Communication styles and rhetoric
"You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
- Anonymous
We communicate at every moment with our co-workers, family, and friends, to almost everyone at any time. The way we transmit our emotions, opinions and wishes are using some means of communication, and it can be oral or written. But we do not always know how to correctly structure the message to be transmitted, which is why we sometimes unconsciously hinder our own message, by not being clear and precise or by not providing it with elements that clarify or enrich the message. Fortunately, we have the possibility to use rhetoric that can easily help in delivering a better message.
Rhetoric is a discipline that provides the tools and techniques to express oneself in the best possible way, so that both language and message are sufficiently effective to delight, persuade or invite to action.
The language is very rich in tools and allows us to accurately communicate the thoughts and emotions we have, with as much or more detail as necessary. The mastery of the rhetorical forms that exist in the language will allow us not only to be more precise when communicating but to embellish our saying.
Project 4 of the Competent Communicator's manual is entitled "how to say it", in which the aim is to make the most of the rhetorical figures to enrich the message.
Some of those rhetorical resources we have are;
* Metaphor: is to describe or qualify something through its resemblance to something else
+ "Ignorance is cancer that must be eliminated"
* Alliteration. It is the repetition of sounds present in contiguous or the next words.
+ "the event was unusual, unusual"
* Triads. Express ideas, concepts, and adjectives in groups of three
+ "commit our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor to one another"
Here are examples of rhetorical devices with a definition and an example:
• Alliteration - the recurrence of initial consonant sounds - rubber baby buggy bumpers
• Allusion - a reference to an event, literary work or person - I can’t do that because I am not Superman.
• Amplification - repeats a word or expression for emphasis - Love, real love, takes time.
• Analogy - compares two different things that have some similar characteristics - He is flaky as a snowstorm.
• Anaphora - repeats a word or phrase in successive phrases - "If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?” (Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare)
• Antanagoge - places a criticism and compliment together to lessen the impact - The car is not pretty but it runs great.
• Antimetabole - repeats words or phrases in reverse order - “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” (J F Kennedy)
• Antiphrasis - uses a word with an opposite meaning - The Chihuahua was named Goliath.
• Antithesis - makes a connection between two things - “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” (Neil Armstrong)
• Appositive - places a noun or phrase next to another noun for descriptive purposes - Mary, queen of the land, hosted the ball.
• Enumeration - makes a point with details - Renovation included a spa, tennis court, pool, and lounge.
• Epanalepsis - repeats something from the beginning of a sentence at the end - My ears heard what you said but I couldn’t believe my ears.
• Epithet - using an adjective or adjective phrase to describe - mesmerizing eyes
• Epizeuxis - repeats one word for emphasis - The amusement park was fun, fun, fun.
• Hyperbole - an exaggeration - I have done this a thousand times.
• Litotes - makes an understatement by denying the opposite of a word that may have been used - The terms of the contract are not disagreeable to me.
• Metanoia - corrects or qualifies a statement - You are the most beautiful woman in this town, nay the entire world.
• Metaphor - compares two things by stating one is the other - The eyes are the windows to the soul.
• Metonymy - a metaphor where something being compared is referred to by something closely associated with it - The knights are loyal to the crown.
• Onomatopoeia - words that imitate the sound they describe - plunk, whiz, pop
• Oxymoron - a two-word paradox - near miss, seriously funny
• Parallelism - uses words or phrases with a similar structure - I went to the store, parked the car and bought a pizza.
• Simile - compares one object to another - He smokes like a chimney.
• Understatement - makes an idea less important that it really is - The hurricane disrupted traffic.
Read more at http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-rhetorical-devices.html#q9tXsCbcbD557xxv.99
Unfortunately, the enemy is technology. Since it sometimes restricts us to just 140 characters in a text message and also because of the speed of communication, we abbreviate words and use images (emoticons).
It seems that the rule of language is:
Technology + Emotions = Emoticons
What a teacher once recommended me to improve the way we communicate was
A teacher suggested getting some habits to improve our language on a daily basis.
* Reading: Reading books that allow us to enrich our words database.
* Writing: This is an exercise that seems to be an old fashion one but for sure allows us to use the information that we have in memory to put ideas in the paper. Also, you can use more time and care to adequately express ideas.
* Searching: Develop a habit of searching dictionaries or the internet the meaning of words as well as their origin. It will allow you to give more accuracy on the message.
* Do not Copy: At this time the technology offers us all the information you can imagine at our fingertips and we can copy and reuse any text easily. The danger is that we can get used to it very fast and not exercise the creativity that is waiting in the head.
Be a better speaker working on your writing skills.
------------------------------------------------------------
What is your goal? Do you have the skills it takes to go there? Are you moving every day towards that goal? One of the things I found is that sometimes even if you are clear on the goal, the implementation of the steps required are not very clear. The better you structure and communicate your ideas the best results you will have.
There are times that if we have a friend, coach or a mentor some of the difficulties might not have to be that hard to defeat. Try not to reinvent the wheel, here we can walk by your side.
There is an old saying that explains clearly what we experience at Toastmasters;
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
In a Toastmasters club, this is the options you will have every session, walk alone or have an experienced hand to help, and as a part of the objectives it has is to help everyone on that quest. Manuals, mentoring, evaluations, and friendship is a trademark you will find. Visit us.
