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What are rhetorical devices and how do they differ from rhetorical questions?
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Rhetorical devices are techniques used to enhance persuasion in writing or speech, such as pathos, hyperbole, and metaphor. They help emphasize points, organize arguments, and add style. A rhetorical question is a specific device where a question is asked to make a point rather than to elicit an answer, with the answer being implied. For example, "You wouldn't like it if someone made fun of you, would you?" expects agreement without a direct response.
Rhetorical devices are employed by people who are making an argument in order to help them be more persuasive. For example, one might employ pathos, one of Aristotle's three modes of persuasion, in order to awaken his or her audience's sympathy on some subject or for some group. Or, one might employ other devices like hyperbole (also called overstatement) or metaphor in order to convince one's audience of one's purpose.
A rhetorical question is a kind of device where the person doing the persuading asks a question, to which they don't actually expect an answer, in which the answer is already implied and expected. If someone were, for example, giving a speech about bullying in schools and trying to persuade young children not to engage in bullying behaviors toward others, he or she might ask, "You wouldn't like it if someone made fun of you, would you?" The expected answer,...
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of course, is "No, I wouldn't!" The speaker can use questions like this in order to get their audience to agree with him or her.
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion, whether through writing or through speech.
Therefore, rhetorical devices are techniques that are intended to help an author or a speaker be effective in persuading his or her audience. These devices can be used to emphasize major points, to help organize one's presentation, or to give one's speech or written argument more style.
There are many rhetorical devices. In fact, the link below lists sixty rhetorical devices. A rhetorical question is one of those rhetorical devices.
Other rhetorical devices include such things as analogies, alliteration, hyperbole (exaggerating so as to help make a point) and its opposite, understatement.