Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers

by Brendan McGuigan

Knowing every rule and writing with perfect correctness will take your students only so far in their quest for excellence. For, beyond grammar, there's rhetoric -- language use that separates craftspersons from scribblers. Readers, too, must be able to discuss how a writer presents a case or constructs an argument. The higher scores on nearly all state assessments and college entrance exam rubrics demand knowledge of rhetorical devices and their effects. When your students are ready to go from adequate to superb, this is the book you'll use to help them. This book is a fantastic choice for teachers looking for a supplement for their AP Language or academic writing classes. This is a student classroom edition.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference

236 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 11, 2010

Reviews

[Franky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most impressive about this book on rhetorical devices is simply the explanations of the various rhetorical terms and how they can be used as a part of your writing. This book covers over thirty rhetorical strategies, gives an overview and definition as to what the term is and how it is used for effect, and then has exercises that can be used to practice this writing technique. Most of this book is very informative and helpful; if you are in any kind of AP Language class these explanations for the terms can be invaluable and help you with understanding not only what the term is, but why it is important to use. The book gives advice that will help a student with their craft of writing, helping them to add some variety to their essays, stories, or papers, and give them the confidence to write more effectively. The only knock against the book is that a few of the exercises weren’t very helpful, and didn’t have much direction. However, for each device you are given three or four exercises to practice, so chances are you will find one that will help you be more familiar with that technique. One of the great aspects of this book is that anyone can benefit from this practice. So, this book serves two use purposes: it helps you break out of the funk of ordinary writing and improve your technique. It also helps you learn rhetorical terms, and be able to identify how they are used in speeches, stories, and other passages, and understand their power and usefulness. In total, this is a practical and helpful book for student, instructors or anyone who just likes to write.

[Jelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to do this for homework. (sigh)

[Alan Gerstle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because this book is both a text and a handbook for students to improve their understanding of rhetorical devices, and, in addition, to provide practice units so that they can actually develop their personal rhetorical skills, it probably isn't used much by college instructors since most of them are lousy writers themselves, and wouldn't be able to judge creative use of rhetoric from formulaic uses. But if you believe that teaching writing is primarily a matter of doing rather than an activity of cluelessly writing, correcting, and repeating the most boring topics on earth, you may appreciate this book. There are perhaps four or five English 'composition' books that can actually teach something about writing and how to improve it. This seems to be one of them. Don't let that boring title fool you. In fact, a cursory analysis of college English textbooks reveals that the more clever the title, the more useless the book.

[John Isaacson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice overview and helpful examples of each device. However, I'm sure there are resources that go much deeper than these sometimes short chapters and exercises. Each chapter is organized according to a simple formula of advice, examples, and exercises, but a comprehensive, exhaustive guide would go much further than this. This works as an introduction!

[Hailong Hao]

不拘泥于术语的话算是本不错的学生参考书。

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this book during COVID to fine-tune my craft as a screenwriter. As an author, it's a must-have. If you want to be a serious write, you need this book on your shelf.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 but rounded up. I actually laughed out loud at some of these examples.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic guide to assist writers and readers alike in recognizing the artful techniques of words and their constructions. I use this in an AP Language class I teach and see beautiful (and comical) results in students' writing.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a teacher, this book was helpful.