Rhetoric修辞学课件.doc

Chapter 3 Syntactic Devices
II. Long and short sentences
II.1 short sentences
Examples:
(1) When two of the world’s most famous and literate scientists collaborate to produce a book aimed at expanding contemporary ideas about the nature of living things, the book should be well worth reading, but this one isn’t.
(2) When two of the world’s most famous and literate scientists collaborate to produce a book aimed at expanding contemporary ideas about the nature of living things, the book should be well worth reading. But this one isn’t.

(3) At least 50,000 grizzly bears ranged from Texas to Oregon. That was before the white man came. Today, no more than 1,000 survive in the lower 48 states. This is the result of hunting, poaching, and encroachment on their habitat. In the 1960s the National Park Service issued a decree. They stated that the animals could no longer be fed by the public. The bears had long foraged in old dump sited. The sites were abruptly closed. Hotel-keepers used to put food out for the bears. They were no longer allowed to do this. The bears began t look for food. They looked in campgrounds. They looked outside the parks as well. Inevitably, the grizzlies began to be shot. They would be shot just for showing up. Conservationists must devise a solution. The grizzly will eventually disappear.
(4) Before the white man came, at least 50,000 grizzly bears ranged from Texas to Oregon. Today, as a result of hunting, poaching, and encroachment on their habitat, no more than 1,000 survive in the lower 48 states. In the 1960s the National Park Service decreed that the animals could no longer be fed by the public. Old dump sites, where the bears had long foraged, were abruptly closed. Hotel-keepers were no longer allowed to put food out for the bears. As a result, the bears began looking for food not only in campgrounds but outside the parks as well. Inevitably, the grizzlies began to be shot just for showing up. Unless conservationists can devise a solution, the grizzly will soon disappear.

(5) E. Hemingway’s The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife
Dick Boulton looked at the doctor. Dick was a big man. He knew how big a man he was. He liked to get into fights. He was happy. Eddie and Billy Tabeshaw leaned on their cant-hooks and looked at the doctor. The doctor chewed the beard on his lower lip and looked at Dick Boulton. The he turned away and walked up the hill to the cottage. They could see from his back how angry he was. They all watched him walk up the hill and go inside the cottage.

II.2 long sentences
Examples:
(1) An official notice by a Department of Corrective Services:
Any person who without lawful authority enters or attempts to enter any prison property or loiters about or near or communicates or attempts to communicate in any way with any prisoner is liable to imprisonment for a term of six months or a penalty of $200 or both. Any person who wishes to visit the prisoner for official, scientific or sociological purposes may take application to the governor of the prison unless he already has written authority from the Commissioner of Corrective Services.

(2) The concrete highway was edged with a mat of tangled, broken, dry grass, and the grass heads were heavy with oat beards to catch on a dog’s coat, and foxtails to tangle in a horse’s fetlocks, and clover burrs to fasten in sheep’s wool; sleeping life waiting to be spread and dispersed, every seed armed with an appliance of dispersal, twisting darts and parachutes for the wind, little spears and balls of tiny thorns, and all waiting for animals and for the wind, for a man’s trouser cuff or the hem of a woman’s skirt, all passive but armed with appliances of activity, still, but each possessed of the anlage of movements.
(John Steinbeck)

Exercises:
I. Read each of the following sentences carefully. Tell what type of sentence it is. If it is a loose sentence, change it into a periodic one; if it is a periodic sentence, change it into a loose one.
1. She sang the National Anthem, holding the sheet music in her hand in case she forgot the words.
2. He chased the robber, ignoring his won safety and the likelihood that robber was alarmed.
3. Wondering what to say, nervously rubbing his nose, he stood silently for a moment.
4. Built at a cost of 16 million dollars, with a mile-long center span and supported at either end by stone towers that were once the tallest buildings in the country, the Brooklyn Bridge celebrated its centenary in 1983.
5. Bill Tilden, a master of court tactics with a flair for the dramatic who combined an overpowering forehand with a rifle-shot serve, dominated world tennis during the twenties.
6. He served the stew with embarrassment, knowing that several of his guests were excellent cooks who were too polite to complain.
7. Despite the fact that the vast majority of the Indians were friendly, the Spanish invaders murdered or raped many of the Indians they met.
8. We are choosing the assistant manager from among several applicants since they have strong qualifications in accounting as well as being as being trained in customer service.

