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1. Make Cool Sounds and Rhythm
Figures that repeat words, move them around, or make delightful noises.2. Change, Swap and Invent
Figures that shift grammar or tense, change one thing for another, or invent new words.

3. Practice Rhetorical Jiu-Jitsu
Tools for using an opponent’s argument to your own advantage.

4. Control the Issue
Figures that redefine an issue or word, figurative coups de grace, rhetorical questions and answers, and other figures of logic.
5. Weigh Things Side by Side
Dilemmas, comparisons and contrasts.
6. Say Two Things at Once
Paradoxes, irony, puns, and tactical ignorance.

7. Use Emotion
Figures of emotion, figures of humor, and special effects.

8. Brand and Insult
Nicknames, insults, endorsements, and other figures of character.

9. Cheat and Manipulate
Distractions and intentional fouls.

10. Avoid Mistakes
Fallacies and figures of stupidity.

Alliteration: repetition of the same sound beginning several words in sequence.

*Let us go forth to lead the land we love. J. F. Kennedy, Inaugural

*Viri validis cum viribus luctant. Ennius

*Veni, vidi, vici. Julius Caesar

Anacoluthon: lack of grammatical sequence; a change in the grammatical construction within the same sentence.

*Agreements entered into when one state of facts exists — are they to be maintained regardless of changing conditions? J. Diefenbaker

Anadiplosis: (”doubling back”) the rhetorical repetition of one or several words; specifically, repetition of a word that ends one clause at the beginning of the next.

*Men in great place are thrice servants: servants of the sovereign or state; servants of fame; and servants of business. Francis Bacon

*Senatus haec intellegit, consul videt; hic tamen vivit. Vivit? Immo vero etiam in senatum venit. Cicero, In Catilinam

*Aeschines 3.133

Anaphora: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines.

*We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender. Churchill.

*Nihil agis, nihil moliris, nihil cogitas, quod non ego non modo audiam, sed etiam videam planeque sentiam. Cicero, In Catilinam

*Lysias, Against Eratosthenes 21

*Demosthenes, On the Crown 48

Anastrophe: transposition of normal word order; most often found in Latin in the case of prepositions and the words they control. Anastrophe is a form of hyperbaton.

*The helmsman steered; the ship moved on; yet never a breeze up blew. Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

*Isdem in oppidis, Cicero

*Demosthenes, On the Crown 13

Antistrophe: repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.

*In 1931, ten years ago, Japan invaded Manchukuo — without warning. In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia — without warning. In 1938, Hitler occupied Austria — without warning. In 1939, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia — without warning. Later in 1939, Hitler invaded Poland — without warning. And now Japan has attacked Malaya and Thailand — and the United States –without warning. Franklin D. Roosevelt

*Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon 198

Antithesis: opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction.

*Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Barry Goldwater

*Brutus: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

*The vases of the classical period are but the reflection of classical beauty; the vases of the archaic period are beauty itself.” Sir John Beazley

*Demosthenes, Olynthiac 2.26

Aporia: expression of doubt (often feigned) by which a speaker appears uncertain as to what he should think, say, or do.

*Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do?’ Luke 16

*Demosthenes, On the Crown 129

Aposiopesis: a form of ellipse by which a speaker comes to an abrupt halt, seemingly overcome by passion (fear, excitement, etc.) or modesty.

*Demosthenes, On the Crown 3

Apostrophe: a sudden turn from the general audience to address a specific group or person or personified abstraction absent or present.

*For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar’s angel.
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

Archaism: use of an older or obsolete form.

*Pipit sate upright in her chair
Some distance from where I was sitting; T. S. Eliot, “A Cooking Egg”

Assonance: repetition of the same sound in words close to each other.

*Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

*O fortunatam natam me consule Romam! Cicero, de consulatu

Asyndeton: lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.

*We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. J. F. Kennedy, Inaugural

*But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

*Demosthenes, On the Crown 200

Brachylogy: a general term for abbreviated or condensed expression, of which asyndeton and zeugma are types. Ellipse is often used synonymously. The suppressed word or phrase can usually be supplied easily from the surrounding context.

