see the value of relying upon up-to-date information--showed that man-powered flight was possible with this design.
* Every time I try to think of a good rhetorical example, I rack my brains but--you guessed--nothing happens.
* As the earthy portion has its origin from earth, the watery from a different element, my breath from one source and my hot and fiery parts from another of their own elsewhere (for nothing comes from nothing, or can return to nothing), so too there must be an origin for the mind. --Marcus Aurelius
* But in whatever respect anyone else is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am just as bold myself. --2 Cor. 11:21b (NASB)
The violence involved in jumping into (or out of) the middle of your sentence to address the reader momentarily about something has a pronounced effect. Parenthesis can be circumscribed either by dashes--they are more dramatic and forceful--or by parentheses (to make your aside less stringent). This device creates the effect of extemporaneity and immediacy: you are relating some fact when suddenly something very important arises, or else you cannot resist an instant comment, so you just stop the sentence and the thought you are on right where they are and insert the fact or comment. The parenthetical form also serves to give some statements a context (stuffed right into the middle of another sentence at the most pertinent point) which they would not have if they had to be written as complete sentences following another sentence. Note that in the first example above the bit of moralizing placed into the sentence appears to be more natural and acceptable than if it were stated separately as a kind of moral conclusion, which was not the purpose or drift of the article.
39. Alliteration is the recurrence of initial consonant sounds. The repetition can be juxtaposed (and then it is usually limited to two words):
* Ah, what a delicious day!
* Yes, I have read that little bundle of pernicious prose, but I have no comment to make upon it.
* Done well, alliteration is a satisfying sensation.
This two-word alliteration calls attention to the phrase and fixes it in the reader's mind, and so is useful for emphasis as well as art. Often, though, several words not next to each other are alliterated in a sentence. Here the use is more artistic. And note in the second example how wonderfully alliteration combines with antithesis:
* I shall delight to hear the ocean roar, or see the stars twinkle, in the company of men to whom Nature does not spread her volumes or utter her voice in vain. --Samuel Johnson
* Do not let such evils overwhelm you as thousands have suffered, and thousands have surmounted; but turn your thoughts with vigor to some other plan of life, and keep always in your mind, that, with due submission to Providence, a man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself. --Samuel Johnson
* I conceive therefore, as to the business of being profound, that it is with writers, as with wells; a person with good eyes may see to the bottom of the deepest, provided any water be there; and that often, when there is nothing in the world at the bottom, besides dryness and dirt, though it be but a yard and a half under ground, it shall pass, however, for wondrous deep, upon no wiser a reason than because it is wondrous dark. --Jonathan Swift
40. Onomatopoeia is the use of words whose pronunciation imitates the sound the word describes. "Buzz," for example, when spoken is intended to resemble the sound of a flying insect. Other examples include these: slam, pow, screech, whirr, crush, sizzle, crunch, wring, wrench, gouge, grind, mangle, bang, blam, pow, zap, fizz, urp, roar, growl, blip, click, whimper, and, of course, snap, crackle, and pop. Note that the connection between sound and pronunciation is sometimes rather a product of imagination ("slam" and "wring" are not very good imitations). And note also that written language retains an aural quality, so that even unspoken your writing has a sound to it. Compare these sentences, for instance:
* Someone yelled, "Look out!" and I heard the skidding of tires and the horrible noise of bending metal and breaking glass.
* Someone yelled "Look out!" and I heard a loud screech followed by a grinding, wrenching crash.
Onomatopoeia can produce a lively sentence, adding a kind of flavoring by its sound effects:
The flies buzzing and whizzing around their ears kept them from finishing the experiment at the swamp.
* No one talks in these factories. Everyone is too busy. The only sounds are the snip, snip of scissors and the hum of sewing machines.
* But I loved that old car. I never heard the incessant rattle on a rough road, or the squeakitysqueak whenever I hit a bump; and as for the squeal of the tires around every corner--well, that was macho.
* If you like the plop, plop, plop of a faucet at three in the morning, you will like this record.
41. Apostrophe interrupts the discussion or discourse and addresses directly a person or personified thing, either present or absent. Its most common purpose in prose is to give vent to or display intense emotion, which can no longer be held back:
* O value of wisdom that fadeth not away with time, virtue ever flourishing, that cleanseth its possessor from all venom! O heavenly gift of the divine bounty, descending from the Father of lights, that thou mayest exalt the rational soul to the very heavens! Thou art the celestial nourishment of the intellect . . . . --Richard de Bury
* O books who alone are liberal and free, who give to all who ask of you and enfranchise all who serve you faithfully! -- Richard de Bury
* O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! --Luke 13:34 (NASB)
Apostrophe does not appear very often in argumentative writing because formal argument is by its nature fairly restrained and intellectual rather than emotional; but under the right circumstances an apostrophe could be useful:
* But all such reasons notwithstanding, dear reader, does not the cost in lives persuade you by itself that we must do something immediately about the situation?