- Anonymous
We communicate at every moment with our co-workers, family, and friends, to almost everyone at any time. The way we transmit our emotions, opinions and wishes are using some means of communication, and it can be oral or written. But we do not always know how to correctly structure the message to be transmitted, which is why we sometimes unconsciously hinder our own message, by not being clear and precise or by not providing it with elements that clarify or enrich the message. Fortunately, we have the possibility to use rhetoric that can easily help in delivering a better message.
Rhetoric is a discipline that provides the tools and techniques to express oneself in the best possible way, so that both language and message are sufficiently effective to delight, persuade or invite to action.
The language is very rich in tools and allows us to accurately communicate the thoughts and emotions we have, with as much or more detail as necessary. The mastery of the rhetorical forms that exist in the language will allow us not only to be more precise when communicating but to embellish our saying.
Project 4 of the Competent Communicator's manual is entitled "how to say it", in which the aim is to make the most of the rhetorical figures to enrich the message.
Some of those rhetorical resources we have are;
* Metaphor: is to describe or qualify something through its resemblance to something else
+ "Ignorance is cancer that must be eliminated"
* Alliteration. It is the repetition of sounds present in contiguous or the next words.
+ "the event was unusual, unusual"
* Triads. Express ideas, concepts, and adjectives in groups of three
+ "commit our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor to one another"
Here are examples of rhetorical devices with a definition and an example:
• Alliteration - the recurrence of initial consonant sounds - rubber baby buggy bumpers
• Allusion - a reference to an event, literary work or person - I can’t do that because I am not Superman.
• Amplification - repeats a word or expression for emphasis - Love, real love, takes time.
• Analogy - compares two different things that have some similar characteristics - He is flaky as a snowstorm.
• Anaphora - repeats a word or phrase in successive phrases - "If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?” (Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare)
• Antanagoge - places a criticism and compliment together to lessen the impact - The car is not pretty but it runs great.
• Antimetabole - repeats words or phrases in reverse order - “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” (J F Kennedy)
• Antiphrasis - uses a word with an opposite meaning - The Chihuahua was named Goliath.
• Antithesis - makes a connection between two things - “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” (Neil Armstrong)
• Appositive - places a noun or phrase next to another noun for descriptive purposes - Mary, queen of the land, hosted the ball.
• Enumeration - makes a point with details - Renovation included a spa, tennis court, pool, and lounge.
• Epanalepsis - repeats something from the beginning of a sentence at the end - My ears heard what you said but I couldn’t believe my ears.
• Epithet - using an adjective or adjective phrase to describe - mesmerizing eyes
• Epizeuxis - repeats one word for emphasis - The amusement park was fun, fun, fun.
• Hyperbole - an exaggeration - I have done this a thousand times.
• Litotes - makes an understatement by denying the opposite of a word that may have been used - The terms of the contract are not disagreeable to me.
• Metanoia - corrects or qualifies a statement - You are the most beautiful woman in this town, nay the entire world.
• Metaphor - compares two things by stating one is the other - The eyes are the windows to the soul.
• Metonymy - a metaphor where something being compared is referred to by something closely associated with it - The knights are loyal to the crown.
• Onomatopoeia - words that imitate the sound they describe - plunk, whiz, pop
• Oxymoron - a two-word paradox - near miss, seriously funny
• Parallelism - uses words or phrases with a similar structure - I went to the store, parked the car and bought a pizza.
• Simile - compares one object to another - He smokes like a chimney.
• Understatement - makes an idea less important that it really is - The hurricane disrupted traffic.
Read more at http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-rhetorical-devices.html#q9tXsCbcbD557xxv.99
Unfortunately, the enemy is technology. Since it sometimes restricts us to just 140 characters in a text message and also because of the speed of communication, we abbreviate words and use images (emoticons).
It seems that the rule of language is:
Technology + Emotions = Emoticons
What a teacher once recommended me to improve the way we communicate was
A teacher suggested getting some habits to improve our language on a daily basis.
* Reading: Reading books that allow us to enrich our words database.
* Writing: This is an exercise that seems to be an old fashion one but for sure allows us to use the information that we have in memory to put ideas in the paper. Also, you can use more time and care to adequately express ideas.
* Searching: Develop a habit of searching dictionaries or the internet the meaning of words as well as their origin. It will allow you to give more accuracy on the message.
* Do not Copy: At this time the technology offers us all the information you can imagine at our fingertips and we can copy and reuse any text easily. The danger is that we can get used to it very fast and not exercise the creativity that is waiting in the head.
Be a better speaker working on your writing skills.
------------------------------------------------------------
What is your goal? Do you have the skills it takes to go there? Are you moving every day towards that goal? One of the things I found is that sometimes even if you are clear on the goal, the implementation of the steps required are not very clear. The better you structure and communicate your ideas the best results you will have.
There are times that if we have a friend, coach or a mentor some of the difficulties might not have to be that hard to defeat. Try not to reinvent the wheel, here we can walk by your side.
There is an old saying that explains clearly what we experience at Toastmasters;
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
In a Toastmasters club, this is the options you will have every session, walk alone or have an experienced hand to help, and as a part of the objectives it has is to help everyone on that quest. Manuals, mentoring, evaluations, and friendship is a trademark you will find. Visit us.
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