*Aeolus haec contra: Vergil, Aeneid

*Non Cinnae, non Sullae longa dominatio. Tacitus, Annales I.1

Cacophony: harsh joining of sounds.

*We want no parlay with you and your grisly gang who work your wicked will. W. Churchill

*O Tite tute Tati tibi tanta tyranne tulisti! Ennius

Catachresis: a harsh metaphor involving the use of a word beyond its strict sphere.

*I listen vainly, but with thirsty ear. MacArthur, Farewell Address

*Cynthia prima suis miserum me cepit ocellis. Propertius I.1.1

Chiasmus: two corresponding pairs arranged not in parallels (a-b-a-b) but in inverted order (a-b-b-a); from shape of the Greek letter chi (X).

*Those gallant men will remain often in my thoughts and in my prayers always. MacArthur

*Renown’d for conquest, and in council skill’d.

*Addison et pacis ornamenta et subsidia belli. Cicero, Pro lege Manilia

*Plato, Republic 494e

Climax: arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of ascending power. Often the last emphatic word in one phrase or clause is repeated as the first emphatic word of the next.

*One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Tennyson, Ulysses

*Nonne hunc in vincula duci, non ad mortem rapi, non summo supplicio mactari imperabis? Cicero, In Catilinam

*Facinus est vincere civem Romanum; scelus verberare; prope parricidium necare: quid dicam in crucem tollere? verbo satis digno tam nefaria res appellari nullo modo potest. Cicero, In Verrem

*Demosthenes, On the Crown 179

Euphemism: substitution of an agreeable or at least non-offensive expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant.

*When the final news came, there would be a ring at the front door — a wife in this situation finds herself staring at the front door as if she no longer owns it or controls it–and outside the door would be a man… come to inform her that unfortunately something has happened out there, and her husband’s body now lies incinerated in the swamps or the pines or the palmetto grass, “burned beyond recognition,” which anyone who had been around an air base very long (fortunately Jane had not) realized was quite an artful euphemism to describe a human body that now looked like an enormous fowl that has burned up in a stove, burned a blackish brown all over, greasy and blistered, fried, in a word, with not only the entire face and all the hair and the ears burned off, not to mention all the clothing, but also the hands and feet, with what remains of the arms and legs bent at the knees and elbows and burned into absolutely rigid angles, burned a greasy blackish brown like the bursting body itself, so that this husband, father, officer, gentleman, this ornamentum of some mother’s eye, His Majesty the Baby of just twenty-odd years back, has been reduced to a charred hulk with wings and shanks sticking out of it. Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff

Hendiadys: use of two words connected by a conjunction, instead of subordinating one to the other, to express a single complex idea.

*It sure is nice and cool today! (for “pleasantly cool”)

*I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Psalms 116

*Perfecti oratoris moderatione et sapientia. Cicero, De oratore

Hypallage: (”exchanging”) transferred epithet; grammatical agreement of a word with another word which it does not logically qualify. More common in poetry.

*Exegi monumentum aere perennius
regalique situ pyramidum altius, Horace, Odes III.30

Hyperbaton: separation of words which belong together, often to emphasize the first of the separated words or to create a certain image.

*Speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem Vergil, Aeneid 4.124, 165

Hyperbole: exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical effect.

*My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow;
An hundred years should got to praise
Thine eyes and on thine forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest. Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”

*Da mi basia mille, deinde centum,
Dein mille altera, dein secunda centum,
Deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum. Catullus, to his.

Hysteron Proteron (”later-earlier”): inversion of the natural sequence of events, often meant to stress the event which, though later in time, is considered the more important.

*“I like the island Manhattan. Smoke on your pipe and put that in.” — from the song “America,” West Side Story lyric by Stephen Sondheim (submitted per litteram by guest rhetorician Anthony Scelba)

*Put on your shoes and socks!