42. Enthymeme is an informally-stated syllogism which omits either one of the premises or the conclusion. The omitted part must be clearly understood by the reader. The usual form of this logical shorthand omits the major premise:
* Since your application was submitted before April 10th, it will be considered. [Omitted premise: All applications submitted before April 10 will be considered.]
* He is an American citizen, so he is entitled to due process. [All American citizens are entitled to due process.]
An enthymeme can also be written by omitting the minor premise:
* Ed is allergic to foods containing monosodium glutamate, so he cannot eat Chinese food seasoned with it.
* A political system can be just only when those who make its laws keep well informed about the subject and effect of those laws. This is why our system is in danger of growing unjust.
It is also possible to omit the conclusion to form an enthymeme, when the two premises clearly point to it:
* If, as Anatole France said, "It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly," then I must propose that the Board of Supervisors in this case is demonstrating human nature perfectly well.
* The Fenton Lumber Company never undertakes a clearcut until at least eighty percent of the trees are mature, and the 4800-acre stand of pine above Mill Creek will not be that mature for another fifteen years.
Whenever a premise is omitted in an enthymeme (and understood by the reader), it is assumed to be either a truism or an acceptable and non-controversial generalization. But sometimes the omitted premise is one with which the reader would not agree, and the enthymeme then becomes a logical fallacy-an unacceptable enthymeme. What are the omitted premises here, and why are they unacceptable?
* You can tell this tape recorder is a bunch of junk: it's made in Japan.
* He says he believes that Jesus was a great moral teacher, so he must be a Christian.
* Those kids are from Southern California? Then they must be either crazy or perverted.
It goes without saying that you should be careful in your own writing not to use enthymemes dishonestly--that is, not to use clearly controversial assertions for the omitted premises.
Aside from its everyday use as a logical shorthand, enthymeme finds its greatest use in writing as an instrument for slightly understating yet clearly pointing out some assertion, often in the form of omitted conclusion. By making the reader work out the syllogism for himself, you impress the conclusion upon him, yet in a way gentler than if you spelled it out in so many words:
* It is essential to anchor the dam in genuine solid rock, rather than in sandstone, and the Trapper's Bluff area provides the only solid rock for seven miles on either side of the designated optimum site.
* Yes, it is a beautiful car, but it does not have an automatic hood-ornament washer, and I just will not have a car without one.
43. Climax (gradatio) consists of arranging words, clauses, or sentences in the order of increasing importance, weight, or emphasis. Parallelism usually forms a part of the arrangement, because it offers a sense of continuity, order, and movement-up the ladder of importance. But if you wish to vary the amount of discussion on each point, parallelism is not essential.
* The concerto was applauded at the house of Baron von Schnooty, it was praised highly at court, it was voted best concerto of the year by the Academy, it was considered by Mozart the highlight of his career, and it has become known today as the best concerto in the world.
* At 6:20 a.m. the ground began to heave. Windows rattled; then they broke. Objects started falling from shelves. Water heaters fell from their pedestals, tearing out plumbing. Outside, the road began to break up. Water mains and gas lines were wrenched apart, causing flooding and the danger of explosion. Office buildings began cracking; soon twenty, thirty, forty stories of concrete were diving at the helpless pedestrians panicking below.
* To have faults is not good, but faults are human. Worse is to have them and not see them. Yet beyond that is to have faults, to see them, and to do nothing about them. But even that seems mild compared to him who knows his faults, and who parades them about and encourages them as though they were virtues.
In addition to arranging sentences or groups of short ideas in climactic order, you generally should also arrange the large sections of ideas in your papers, the points in your arugments, and the examples for your generalizations climactically; although in these cases, the first item should not be the very least important (because its weakness might alienate the reader). Always begin with a point or proof substantial enough to generate interest, and then continue with ideas of increasing importance. That way your argument gets stronger as it moves along, and every point hits harder than the previous one.
44. Diacope: repetition of a word or phrase after an intervening word or phrase as a method of emphasis:
* We will do it, I tell you; we will do it.
* We give thanks to Thee, 0 God, we give thanks . . . . --Psalm 75:1 (NASB)
45. Antimetabole: reversing the order of repeated words or phrases (a loosely chiastic structure, AB-BA) to intensify the final formulation, to present alternatives, or to show contrast:
* All work and no play is as harmful to mental health as all play and no work.
* Ask not what you can do for rhetoric, but what rhetoric can do for you.
46. Antiphrasis: one word irony, established by context:
* "Come here, Tiny," he said to the fat man.
* It was a cool 115 degrees in the shade.
