This post first appeared on LinkedIn in 2022 and has been lightly edited for this site.
Writing is a craft. Writing effectively takes years of training. It is not a simple matter of typing out a word or two or three or more. Today, I’m writing about lists. Yes, how boring is that! But bear with me a moment. I have three rhetorical devices that you can use in your writing to help you become more effective in your prose.
Climactic Order
The way information is ordered can create a shift in perception. Intuitively, one would think placing the most important information first is a best practice. However, building on ideas from the least important to the most important is actually a better practice. Readers tend to put more emphasis on the final item(s) of a list, especially if the final item is significant or surprising. This idea isn’t limited to lists, as paragraphs and book chapters can also be ordered climactically. For simplicity, I’m focusing on lists. Compare the following two sentences.
Randomly ordered: My partner asked me to go to the fresh market to pick up milk, a live chicken, eggs, and fruit.
Climactically ordered: My partner asked me to go to the fresh market to pick up fruit, milk, eggs, and a live chicken.
In the example, the “shocker” is the live chicken. Sure, there is nothing wrong with picking up a chicken at a market, but it isn’t typical in most circumstances to buy a live one. Burying the surprising bit in the middle takes away from the impact. Putting it at the end creates emphasis; a reader is focused on the last item. Subtly, there is also something else to note about the final order. It starts with a plant-based food before building on animal products and ending with a live animal. It is a form of gradation. It creates impact.
Asyndeton
Asyndeton is a pretentious way to describe omitting a conjunction. It is the accepted term, and I didn’t make it up, so please don’t judge me. Whether one uses a serial comma or not, we are all familiar with the idea of “item A, item B, item C, and item D.” Asyndeton is a rhetorical device that helps create a sense of spontaneity. It tells readers that your work isn’t a labored effort, but rather an effortlessly compiled list of information, maybe even incomplete and open to expansion. For an example, I’m going to return to my fictitious market above. Notice the difference between including and not including the conjunction. It is subtle but certainly present.
Conjunction: The market had apples, bananas, grapes, and persimmons.
Asyndeton: The market had apples, bananas, grapes, persimmons.
Using the conjunction makes it seem like we are creating some sort of inventory—these listed fruits were at the market, and nothing else. With asyndeton, the second sentence leaves the reader open to understanding that there may be significantly more on offer; it isn’t a terminal list.
Polysyndeton
Opposite to asyndeton is polysyndeton. (Again, I didn’t make up the words.) Polysyndeton means adding conjunctions between the items in a list for emphasis. (I actually did this in the third sentence of the introduction.) It creates a sense of building one idea on top of another—this and this and this and this. Adding multiple conjunctions catches readers’ attention and thus creates a sense of emphasis, and if used with climactic order, it can certainly affect the way a piece of writing is perceived.
Whether one agrees with his politics or not, Reagan was certainly a great orator. At the memorial service for the Challenger crew on January 31, 1986, he gave the following statement. (Reagan Library)
We will always remember them, these skilled professionals, scientists, and adventurers, these artists and teachers and family men and women; and we will cherish each of their stories, stories of triumph and bravery, stories of true American heroes.
It is quite skillfully done, and thus often used as an example of polysyndeton. Polysyndeton creates natural pauses and elevates the message so listeners (or readers) can take in the severity of the circumstance. They are forced to pay attention to each word, and each word has a sense of gravity—this message is important. (Restating stories is another notable device but one for another day.)
For Further Reading
Harris, Robert A. 2018. Writing with Clarity and Style: A Guide to Rhetorical Devices for Contemporary Writers. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
Lanham, Richard A. 1991. A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms. 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Quinn, Arthur. 1982. Figures of Speech: 60 Ways to Turn a Phrase. Salt Lake City: Gibbs M. Smith.