*Hannibal in Africam redire atque Italia decedere coactus est. Cicero, In Catilinam

Irony: expression of something which is contrary to the intended meaning; the words say one thing but mean another.

*Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

Litotes: understatement, for intensification, by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed. (Sometimes used synonymously with meiosis.)

*A few unannounced quizzes are not inconceivable.

*War is not healthy for children and other living things.

*One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day. (meiosis)

Metaphor: implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; the word is used not in its literal sense, but in one analogous to it.

*Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage. Shakespeare, Macbeth

*. . . while he learned the language (that meager and fragile thread . . . by which the little surface corners and edges of men’s secret and solitary lives may be joined for an instant now and then before sinking back into the darkness. . . ) Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!

*From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. W. Churchill

Metonymy: substitution of one word for another which it suggests.

*He is a man of the cloth.

*The pen is mightier than the sword.

*By the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat thy bread.

Onomatopoeia: use of words to imitate natural sounds; accommodation of sound to sense.

*At tuba terribili sonitu taratantara dixit. Ennius

Oxymoron: apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another.

*Festina lente.

*I must be cruel only to be kind. Shakespeare, Hamlet

Paradox: an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but that may yet have some truth in it.

*What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young. George Bernard Shaw

Paraprosdokian: surprise or unexpected ending of a phrase or series.

*He was at his best when the going was good. Alistair Cooke on the Duke of Windsor

*There but for the grace of God — goes God. Churchill

*Laudandus, ornandus, tollendus. Cicero on Octavian

Paronomasia: use of similar sounding words; often etymological word-play.

*…culled cash, or cold cash, and then it turned into a gold cache. E.L. Doctorow, Billy Bathgate

*Thou art Peter (Greek petros), and upon this rock (Greek petra) I shall build my church. Matthew 16

*The dying Mercutio: Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man. Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

*Hic est sepulcrum haud pulchrum feminae pulchrae.

Personification: attribution of personality to an impersonal thing.

*England expects every man to do his duty. Lord Nelson

*Nunc te patria, quae communis est parens omnium nostrum, odit ac metuit et iam diu nihil te iudicat nisi de parricidio suo cogitare. Cicero, In Catilinam

Pleonasm: use of superfluous or redundant words, often enriching the thought.

*No one, rich or poor, will be excepted.

*Ears pierced while you wait!

*I have seen no stranger sight since I was born.

Polysyndeton: the repetition of conjunctions in a series of coordinate words, phrases, or clauses.

*I said, “Who killed him?” and he said, “I don’t know who killed him but he’s dead all right,” and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Bay and she was all right only she was full of water. Hemingway, After the Storm

*omnia Mercurio similis, vocemque coloremque
et crinis flavos et membra decora iuventae Vergil, Aeneid 4.558-9

*Horae quidem cedunt et dies et menses et anni, nec praeteritum tempus umquam revertitur, nec quid sequatur sciri potest. Cicero, De senectute

Praeteritio (=paraleipsis): pretended omission for rhetorical effect.

*That part of our history detailing the military achievements which gave us our several possessions … is a theme too familiar to my listeners for me to dilate on, and I shall therefore pass it by. Thucydides, “Funeral Oration”

*Let us make no judgment on the events of Chappaquiddick, since the facts are not yet all in. A political opponent of Senator Edward Kennedy

Prolepsis: the anticipation, in adjectives or nouns, of the result of the action of a verb; also, the positioning of a relative clause before its antecedent.

*Vixi et quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi, Vergil, Aeneid 4.653

*Consider the lilies of the field how they grow.

Simile: an explicit comparison between two things using ‘like’ or ‘as’.

*My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease, Shakespeare, Sonnet CXLVII

*Reason is to faith as the eye to the telescope. D. Hume [?]

*Let us go then, you and I,
While the evening is spread out against the sky,
Like a patient etherized upon a table… T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Syllepsis: use of a word with two others, with each of which it is understood differently.

