Rhetoric figures of speech

   

   

            Rhetoric is derived from the Greek word rhetor which means a public speaker. Etymologically, it means the art of impressive or persuasive speaking and is intended to teach a man how to speak in a language designed to persuade or impress others. Of late its meaning has much widened and it has come to mean the art of any clear, effective and elegant composition, whether written or spoken.

            Rhetoric figures of speech should be distinguished from Grammar. Rhetoric grammar deals with the rules relating to the order of words in a sentence, punctuation, pronunciation etc,. And seeks to teach a man the art of writing or speaking correctly. None can be expected to express himself correctly unless he fully masters the rules of grammar. But no amount of mastery of the grammatical rules will help a man speak or write elegantly, charmingly and forcefully. It is rhetoric and rhetoric alone which can help him to do so. Thus the difference between grammar and rhetoric resolves itself into the fact that while grammar aims at the correctness of language, rhetoric aims at the beauty and effectiveness of language, Rhetoric is complementary to grammar.

           
             It is said that the power of writing or speaking in an elegant and effective style is a free gift of nature and that it cannot be acquired. There is no denying the fact that the study of rhetoric, however intensive or extensive, will not turn a man into a Macaulay or a Sheridan or a Burke. But surely it will make him learn how to put his natural power into the most effective use. It may not turn him into a Burke or a Macaulay or a Sheridan or a Burke or a Macaulay, but it will help him to express himself in the style which made for the effectiveness of Burke or Macaulay's writing and speeches. 

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