47. Epizeuxis: repetition of one word (for emphasis):
* The best way to describe this portion of South America is lush, lush, lush.
* What do you see? Wires, wires, everywhere wires.
* Polonius: "What are you reading?" Hamlet: "Words, words, words."
48. Aposiopesis: stopping abruptly and leaving a statement unfinished:
* If they use that section of the desert for bombing practice, the rock hunters will--.
* I've got to make the team or I'll--.
49. Anacoluthon: finishing a sentence with a different grammatical structure from that with which it began:
* And then the deep rumble from the explosion began to shake the very bones of--no one had ever felt anything like it.
* Be careful with these two devices because improperly used they can--well, I have cautioned you enough.
50. Enumeratio: detailing parts, causes, effects, or consequences to make a point more forcibly:
* I love her eyes, her hair, her nose, her cheeks, her lips [etc.].
* When the new highway opened, more than just the motels and restaurants prospered. The stores noted a substantial increase in sales, more people began moving to town, a new dairy farm was started, the old Main Street Theater doubled its showings and put up a new building . . . .
51. Antanagoge: placing a good point or benefit next to a fault criticism, or problem in order to reduce the impact or significance of the negative point:
* True, he always forgets my birthday, but he buys me presents all year round.
* The new anti-pollution equipment will increase the price of the product slightly, I am aware; but the effluent water from the plant will be actually cleaner than the water coming in.
52. Parataxis: writing successive independent clauses, with coordinating conjunctions, or no conjunctions:
* We walked to the top of the hill, and we sat down.
* In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. --Genesis 1:1-2 (KJV)
* The Starfish went into dry-dock, it got a barnacle treatment, it went back to work.
In this last example above, note that a string of very short sentences can be connected by commas when the elements are parallel. Longer sentences and unparallel sentence structures need at least semicolons to connect them.
53. Hypotaxis: using subordination to show the relationship between clauses or phrases (and hence the opposite of parataxis):
* They asked the question because they were curious.
* If a person observing an unusual or unfamiliar object concludes that it is probably a spaceship from another world, he can readily adduce that the object is reacting to his presence or actions when in reality there is absolutely no cause-effect relationship. --Philip Klass
* While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. --John 9:5
54. Sententia: quoting a maxim or wise saying to apply a general truth to the situation; concluding or summing foregoing material by offering a single, pithy statement of general wisdom:
* But, of course, to understand all is to forgive all.
* As the saying is, art is long and life is short.
* For as Pascal reminds us, "It is not good to have all your wants satisfied."
55. Exemplum: citing an example; using an illustrative story, either true or fictitious:
* Let me give you an example. In the early 1920's in Germany, the government let the printing presses turn out endless quantities of paper money, and soon, instead of 50-pfennige postage stamps, denominations up to 50 billion marks were being issued.
Examples can be introduced by the obvious choice of "For example," but there are other possibilities. For quick introductions, such as those attached to a sentence, you migiht use "such as," or "for instance." Examples placed into separate sentences can be introduced by "A case in point," "An instance," "A typical situation," "A common example," "To illustrate, let's consider the situation," and so forth.
56. Pleonasm: using more words than required to express an idea; being redundant. Normally a vice, it is done on purpose on rare occasions for emphasis:
* We heard it with our own ears.
* And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus Himself alone. --Matthew 17:8
57. Assonance: similar vowel sounds repeated in successive or proximate words containing different consonants:
* A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. --Matthew 5:14b (KJV)
* Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. --Matthew 5:16 (KJV)
58. Dirimens Copulatio: mentioning a balancing or opposing fact to prevent the argument from being one-sided or unqualified:
* This car is extremely sturdy and durable. It's low maintenance; things never go wrong with it. Of course, if you abuse it, it will break.
* . . . But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. --l Cor. 1:23-24 (NASB; cf. Rom. 13:4-5)
59. Symploce: combining anaphora and epistrophe, so that one word or phrase is repeated at the beginning and another word or phrase is repeated at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences:
* To think clearly and rationally should be a major goal for man; but to think clearly and rationally is always the greatest difficulty faced by man.
60. Appositive: a noun or noun substitute placed next to (in apposition to) another noun to be described or defined by the appositive. Don't think that appositives are for subjects only and that they always follow the subject. The appositive can be placed before or after any noun:
* Henry Jameson, the boss of the operation, always wore a red baseball cap. [This shows the subject (Henry Jameson) with the appositive (the boss of the operation) following the subject. This is the most commonly used variety.]
* A notorious annual feast, the picnic was well attended. [Here, the appositive (notorious annual feast) is in front of the subject (the picnic).]
* That evening we were all at the concert, a really elaborate and exciting affair. [Here the appositive (elaborate and exciting etc.) follows the noun, which is the object of a preposition (concert).]