*We must all hang together or assuredly we will all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin

Synchysis: interlocked word order.

*aurea purpuream subnectit fibula vestem Vergil, Aeneid 4.139

Synecdoche: understanding one thing with another; the use of a part for the whole, or the whole for the part. (A form of metonymy.)

*Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6

*I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

*The U.S. won three gold medals. (Instead of, The members of the U.S. boxing team won three gold medals.)

Synesis (=constructio ad sensum): the agreement of words according to logic, and not by the grammatical form; a kind of anacoluthon.

*For the wages of sin is death. Romans 6

*Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. Acts 6

Tautology: repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, or sentence.

*With malice toward none, with charity for all. Lincoln, Second Inaugural

Zeugma: two different words linked to a verb or an adjective which is strictly appropriate to only one of them.

*Nor Mars his sword, nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.

*Longa tibi exsilia et vastum maris aequor arandum. Vergil, Aeneid

“Chreia” (from the Greek chreiodes, “useful”) is “a brief reminiscence referring to some person in a pithy form for the purpose of edification.” It takes the form of an anecdote that reports either a saying, an edifying action, or both.

Directions for Composition
Amplify a brief account of what someone has said or done, using these steps:

1. Praise the sayer or doer, or praise the chreia itself
2. Give a paraphrase of the theme
3. Say why this was said or done
4. Introduce a contrast
5. Introduce a comparison
6. Give an example of the meaning
7. Support the saying/action with testimony of others
8. Conclude with a brief epilog or conclusion

Example This example, taken from Plato’s Republic, does not follow the above steps strictly, but you can get a sense of how the chreia was used in literature to support a point. For a more exact following of the steps, see the example of the proverb. In the following passage Cephalus addresses Socrates and Glaucon regarding the apparent pains of old age:

“How well I remember the aged poet Sophocles, when in answer to the question, How does lovemaking suit with old age, Sophocles, —are you still the man you were? Peace, he replied; most gladly have I escaped the thing of which you speak; I feel as if I had escaped from a mad and furious master. His words have often occurred to my mind since, and they seem as good to me now as at the time when he uttered them. For certainly old age has a great sense of calm and freedom; when the passions relax their hold, then, as Sophocles says, we are freed from the grasp not of one mad master only, but of many.”

Related Figures
* proverb
* maxim
* sentence

Related Topics of Invention
* Authorities

Notation and Conjugates

Notation and Conjugates
Making an argument based on the relationship (or lack of relationship) between language and that to which language refers.

“Notation” refers to the fact that language is just a label, a kind of notation, and “conjugates” refers to the way that language and things (res and verba) can indeed be brought together, whether in a very direct correspondence (such as the onomatopoetic word, “hum,” that sounds like what it means) or in a suggestive way (such as the way the unpleasant sounds that make up the name “Scrooge” contribute to his characterization as an unpleasant person). This topic corresponds to the Figures of Wordplay.

Examples
In the following example, there is no necessary relationship between the similarity of words involved and the legal right in dispute, but the similarity of the two words to each other nevertheless makes a suggestive implication that there is:
If a field is common (compascuus) it is legal to be used for common pasture (compascere). —Cicero

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
—Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet II-II:42-45

Will any man say that if the Words, Whoring, Drinking, Cheating, Lying, Stealing, were by Act of Parliament ejected out of the English Tongue and Dictionaries; We should all Awake next Morning Chast and Temperate, Honest and Just, and Lovers of Truth. Is this a fair Consequence? Or if the Physicians would forbid us to pronounce the Words Pox, Gout, Rheumatism and Stone, would that Expedient serve like so many Talismans to destroy the Diseases themselves. Are Party and Faction rooted in Mens Hearts no deeper than Phrases borrowed from Religion, or founded upon no firmer Principles? And is our Language so poor that we cannot find other Terms to express them? Are Envy, Pride, Avarice and Ambition such ill Nomenclators, that they cannot furnish Appellations for their Owners? Will not Heydukes and Mamalukes, Mandarins and Patshaws, or any other Words formed at Pleasure, serve to distinguish those who are in the Ministry from others who would be in it if they could? What, for instance, is easier than to vary the Form of Speech, and instead of the Word, Church, make it a Question in Politicks, Whether the Monument be in Danger? Because Religion was nearest at hand to furnish a few convenient Phrases, is our Invention so barren, we can find no other? Suppose for Argument sake, that the Tories favoured Margarita, the Whigs Mrs. Tofts, and the Trimmers Valentini, would not Margaritians, Toftians and Valentinians be very tolerable Marks of Distinction?
—Jonathan Swift, from Against the Abolishing of Christianity

