Monday, October 5, 2009

Chapter 1 Introduction to Rhetoric

The art of Rhetoric lies in finding the balance between conciseness and clarity.

Two cases compromising the clarity

1. Vague : Unreasonable logic or structure

Eating too much ice cream adds excessive calories that eventually turn into fat, and some nutritionists suggest that the best defense against temptations like these is to refuse even to
go near the refrigerator. (Such tempations)

2. Ambiguous : More than one way to explain

Many tenants in Taipei try to buy their own houses or apartments, despite prices for such
buildings that are unreasonably high. (although prices for such building are unreasonably
high)

Two cases compromising the conciseness

1.Wordy: Meaningless words

Slavery arose in a period of time when there was a labor-intensive form of
agriculture that was practiced by people

(Slavery arose in a period when labor-intensive agriculture was practiced.)

2. Redundant: Repeated words

Legislators and social workers alike both agree that drastic measures must be taken
to curb soaring rates of juvenile delinquency, which are on a rapid increase.

Other regulations of Rhetoric

1. Correlatives

Can you distinguish a Chinese and a Japanese? (X)

Can you distinguish a Chinese from a Japanese?
Can you distinguish between a Chinese and a Japanese?

2. Diction

The experiment will hopefully shed new light on the causes of cancer.

The experiment, it is hoped, will shed new light on the causes of cancer.




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