II. Rewrite the following paragraphs by combining the choppy sentences.
1. We ran Lyndon City’s preservation project on a very low budget. Two clerical assistants and I worked out of offices provided by the city. We mailed letters to thousands of residents. We planned and coordinated promotional parties and information sessions. We developed grant proposals to federal and state agencies.
2. I never receive a bill for the school tax. I am told it was issued late in September. I was surprised when I received a bill for $1, 1142.50 plus the late payment fine of $75.87. I received this bill in January. I have since talked with the city tax collectors. They told me they sent the September bill to Mr. and Mrs. Graf. Mr. and Mrs. Graf are the former owners of the property.

III. Combine or rearrange each of the following groups of sentences into a single smoother sentence by condensing one of the sentenced into a phrase.
1. The sports commentator listed the opponent’s many winning matches. He wanted to emphasize her experience.
2. The advertisement featured fresh peaches and plums. The advertisement caught my eye.
3. The driver flashed his lights and leaned on the horn. He brought the car to a screeching halt.
4. Our skis hang on brackets. The brackets are on the side of the garage. The brackets are just below the rafters.
5. Doris avoided talking nonsense. She decided to memorize her campaign speech.
6. Alfred Nobel was the Swedish inventor of dynamite. He established the Nobel Prizes with a bequest of nine million dollars.
7. The children were fascinated by the magician. They pressed closer in order to study his hands.
8. The defendant testified that she had been tortured. She showed the jury her scars.
9. The Olympic games are held every four years. They have developed political overtones.
10. The students had worked hard. They got high marks in their exams.

Chapter 4 Introduction: Figure of Speech
Chapter 5 Phonetic Figures of Speech
I. Alliteration
1. In poetry
(1) 　The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
　 The furrow followed free,
　 We were the first that ever burst
　Into that silent sea.
(T.S. Coleridge： Rime of the Ancient Mariner)
(2) Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
Thy voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that oft-times hath
Charmed magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
(John Keats Ode To A Nightingale)
2. In prose
(1) Next to health, heart, home, happiness for Americans depends upon the automobile.
(2) They are fighting for their hearth and home.
(3) We should not demean our democracy with the politics of distraction, denial, and despair. (Al Gore)
(4) Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden. (John F. Kennedy)
(5) Even with the most educated and the most literate the king’s English slips and slides in conversation. (Henry Fairlie)
3. In newspaper headings
(1) Bread Not Bombs
(2) Let’s learn the lesson by heart
(3) Dare Devil Who Dared
(4) Battle for balanced budget
(5) Cut Crime with Jobs—Not Jails
4. In proverbs
(1) Time and tide wait for no man.
(2) Many a man, many a mind
(3) A gloved cat catches no mice.
(4) Death pays all debts.
5. In tongue twisters
(1) She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore.
(2) Peter Piper Picked a peck of pickled pepper.
6. In advertisements and slogans
(1) Vitamins for Vim and Vigor (advertising for vitamins)
(2) Sea, Sun, Sand, Seclusion — and Spain! (advertising for Spanish seashore scenic pots)
II. Assonance
In poetry, poets use assonance to convey various sensory impressions. Take Thomas Gray’s poem Elegy written in a Country Churchyard for example,
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way
And leaves the world to darkness and to me. (Thomas Gray)

The following are more examples of assonance employed in poetry:
(1) I shall never see her more
Where the reeds and rushes quiver,
Shiver, quiver;
Stand beside the sobbing river,
Sobbing, throbbing, in the falling
To the sandy lonesome shore. (Jean Ingelow)
(2) The Lotos blooms below the barren peak:
The Lotos blows by every winding creek:
All day the wind breathes low with mellower tone:
Thro’ every hollow cave and alley lone
Round and round the spicy downs the yellow lotos-dust is blown. (Tennyson)
(3) While the morality of their mission was clear the legality was not.
(4) Women Make Policy Not Coffee (newspaper heading)
(5) Large factories in China wish to be given a freer hand in the right to hire and fire. (news report)
(6) Let us help you extend yourself. (advertisement for a physical exercise program)
(7) Haste makes waste.
(8) Spend a dime, save your time
III. Consonance
(1) It seemed that out of battle I escaped,
Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Through granites which titanic wars had groined.
Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,
Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.
Then, as I probed them, one sprang up and stared
With pitiless recognition in fixed eyes,
Lifting distressful hands as if to bless.
And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall,
By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell. (Wilfred Owen)