Related Figures
* acyrologia
* adianoeta
* onomatopoeia
* adnominatio
* diaphora
* ampliatio
* paronomasia
* asteismus
* polyptoton
* aphorismus
* metallage

Testimony

Authorities
Citing experts or authorities to bring credibility to one’s argument.

Examples
We who are religious should think twice before disparaging science, for in many ways their work is a work of great faith. As Albert Einstein once said, “the serious scientific workers are the only profoundly religious people.”

Related Figures
* anamnesis
* antirrhesis

See Also
* Persuasive Appeals: Ethos
Appealing to authorities is a principal method for establishing ethos.
* Progymnasmata: Chreia
This rhetorical exercise amplifies an anecdote based on the words or deeds of an authoritative figure.
* Progymnasmata: Proverb
Directions for this rhetorical exercise include supporting the saying by referring to authoritative testimony.
Witnesses
Calling upon a person or person’s who have personally seen or experienced something to lend credibility to one’s argument.

Examples
We might ask Catherine Jensen about the need for new safety measures at NASA. She is not an engineer, nor a rocket scientist. She was simply one of the many spectators in that elementary school classroom who saw both the space shuttle explode and the empty look on the children’s faces as they realized their teacher was killed

Related Figures
* deesis

Maxims or Proverbs
The use of a famous saying, precept, or pithy generalization either to open or lend credibility to one’s argument.

Examples
That the tax refund will be ill spent is as sure as the fact that a fool and his money are soon parted.

Related Figures
* Synonyms for short, pithy sayings (adage, apothegm, gnome, maxim, paroemia, proverb, sententia)
* epiphonema

See Also

* commonplace
* Progymnasmata: Chreia
This rhetorical exercise amplifies an anecdote based on the words (or deeds) of an authoritative figure.
* Progymnasmata: Proverb
This rhetorical exercise includes directions for how to amplify a proverb.

Rumors
Of greater significance historically than today, reference to rumors is still a viable technique for suggesting what one cannot or chooses not to prove directly. This is often used to discredit others.

Examples
For several months it has been no secret among WordPerfect employees that Novell had never intended to do anything but dismantle the once robust company

Oaths
Of more persuasive force in societies that placed greater importance upon one keeping one’s word than ours, oaths are still employed in persuasive circumstances, especially in legal settings.

Examples
How can you maintain that the LAPD had not prepared for the possible outcome of the Rodney King trial? According to this sworn affidavit of June 11, 1992, the police chief had instructed his officers that they needed to prepare for civil unrest

Related Figures
* orcos
* euche
* eustathia
* deesis
* adhortatio

See Also
* Persuasive Appeals: Pathos

Documents
Referring to written proof to make one’s case.

Examples
Look, I may be only four feet tall and have the appearance of being a prepubescent trouble-maker, but you have to sell me that case of beer because my driver’s license—as you can plainly see right there—says I’m 45.

Law
Drawing upon statutes, contracts, testaments, legal records, etc. in order to substantiate or refute a claim.

Examples
Your idea for Coming to America, Mr. Murphy, would have been perfectly fine, if your source for it had not violated the statues in Title XVII of the U.S. Code regarding copyright.

