Conclusion
The rhetorical techniques presented
here may well elude you when writing a
first draft, but try to incorporate them into
your editing process. Recall the earlier examples. If you are prosecuting a DWI case,
edit your prose to paint a verbal picture of
the defendant’s clumsy exit from the par-
ty, which caused a gooey river of guacamole to ooze its way through the pristine pile
of the host’s white shag carpet. In a patent case, do not settle for your first draft’s
statement that “the patent system rewards
those who can and do” when you can add
the rhythm provided by isocolon and antithesis, resulting in: “The patent system
rewards those who can and do, not those
who can but don’t.” When revising, use tricolon whenever three nouns or adjectives
are appropriate and available. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is easier
to recall than just the first two. And be alert
to an opening for a metaphor, a simile, or
both. Perhaps, in a criminal case, you can
say that the codefendant was a perverse
puppeteer who manipulated your client
like a marionette in a misguided puppet )͡