4. Imagine…you want to
convince an audience to
support tougher
sentence for people
who write graffiti on
public buildings.
5. Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame 3
People who sprawl
graffiti on the walls
of our elementary
schools and
courtrooms are
the worst
terrorists.They
intimidate law-
abiding people and
make our streets
war zones of
profanity and
indecency.
Graffiti artists are
the unsung creative
heroes of our
society. In a world
where so many
poor and
disadvantaged
people are not able
to make their
voices known,
graffiti provides an
artistic medium for
their perspective.
Graffiti on public
walls are the cracks
in the dam that
responsible
societies patch up
before those cracks
become holes and
eventually
complete breaches
—flooding the
entire city with a
wave of
lawlessness.
6. Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame 3
Graffiti writers are
terrorists.
Graffiti writers
are artists.
Graffiti is a crack in
the infrastructure.
7.
8.
9. Always ask:
WHAT is being compared to What?
Why? What characteristics does the
writer want the frame to borrow?
Which to avoid?
23. Alliteration
"Somewhere at this very moment a child is
being born in America. Let it be our cause
to give that child a happy home, a healthy
family, and a hopeful future."
-- Bill Clinton, 1992 Democratic National
Convention Acceptance Address
Repetition Figures
24. Anaphora
Repeating the first word
With malice toward none;
with charity for all;
with firmness in the right,...
— Abraham Lincoln, Second
Inaugural Address
Repetition Figures
25. Anadiplosis
Repeating the last part and the first part
"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger.
Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense
much fear in you."
(Yoda in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menance)
Repetition Figures
26. Epistrophe
Repeating the last word
"Don't you ever talk about my friends!
You don't know any of my friends. You
don't look at any of my friends. And you
certainly wouldn't condescend to speak to
any of my friends."
(Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club)
Repetition Figures
27. Polysyndeton/Asyndeton
More Conjunctions/No Conjunctions
"He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, a
maniac."
(Jack Kerouac, On the Road, 1957)
"[I]t is respectable to have no illusions--and safe--and
profitable--and dull."
(Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, 1900)
28. Symploce
Repeating the first and last words
"Much of what I say might sound bitter, but it's the
truth. Much of what I say might sound like it's stirring
up trouble, but it's the truth. Much of what I say might
sound like it is hate, but it's the truth."
-- Malcolm X
Repetition Figures
30. Antithesis
Balanced opposites
"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that
my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it
should be stifled by dryrot. I would rather be a superb
meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a
sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of
man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in
trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."
(Jack London)
31. Tricolon
Three items in a series
"You are talking to a man who has laughed in the face
of death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at
catastrophe."
(The Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, 1939)
32. Tricolon
Three items in a series
"I require three things in a man. He must be handsome,
ruthless, and stupid."
(Dorothy Parker)
33. Chiasmus
The X-figure
"I had a teacher I liked who used to say good fiction's
job was to comfort the disturbed and
disturb the comfortable."
(David Foster Wallace)
38. fear
If you don’t graduate from high school, you
will end up a ditchdigger.
39. Appeals to pity
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, look at
this miserable man, in a wheelchair, unable to
use his legs. Could such a man really be
guilty of embezzlement?"
40. Appeals to guilt
“While we are snug in our beds, the poor
citizens of ____ are suffering from the
aftermath of horrible floods and the spread
of disease.”
41. Appeal to ridicule
Oh sure! Of course, evolution makes sense!
It’s perfectly obvious that people are related
to gorillas!
42. Appeal to disgust
Oh sure! Of course, evolution makes sense!
It’s perfectly obvious that people are related
to gorillas!
47. How about this one?
The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board to join him "in
supporting Australian-style gun control." (In 1996,Australia
rounded up all the firearms and destroyed them.) I suppose that
"Australian-style gun control" sounds a lot better than "Nazi-
style gun control," although they are one and the same.
48. How about this one?
Students should never given homework. Can we not see that our
students need a real childhood, not a enforced slog through
worksheets and word problems that obliterate any possibility
that their remember their younger years with anything but pain
and suffering?