See Also
* Deliberative Oratory
* Progymnasmata: Defend / Attack a Law
* Arrangement: Refutation
* Figures of Refutation
* Judicial Oratory

Precedent
Either making reference to a past judicial decision or (more generally) referring to the past to substantiate a claim or interpretation in the present.

Examples
Mr. Simpson admits to having beat his wife in the past. Is it so unreasonable that this pattern of violence would have continued, even escalated?

Related Figures
* anamnesis

See Also
* Past Fact / Future Fact

The Supernatural
Calling upon God or appealing to an authority beyond the rational or natural in order to be convincing.

Examples
“I know that the Democrats are right, for God’s spirit tells me in my heart.”

Related Figures
* deesis
* anthropopathei

Circumstances

The Possible and Impossible
A topic of invention in which one describes something proposed as either possible or impossible for the purpose of encouraging or discouraging. An examination of the feasibility of a proposed action.

Examples
“However much we may desire to travel to other worlds beyond our solar system, we are not able to do so now or in the foreseeable future.”

Related Figures
* adynaton
* Figures of Refutation

See Also
* Progymnasmata: Confirmation
* The possible is one of the topics recommended for use in this rhetorical exercise. Progymnasmata: Refutation
The impossible is one of the topics recommended for use in this rhetorical exercise.

Past Fact / Future Fact
A topic of invention in which one refers back to general events in the past or to what we can safely suppose will occur in the future based on the record of the past. When precedents are brought forward from the past, this topic of invention overlaps with Testimony; when discussing what is likely or not for the future, it has obvious connection to topic of The Possible and Impossible.

Examples
As every creature who has lived on this earth through its many ages has ended this life in death, we can be quite assured that this will be the common lot for the rest of us, sooner or later.

Related Figures
* anamnesis
* chronographia

See Also
* Branches of Oratory: Judicial Oratory
Generally, in judicial oratory one makes arguments about past events.
* Branches of Oratory: Deliberative Oratory
Generally, in deliberative oratory one makes arguments oriented to future events.
* Progymnasmata: Impersonation
In creating a character through this rhetorical exercise students were instructed to consider aspects of both the past and future.
* Progymnasmata: Commonplace
In one of the steps of this rhetorical exercise it was recommended that one discuss a person’s past life.

Relationship

Cause and Effect
A topic of invention in which one considers the effects of a given cause or the causes contributing to given effects.

Examples
In Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, he argues from effect, indicating what the results would be if his ironic proposal to sell Irish children for food were to be accepted:
For first, it would greatly lessen the number of papists, with whom we are yearly overrun, being the principal breeders of the nation as well as our most dangerous enemies…etc.

Related Figures
* apagoresis
* enumeratio

See Also
* Figures of Reasoning
* Branches of Oratory: Deliberative
Cause and Effect is a topic commonly employed in deliberative or legislative oratory in which the effects of proposed plans or laws are weighed.
* Branches of Oratory: Judicial
Cause and Effect is a topic commonly employed in judicial or forensic oratory as the causes of present effects (such as a crime) are investigated.

Antecedent and Consequence
Very similar to cause and effect, this topic of invention invites one to consider events or consequences that follow given actions or conditions. The difference is that what follows may not be caused by what preceded it, but will naturally flow from those earlier conditions. Given a certain situation (the antecedent), what is likely to follow (the consequence)? This often takes the form of an “if…then” compound sentence, and is closely associated with the form of reasoning typical in rhetoric, the enthymeme.

Examples
Since Louisa Franklin was not Paul Franklin’s legal wife when he died, she isn’t entitled to any of his Blue Oyster Cult record collection.
If students violated the dress code, then they should suffer the consequences.

Related Figures
* apagoresis
* cataplexis
* Figures of Reasoning

See Also
* Branches of Oratory: Deliberative
Antecedent and Consequence is a topic commonly employed in deliberative or legislative oratory in which the consequences of proposed plans or laws are weighed.
* Circumstances: Past Fact / Future Fact
Antecedent and Consequence is closely related to this topic of invention which considers the relationship, often consequential in nature, between past and present or future.

