Using Rhetorical Techniques in Speech
See also: Oracy SkillsRhetoric is the art of persuading others through the use of language. The term comes from ancient Greek, from the word used for a professional orator, and is therefore inextricably tied to speaking. Using rhetorical devices and techniques in speech is part of oracy skills, and in particular linguistic oracy.
Nowadays, rhetorical devices are used in both speech and writing. Many figures of speech such as metaphors, similes and analogies that are often used in writing are very much rhetorical devices. However, the use of rhetorical devices may be slightly different in speech, where you also have tone, pace and body language to convey your meaning. This page explains more about how to use rhetorical techniques and devices in speech and speaking.
What is Rhetoric?
Rhetoric is the art of persuading others through the use of language (see box).
Defining rhetoric
rhetoric, n. the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the exploitation of figures of speech and other compositional techniques.
Oxford Languages
rhetoric, n. the theory and practice of eloquence, whether spoken or written, the whole art of using language so as to persuade others.
Chambers English Dictionary, 1988 edition.
The word itself comes from the Greek term rhetor, meaning a teacher of rhetoric or a professional orator. Rhetoric was therefore originally about persuading through speech or oratory. However, rhetorical devices can be used in either written or spoken language—and both can have the function of persuading people to adopt your point of view.
It is important to appreciate that in writing, you can only persuade using the language. You have no body language, no facial expressions, and no tone of voice or pace to use to emphasise your points, or to build an emotional connection. However, these can all be harnessed alongside language in speech.
Three Appeals of Rhetoric
Aristotle said that rhetoric rests on three different appeals, ethos, pathos, and logos.
Ethos is the appeal of you as a speaker: your credentials and credibility.
Ethos needs to be established quickly—often even before you start speaking. Your audience has to believe that you have the authority to speak on this subject, and that you will be worth hearing. If you are giving a formal presentation, you will probably have had an opportunity to supply a biography. This is a key part of building your ethos. However, you should also mention your credentials in your introduction.
There are four parts to ethos: trustworthiness and respect, your similarity to your audience (which also helps to build an emotional connection), your authority, and your expertise or reputation.
Pathos is the appeal you make through an emotional connection with your audience.
This appeals to the audience’s emotions, and is therefore very persuasive. Good ways to build an emotional connection with your audience include using storytelling and figurative language such as metaphors and analogies.
Beware though: the stories and analogies that you use need to connect with your audience. It is no good using analogies that they will not understand, or telling stories with no personal element.
You can also use techniques like choosing emotionally-charged words and phrases (for example, “This is a real life-saver”, rather than “This is really good”, or “This is desperately needed” rather than “We really need this”). This will build your audience’s emotional connection. The key is to ensure that you build positive emotions towards you or your call to action.
Logos is the logical and rational appeal to your audience.
To create a strong logical appeal to your audience, you need to build strong arguments to support your case. They must be constructed logically, and be expressed in clear language that everyone will understand.
You also need to cover opposing arguments, to explain why they do not stack up, and your argument is correct.
One very good way to support the development of a logical argument is to use facts and figures to back up your argument. More specific and precise facts will carry more weight, though here again, case studies and personal stories can be effective.
Three equal pillars?
It seems likely that each of these three pillars is equally important. Aristotle himself believed that logos was essential, but there is no doubt that when used by itself, without any emotional connection or pathos, it can fail to convince. The general recommendation if you wish to persuade is therefore to use all three in roughly equal proportions.
Rhetorical Modes
Having identified the three appeals, you can then choose from four main rhetorical modes to build each one.
These are ways of organising your material to create a specific effect among your audience, such as evoking particular emotions. They include:
Narration, or telling a story using facts. This puts events into a logical order, but also builds emotional connection.
Description of a person, place, scene or event. This helps your audience to see a clearer picture of the situation. It is particularly helpful to use adjectives that cover all five senses, because this involves more areas of the brain, and is therefore more memorable and persuasive.
Argument or persuasion, which usually means presenting the evidence on both sides and building a case for one side or the other.
Exposition, or informing the audience about particular ideas. There are several techniques that you can use here, such as using examples, defining a concept, breaking a concept up into smaller ideas, and comparing and contrasting.
Rhetorical Devices and Tools
Within each mode, you can then use a wide range of possible rhetorical devices to help you to make your point.
These devices include commonly known approaches such as alliteration (repetition of an initial consonant or sound) and assonance (repetition of a vowel sound). They also include other, less well-known examples such as:
Anaphora, or the repetition of an initial phrase (for example, Elizabeth I’s famous speech at Tilbury, “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too…”)
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Antimetabole, or reversing a phrase or sentence (using Churchill again, “It is not even the beginning of the end but is perhaps, the end of the beginning.”). This is similar to chiasmus.
Epanalepsis, or repeating the start of the sentence at the end (for example, “By tomorrow, I really need it by tomorrow.”
Parallelism, or repeating the same structure within a sentence (for example, Churchill’s famous phrase, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”) Elizabeth I’s speech at Tilbury also used this, with the repetition of ‘of a king’.
Other devices that you may have come across before include personification (using language to suggest that something non-human is human), oxymoron (putting together two contradictory ideas such as ‘definitely maybe’), and understatement (deliberately underplaying the importance of something).
The importance of repetition
A lot of these techniques play with and draw on repetition.
This may be repetition of sounds (assonance, alliteration), whole words or phrases (anaphora, parallelism) or ideas. This draws attention to that section of your speech. Our brains like patterns, so they tend to latch onto repetition, and therefore notice and remember it.
By repeating something, you can therefore highlight it within your speech, and therefore show which parts you consider to be most important.
In Conclusion
The effective use of rhetorical devices and techniques within speech is a key part of linguistic oracy.
However, the key word here is effective. It will not be effective to simply ram all these techniques into a single speech. You need to know and understand these techniques to use them appropriately—and you also need to know when not to use them, or when you have used enough. It is entirely possible that less is very much more here.