Rhetorical Devices: Improving Writing Strategy

Objective: As they prepare for the Unit 1 benchmark (reading literature and writing narrative), students will be able to consider how rhetorical devices can be used to improve writing strategy:

•Rhetorical devices can serve as transitional tools;•Rhetorical devices can aid in presentation of ideas;

•Rhetorical devices can help to build cohesion and intention.As the students become familiar with rhetorical devices for strategy, in this case hyperbole, they will begin to include such devices in their own writing in order to fulfill the requirements for personal narrative writing

as set forth on the CCSS narrative writing rubric.Do-Now: Personal Narrative Writing. “Underneath it all…” Be sure to include two strong examples of appositive phrases (opener, subject/verb split, or closer). Ten minutes. Go.

Consider these two statements:

• “What is causing the biggest problem is that there are over three billion people on the planet.”– This sentence merely states a fact.

• “The planet is getting so crowded we may have to take turns sitting down.”– This sentence expresses the same idea, yet it is

consciously exaggerated.

Hyperbole is the most popular and commonly used rhetorical devices in the entire world of

rhetorical devices!

It is also, however, the most overused rhetorical form. If you find yourself using hyperbole as a way to avoid using actual figures, or to fill space, rethink your strategy.

Hyperbole can be used when you want to make a point strongly.

• “There are more reasons for NASA to fund a trip to Jupiter than there are miles in the journey.”

Hyperbole helps to energize the statement and drive it home with gusto.

Hyperbole can help you to get your reader to snap to attention and focus

on what you’re writing.• “At these words, the people became so silent

you could hear a beating heart from across the room.

Hyperbole can be used to break the trance your reader has fallen into. Often hyperbole, through metaphor, accomplishes this purpose best.

Hyperbole can be used to demonstrate the difference between

two things.• “Compared to the world during the last Ice

Age, a Minnesota winter feels like spring in Hawaii.”

Note how hyperbole can be used to exaggerate differences.

Guided Practice: Write a statement using hyperbole about the following topics; consider the best and worst thing you could say

about the topic, then exaggerate your statement.

• Example: “My neighborhood is so boring that when a cat walks across the street, it draws a crowd.”

• School in general• A friend’s athletic ability• The weather• Your favorite or least favorite team• A television show• A musical group

Group work

• Exchange your responses to the guided practice. First, decide if each example works as hyperbole. Then, try to identify how each hyperbole is being used (e.g. to make a point strongly, as a wake up call, or to exaggerate differences.

Independent Practice

• Today you wrote In response to the prompt, “Underneath it all…” You were asked to include two strong examples of appositive phrases (opener, subject-verb split, or closer). Read over your writing to see if you included hyperbole. If so, underline any clear hyperbolic statements. If not, you know the drill. Add at least two examples of hyperbole to your journal entry.

The following lines represent the opening paragraph of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. For homework, write a response to these lines. 1. "The North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance agent promised to fly from Mercy" 2. "to the other side of Lake Superior at three o'clock. Two days before the event" 3. "was to take place he tacked a note on the door of his little yellow house:" 4. "At 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday the 18th of February, 1931, I will take off from Mercy and fly away on my own wings." 5. "Please forgive me. I loved you all. (signed) Robert Smith, Ins. agent