Complete Collection of English Rhetoric

Author: Feng Cuihua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1995-12-01
Features: For a long time, I have been teaching English as a foreign language to Chinese students in university. In this process, I often encounter a phenomenon: while reading, students can analyze the grammatical components of sentences, but they find it difficult to grasp or appreciate well-constructed rhetorical sentences or paragraphs. When writing essays, although they can form grammatically correct sentences, they struggle to write sentences or paragraphs with good rhetoric and style. These are two aspects of the same phenomenon, reflecting a common deficiency in their English knowledge—they are unaware or not well-informed about the vast array of rhetorical devices in English, nor do they know or fully understand how these devices effectively convey thoughts, emotions, and events, especially in written language. At the same time, I have found that existing books on English composition and rhetoric in China provide little sufficient and comprehensive knowledge about rhetorical devices. Some imported English rhetoric textbooks from abroad include certain rhetorical devices, particularly the usage of figures of speech, but they are often not fully sufficient. It is evident that more systematic and comprehensive knowledge is needed in this area, and a more thorough introduction to English rhetorical devices is required. This book was written to meet this need. I have studied both past and present theories and practices regarding the classification of English rhetorical devices and have categorized them into five types: syntactic devices, lexical devices, phonetic devices and textual rhythm, figures of speech, and allusions and "quotations from out of context." This book does not aim to list every rhetorical device used in English exhaustively, but only selects the most important and commonly used ones. This selection is entirely my own, so it is somewhat subjective. The chapter on figures of speech is largely based on my booklet "Figures of Speech," published in 1983, but it has been revised and updated. Most of the examples are taken from prose works, but a significant number are also from poetry, because some rhetorical devices, such as figures of speech, are very common and typical in poetry. The grammatical terminology used in this book is largely traditional, but it has been revised and updated according to the new concepts in "A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language" (1985) by Randolph Quirk and others, as needed. For example, I have accepted the concept that noun phrases (NP) and verb phrases (VP) are two basic components of a sentence, as well as the idea that noun phrases can contain relative clauses or appositive clauses through post-modification. This means that the following type of sentences, traditionally considered compound sentences, are now viewed as simple sentences:
a. The man who came today is his uncle.
b. The rumour that he had won the bet was confirmed.
However, I have retained the view that infinitive phrases and participle phrases are "phrases," because if they were treated as non-finite clauses, as Quirk and others advocate, it would cause confusion among Chinese students. Chinese students find the traditional terminology more logically acceptable. Additionally, the components of English clauses and sentence structures retain familiar names, namely: subject (S), verb (V), adverbial (A), object (O), and complement (C). For easy reference, the following declarative sentences illustrate the basic sentence patterns:
SV: The birds sang.
SVA: She drove at full speed.
SVC: He looked (became) angry.
Hewas sad.
SVO: I bought a book.
SVOiO: I bought my sister a book.
SVOA: They sent the parcel by air mail.
SVOC: They elected him captain.
It is very important to be familiar with these sentence components and patterns, because many rhetorical devices require them in various grammatically acceptable contexts. This book is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students majoring in English at the university level, as well as for students in other disciplines and self-learners of English.