With very short appositives, the commas setting off the second noun from the first are often omitted:
* That afternoon Kathy Todd the pianist met the poet Thompson.
* Is your friend George going to run for office?
Self Test
Identify the rhetorical device or devices used in each of the following examples. Answers are at the end of the test.
1. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. --Philippians 4:8
2. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? --Job 2:10b
3. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise) that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. --Ephesians 6:2-3
4. Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made should say to its maker, "He did not make me"; or what is formed say to him who formed it, "He has no understanding"? --Isaiah. 29:16
5. ". . . For in your days, 0 rebellious house, I shall speak the word and perform it," declares the Lord. --Ezek. 12:25
6. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. --Matt. 5:17b
7. . . . We have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, and rebelled, even turning aside from Thy commandments and ordinances. --Daniel 9:5
8. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-for we walk by faith, not by sight--we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. --2 Corinthians 5:6-8
9. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever. --I Chron. 28:9b
10. When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. --l Corinthians 13:11
11. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? --l Corinthians 12:29
12. But whom you forgive anything, I forgive also . . . in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes. --2 Corinthians 2:10-11
13. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?) and not a new convert, lest he become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. --l Timothy 3:4-6
14. Moreover, we have not listened to Thy servants the prophets, who spoke in Thy name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land. --Daniel 9:6
15. But if possibility of evil be to exclude good, no good ever can be done. --Samuel Johnson
16. It is in art as in morals: no character would inspire us with an enthusiastic admiration of his virtue, if that virtue consisted only in an absence of vice; something more is required; a man must do more than merely his duty to be a hero. --Joshua Reynolds
17. What, then, is the effect of imagery when it is used in oratory? Among other things, it can infuse much passion and energy into speeches, but when it is combined with the argumentative passages it not only persuades the hearer, but actually masters him. --Longinus
18. The true nature of man, his true good, true virtue, and true religion are things which cannot be known separately. --Pascal
19. Now, what advantage do we derive from hearing a man say that he has shaken off the yoke, that he does not believe that there is a God who watches over his actions, that he regards himself as sole judge of his conduct, and that he does not think of accounting for it to anyone but himself? Does he imagine that by saying this he is encouraging us to feel great confidence in him in the future and to expect comfort, advice, and help from him in the difficult situations of life? Do such men imagine that they have greatly rejoiced us by telling us that they think our soul is only a puff of wind or smoke, and still more by telling us so in an arrogant, self-satisfied tone? Is it a thing to be said cheerily? Is it not rather something to be admitted mournfully as though it were the saddest thing in the whole world? --Pascal
20. Greatness, in the works of architecture, may be considered as relating to the bulk and body of the structure. . . . Not to mention the Tower of Babel, of which an old author says there were the foundations to be seen in his time, which looked like a spacious mountain . . . . --Joseph Addison
21. . . . Let them recognize that there are only two kinds of person whom we can describe as reasonable: those who serve God with all their heart because they have found him, and those who seek him with all their heart because they have not found him. --Pascal
22. Other things may be seized by might, or purchased with money, but knowledge is to be gained only by study, and study to be prosecuted only in retirement. --Samuel Johnson
23. Man seeth the face, but God beholdeth the heart. --Thomas a Kempis
24. 0 soul of mine, will you never be good and sincere, all one, all open, visible to the beholder more clearly than even your encompassing body of flesh? Will you never taste the sweetness of a loving and affectionate heart? Will you never be filled full and unwanting; craving nothing, yearning for no creature or thing to minister to your pleasures, no prolongation of days to enjoy them, no place or country or pleasant clime or sweet human company? --Marcus Aurelius
25. Shame on the soul, to falter on the road of life while the body still perseveres. --Marcus Aurelius
Answers To Self Test
1. anaphora (and parallelism)
2. sentential adverb (and antithesis)
3. parenthesis
4. rhetorical question (and analogy, with personification)
5. metonymy (and zeugma of S-V-V)
6. antithesis
7. scesis onomaton
8. parenthesis and antimetabole
9. antithesis and parallelism
10. epistrophe and anyndeton (and parallelism and zeugma of S-V-V)
11. rhetorical question and symploce
12. litotes
13. parenthesis and rhetorical question
14. appositive, enumeratio and anaphora
15. anadiplosis
16. analogy, anadiplosis, sententia
17. hypophora
18. anaphora
19. zeugma (verb + subordinate clauses), rhetorical question, and metaphor
20. alliteration, apophasis, and simile
21. parallelism and antithesis
22. anadiplosis
23. antithesis
24. apostrophe, simile, rhetorical question, metaphor, anaphora, polysyndeton (and enumeratio or scesis onomaton)
25. metaphor
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