Chapter 21 6. Use more rhetoric and add more weight

Introduction: Using something familiar to someone to illustrate something unfamiliar to them. If you want to win in an argument, you have to improve your words in a variety of more acceptable ways, to give it more weight, and to make people believe you more.And this method is commonly referred to as rhetoric.If you pay attention, you will find that the reason why lawyers can speak eloquently is because they often use it. The rhetoric we usually use is as follows, and I will give a brief explanation here. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, people put it in the cornmeal, and it will all ferment...

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for pearls... The kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea... "Heaven" may not be familiar to people, but yeast, merchants, and the net are things that are familiar to everyone.It is the use of these wonderful and appropriate metaphors that help people understand the speaker's meaning more easily. These words are a very good way of explaining the "Kingdom of Heaven", that is, using what people are familiar with to explain what they are not familiar with. The reason why metaphors are more acceptable, more vivid, and more persuasive is that it is easier for people to understand when comparing the two similarities.

When speaking, if you want to emphasize a certain point, it is very good to use some exaggeration when appropriate.Do you sometimes do that too? When you want the other person to go faster, you might say to him: "I hope I won't be a 'mummy' by the time you finish!" Both you and the other party know that you can't become a "mummy" at least in such a short period of time, but you have obviously exaggerated the facts.In fact, this rhetorical method is to stimulate other people's nerves, so that others consider what you think the other party's behavior may have serious consequences.For example, you might say, "It's like opening Pandora's box when you do this," and he's sure to know what you mean by that.

Repeating the same meaning with the same rhythm, this rhetorical method is called repetition. The beauty of this rhetorical approach is that not only will you be able to grab the audience's attention so they know what your main point is, but you will also be able to integrate your main idea with the overall speech.For example, an orator, speaking of a department, says: This system, with its poor public services, has far more government employees than factories. This system, with its meddling government, is ready to meddle in your business affairs and your private life at all times. This system, it eats up nearly half of the country's budget.

Through this rhetorical back and forth, the orator convinced his audience that there were indeed many problems with the department and that it was in dire need of reform. We often use the rhetorical method of "quoting from the classics" to strengthen persuasion. In fact, this rhetorical method is the one we use most often.I often quote a lot of famous orators (such as Lincoln) and students' stories in this book to illustrate my point of view, and it turns out that this has indeed received very good results. Sometimes, we don't intend to quote a long story, but just choose a certain sentence or even a certain word that someone said.

There is also such a situation, sometimes we quote an old saying (such as an old saying in China) or a common saying to illustrate our point of view, which is also very effective.Quoting is not only simple and effective, but it will make your words more persuasive. When you are expressing a point of view, on the one hand, you think the facts are clearly like this; on the other hand, you may not need the audience to answer this question, then you may say: "Isn't it so?" The rhetorical method is rhetorical questioning.The rhetorical method of rhetorical questions is just to draw the audience's attention to your question, and it is often used in conclusions and transitions.

However, the role of rhetorical questions is far more than that, let us look at a story. Once, the great Napoleon proudly said to his secretary: "Brian, do you know? You will be immortal." Briand didn't understand what he meant, and asked Napoleon why he said that. Napoleon said: "Aren't you my secretary?" After Briand understood, he said to Napoleon not to be outdone, "Excuse me, who is Alexander's secretary?" Napoleon did not answer, he praised Briand and said: "Good question!" Do you understand the mystery of this conversation?Napoleon meant that Brion would be famous because he was his secretary.However, Brion said that he was unwilling to rely on others to be famous, so he asked Napoleon such a sentence.He asked Napoleon what he meant by saying that the secretary of a great man does not necessarily have to be famous.However, because Napoleon was his coach, he could not directly refute Napoleon's point of view, so he cleverly expressed his point of view with rhetorical questions.

Sometimes, rhetorical questions can express more meaning.Just like Napoleon's secretary, if you want to convince someone, the best way is to ask the question with examples, which is more convincing than a positive debate. Contrast means listing two opposite or opposing things at the same time.Contrast can really make the original plain words wonderful and make you very eloquent.Let's first look at how Charles Dickens skillfully uses the rhetorical device of contrast in the novel: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of faith, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness; it was hope Spring is also a desperate winter.In front of us, there are mountains of piles and nothing.We all go to heaven, we all go to hell...

how does it soundIsn't it very touching?You also hope that such beautiful and persuasive sentences will appear in your words!Don't worry about why this rhetorical method works the way it does. These questions can be left to the linguists or psychologists to answer. Just know that it works and use it as much as possible. When you encourage everyone to complete the task as soon as possible, you can say: "Let's stop talking and start acting." And when you remind everyone not to waste food, you can say: "You are indeed full now, but this There are many starving people in the world.” If you need more examples, you can find and summarize them yourself.

We hereby resolutely say: let their death count; let this country, under the blessing of God, be given a new life of freedom; let the government of the people, by the people, and for the people not disappear from this earth. This is the last part of Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address, where Lincoln uses two parallels.This makes the original bland words become vivid and powerful, which has a great appeal to the audience. Parallelism is to put 3 or more of the same sentence patterns together instead of expressing the same meaning.You've probably seen many examples of this too.The unique advantage of parallelism is that it can be applied to any topic.No matter what you have to say, you can always use this figure of speech.

Mastering the above rhetorical methods, we can better express our meaning and manipulate the art of language.You don't need to be troubled by the need to master so many rhetorical methods. In fact, it is precisely because of them that your speech becomes more persuasive.For more rhetorical methods, you can look for related works. Modifier language, it is your weapon: (1) Using quotations makes it easier for the audience to understand your point. (2) Use repetition to emphasize your important points. (3) Use contrast to make your speech more persuasive. (4) Use parallelism to make your speech more powerful.