Naming a device is pattern-spotting. Each one leaves a fingerprint — learn the seven fingerprints and you'll never be stuck for a name again.
The Line-up of Devices
- Anaphora — the same words to start line after line. “We will dig in. We will hold on. We will not quit.” Tell-tale: your eye runs down the left edge and sees a repeat.
- Tricolon — the rule of three, three parts in a row. “Sweat, sacrifice, glory.” Tell-tale: count three beats that feel complete.
- Rhetorical question — a question that isn't really asking. “How long must we wait?” Tell-tale: a question mark with an answer everyone already knows.
- Antithesis — two opposites set against each other. “They build walls; we build bridges.” Tell-tale: a clash, often a but or a mirror in the middle.
- Direct address — speaking straight to “you”. “You, in the back row — this is your fight too.” Tell-tale: the listener is named or pointed at.
- Emotive language — loaded words chosen to make you feel. “This silence is deafening.” Tell-tale: swap the loaded word for a plain one and the feeling drains away.
- Repetition — drumming a single word or phrase home for emphasis. The simplest, oldest device of all.
Say it plainly: don't name the feeling a line gives you — name the move it makes. Ask: what is this line literally doing with its words? Repeating? Listing three? Asking? Clashing two ideas? Pointing at me?
A Worked One, Slowly
Take this little stretch of a speech: “You, every one of you, helped build this. We can fix it, we can grow it, we can be proud of it. So are we the year that whinged, or the year that acted?”
Pull it apart, move by move:
- “You, every one of you” → direct address (it points straight at the listener).
- “we can fix it, we can grow it, we can be proud of it” → anaphora (same opener) and a tricolon (three beats).
- “the year that whinged, or the year that acted” → antithesis (two opposites in a rhetorical question).
Three sentences, four devices — and now you can hear the machinery in it, not just the meaning.