Contraries
A topic of invention in which one considers opposite or incompatible things that are of the same kind (if they are of different kinds, the topic of similarity / difference is more appropriate). Because contraries occur in pairs and exclude one another, they are useful in arguments because one can establish one’s case indirectly, proving one’s own assertion by discrediting the contrary. This is sometimes known as the figure of thought, antitheton.

Examples
Self-control is beneficial because licentiousness is harmful.
If war is the cause of our misery, peace is the way to promote our happiness

Related Figures
* Figures of Irony
* Figures of Reasoning
* contrarium
* enantiosis
* synoeciosis
* antitheton
* in utrumque partes
* antithesis
* antiphrasis

See Also
* Progymnasmata: Commonplace
It was often suggested one begin this rhetorical exercise by employing a contrary or contradiction.
* in utrumque partes
Arguing both sides of an issue.

Contradictions
Unlike the topic “contraries,” “contradictions” deals with denial rather than opposition. (For example, in response to the assertion “the preacher was white” one is using the topic of contraries in saying “the preacher was black”; but the topic of contradiction in saying “the preacher was not white” [the preacher could have been of a third race]). This topic is useful for setting up an issue (see “stasis”) and often takes the form of an either / or proposition.

Examples
Some people maintain that the Constitution guarantees the right of every citizen to own a gun; others maintain that the Constitution states no such right.
Either she is willing to make the kelp ice cream, or she is not.

Related Figures

* Figures of Reasoning
* Figures of Refutation
* inter se pugnantia
* antiphrasis
* antilogy

See Also
* Progymnasmata: Commonplace
It was often suggested one begin this rhetorical exercise by employing a contrary or contradiction.
* in utrumque partes
Arguing both sides of an issue.

Comparison

Similarity / Difference
That topic of invention which invites us to consider how something compares and contrasts with others. One use of this topic is arguing by analogy, using the logic that if two things are similar in one or two ways, they are likely similar in another characteristic. Another use of this topic is drawing a conclusion based on an example of one instance of similarity.

Examples
In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn’t this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn’t this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn’t this like condemning Jesus because his unique God-consciousness and never-ceasing devotion to God’s will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber.
—Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail

The following use of the topic of similarity/difference is an argument by analogy:
Administrative work is like juggling a chain saw: once in a while you pull it off and really wow people…

Related Figures
* metaphor
* simile
* syncrisis
* Figures of Amplification

See Also
* Progymnasmata: Comparison

Degree
A topic of invention that invites one to look at issues of “more” and “less.”

Examples
Aristotle proposed considering these criteria to generate ideas using the topic of degree. Each of these can be inverted:

1. A greater number of things is often considered better than a small number of the same things
Example: We need less war and more peace.
2. That which is an end is a greater good than that which is only a means
Example: Exercise is all good and well, but should be avoided if it actually threatens one’s health.
3. What is scarce is greater than what is abundant.
Example: This was no common pebble to be found on any road or byway; it was a blue diamond, more rare than any other of its kind.
4. What learned people would choose is better than what the ignorant would choose.
Example: All of your friends may be handling their uranium collection without lead gloves, but your uncle the nuclear physicist has told you the best course.
5. What the majority of people would choose is better than what the minority would choose.
Example: You’re watching the network watched by more Americans than any other…
6. What people would really like to possess is a greater good than what they would merely like to give the impression of possessing.
Example: Health is a greater good than justice, because while people can be content with the mere reputation for being just, they prefer being healthy to only seeming healthy.
7. If a thing does not exist where it is more likely to exist, it will not exist where it is less likely to exist
Example: In his famous poem “Death, be not proud,” John Donne compares death to sleep. To paraphrase the argument that he makes, we all derive a great deal of pleasure from rest and sleep; therefore, we should derive even more pleasure from that which rest and sleep imitate: death. If there is so much pleasure from the lesser thing, there is to be so much more pleasure from the greater thing. This is often referred to as arguing a fortiori (Latin: “from the stronger”)