Writing with Clarity and Style: 
A Guide to Rhetorical Devices for Contemporary Writers

Writing with Clarity and Style: A Guide to Rhetorical Devices for Contemporary Writers
Robert A. Harris
Los Angeles: Pyrczak Publishing, 2003
ISBN 1-884585-48-5. 182 pp., paper.

One of the most in-depth collections of its kind, this book has been carefully designed to teach you how to use 60 rhetorical devices, which are profusely illustrated with more than 390 examples. This is a writer's learning tool--not a handbook. (See below for complete table of contents.)

• The book is designed to give writers a set of practical tools for making writing clear, interesting, and effective.
• Discussions and examples show how the proper use of rhetoric can be a friend, not a foe, of good writing and better communication.
• Learn how the devices presented in the book can give your writing life, freshness, and texture to make it more appealing.
• The book is written in clear, easily accessible language.
• Many paired examples present the same ideas with and without rhetorical devices so that you can compare the difference.
• Most examples show the use of the devices in contemporary writing.
• Unlike handbooks, this book presents a full discussion of each of the 60 devices, how it can be used, and how it affects tone and meaning.
• Extensive exercises will help you practice and apply each of the devices. Learning by doing is emphasized throughout the text.
• End-of-chapter "Style Check" sidebars explore numerous aspects of style.
• Each term includes a pronunciation guide.
• Five fully annotated appendices show before and after examples with the use of the devices in these contemporary writing situations: a newspaper editorial, a business memorandum, a social worker's report, a graduate school application essay, and a short story. Exercises in these appendices provide similar passages that you can improve by using the devices covered in the book.
• An index and an alphabetical table of contents make the book useful as a reference tool, if you insist!

To order the book, print out the form below and mail it to Pyrczak Publishing, P.O. Box 250430, Glendale, CA 91225.

For faster service, fax the completed order form to 818-246-1277.

Please send me ________ copies of Writing with Clarity and Style. ISBN 1-884585-48-5.

Name: _______________________________________________

Address: ____________________________________________

City, State, Zip: ___________________________________

Daytime Phone ____________________ Email _____________________

____ Check enclosed for $ __________.

____ Charge my __Visa  __MC  __AMEX for $_________.

Card Number _____________________________ Expiration (mo./yr.) ____/_____

You can also order by going to www.Pyrczak.com and clicking on Feedback.

Writing with Clarity and Style
Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Balance
1.1 Parallelism
1.2 Chiasmus
1.3 Antithesis
Style Check 1: Rhythm

Chapter 2: Emphasis I
2.1 Climax
2.2 Asyndeton
2.3 Polysyndeton
2.4 Expletive
Style Check 2: Demetrius on Beginning and Ending Stress

Chapter 3: Emphasis II
3.1 Irony
3.2 Understatement
3.3 Litotes
3.4 Hyperbole
Style Check 3: Emphatic Positioning

Chapter 4: Transition
4.1 Metabasis
4.2 Procatalepsis
4.3 Hypophora
Style Check 4: Transitions of Logic

Chapter 5: Clarity
5.1 Distinctio
5.2 Exemplum
5.3 Amplification
5.4 Metanoia
Style Check 5: Clear versus Opaque Writing

Chapter 6: Figurative Language I
6.1 Simile
6.2 Analogy
6.3 Metaphor
6.4 Catachresis
Style Check 6: Demetrius on Metaphor

Chapter 7: Figurative Language II
7.1 Metonymy
7.2 Synecdoche
7.3 Personification
Style Check 7: Freshness

Chapter 8: Figurative Language III
8.1 Allusion
8.2 Eponym
8.3 Apostrophe
8.4 Transferred Epithet
Style Check 8: Persona

Chapter 9: Syntax I
9.1 Zeugma
9.2 Diazeugma
9.3 Prozeugma
9.4 Mesozeugma
9.5 Hypozeugma
9.6 Syllepsis
Style Check 9: Cumulative and Periodic Sentences

Chapter 10: Syntax II
10.1 Hyperbaton
10.2 Anastrophe
10.3 Appositive
10.4 Parenthesis
Style Check 10: Parataxis and Hypotaxis

Chapter 11: Restatement I
11.1 Anaphora
11.2 Epistrophe
11.3 Symploce
Style Check 11: Demetrius on Short Sentences for Emphasis

Chapter 12: Restatement II
12.1 Anadiplosis
12.2 Conduplicatio
12.3 Epanalepsis
Style Check 12: Style

Chapter 13: Restatement III
13.1 Diacope
13.2 Epizeuxis
13.3 Antimetabole
13.4 Scesis Onomaton
Style Check 13: Demetrius on Increasing Vividness

Chapter 14: Sound
14.1 Alliteration
14.2 Onomatopoeia
14.3 Assonance
14.4 Consonance
Style Check 14: Texture

Chapter 15: Drama
15.1 Rhetorical Question
15.2 Aporia
15.3 Apophasis
15.4 Anacoluthon
Style Check 15: The Levels of Style

Chapter 16: Word Play
16.1 Oxymoron
16.2 Pun
16.3 Anthimeria
Style Check 16: Tone

Appendix A: Rhetoric in Context I--Newspaper Editorial
Appendix B: Rhetoric in Context II--Business Memorandum
Appendix C: Rhetoric in Context III--Social Worker's Report About a Client
Appendix D: Rhetoric in Context IV--Graduate School Application Essay
Appendix E: Rhetoric in Context V--Short Story
Appendix F: Winston Churchill--A Speaker's Rhetoric
Index