(2) Women: Don’t Agonize, Organize (newspaper heading)
(3) Farms Not Arms (newspaper heading)

(4) When I lent I was a friend, when I asked I was unkind.
(5) There is the clear mellow clang of the trolley gongs, the musical trill of fast wagon wheels running along the trolley rails, and the rattle of hoofs on the cobbled strip between the metals. (Christopher Morley)
(6) Better Active Today than Radioactive Tomorrow (newspaper heading)

IV. Onomatopoeia
(1) a. The stream flows through the woods.
b. The stream murmurs through the woods.
(2) a. Dasi started laughing.
b. Dasi started giggling.
(3) a. The door was pushed open.
b. The door banged open.
(4) a. Heavy rain drops fell on the tent.
b. Heavy rain drops began pitter-pattering on the tent.
1. Human beings and movement. Such words are: Hey, Mm, oh, ha, sh-, grunt, mumble, whisper, whimper, chuckle, giggle, clap, patter, bang, etc.
(1) The crowd began to hiss and boo him for his unsportsmanlike conduct, but he sat unmoved. Another great outburst of applause was Danny’s as he walked back across the ring.
When Danny stirred, there were ohs! And ahs! of delight. (Jack London)
(2) They pooh-poohed the idea.
2. Animals.
Wow-wow, says the dog,
Mew-mew, says the cat,
Grunt-grunt, says the pig,
And squat goes the bat.
Tu-whu, says the owl,
Caw, caw, says the crow,
Quack, quack, says the duck,
And what cuckoos say you know.
3. Natural objects. Words like “murmur”, “gurgle”, “swish”, “splash”, “squelch”, “plop”, etc.
(1) The brakes screeched to a halt.
(2) The ticking of the clock was the only sound that greeted him.

(2) The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around;
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound. ( Coleridge)

V. Aposiopesis
1. The speaker abruptly halts halfway in a sentence, either being too excited to give further articulation to his thought or trying to impress readers with a vague hint of an idea.
(1) “You will come down tomorrow?” she urged, she interrupted. “The Prime Minister—His Royal Highness…” She stopped. “And Diana…” she added.
Oliver took his hand off the bell. (Virginia Woolf)

2. The speaker intentionally leaves the rest of a sentence unsaid, implying a strong sense of menace or intimidation. In such context, the audience can easily figure out what is left unsaid.
(2) The guard said to the prisoner, “Stop! Another step forward and you will…”
(3) “You’d better do this or else…”

3. The speaker does not finish his words on purpose, leaving suspense on the listener.
(4) “Damn it all, man! I know my own mind and what’s best!”
“I’m agreeing, with you, only —”
“Only what?” Scott snapped out.
“Only —” the dog-musher began softly, then changed his mind and betrayed a rising anger of his own, “Well, you needn’t get so all-fired het up about it. Judging by your actions one’d think you didn’t know your own mind.” (Jack London)
(5) “It’s a lie! You done it, and you got to say you done it, or —” (Mark Twain)

VI. Apostrophe
Apostrophe is a rhetorical figure in traditional poetic and dramatic language.

For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar’s angel.
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him. (Shakespeare)

(1) O by the newcomer! I have heard
I hear thee and rejoice
Cuckoo! Shall I call thee bird
Or but a wandering voice? (W. Wordsworth)
(2) England! Awake! Awake! Awake!
Jerusalem thy sister calls! ( W. Blake)

(3) Stars, hide your fires
Let not light see my black and deep desires… (Shakespeare)

VII Pun
A pun, in essence, is an ambiguity. A pun involves the use of a polysemous word to suggest two or more meanings, commonly literal meaning versus figurative meaning, or involves the use of homonyms, i.e. different words which look or sound the same but have different meanings. The whole point of a pun is the user’s intent to produce a humorous or witty effect from the juxtaposition of meanings.
Homonyms, homophones, and homographs all are available to construct puns with.
1. Homonyms. A homonym is a word that is identic