Farnsworth's Classical English – serie

“I must refrain from shouting what a brilliant work this is (præteritio). Farnsworth has written the book as he ought to have written it – and as only he could have written it (symploce). Buy it and read it – buy it and read it (epimone).”—Bryan A. Garner, Garner's Modern English UsageEveryone speaks and writes in patterns. Farnsworth is your guide to patterns known as rhetorical figures that can make your words more emphatic, memorable, and effective.This book details the timeless principles of rhetoric from Ancient Greece to the present day, drawing on examples in the English language of consummate masters of prose, such as Lincoln, Churchill, Dickens, Melville, and Burke.Most rhetorical figures amount to departures from simple and literal statement, such as repeating words, putting words into an unexpected order, leaving out words that might have been expected, asking questions and then answering them. All apply to the composition of a simple sentence or paragraph—repetition and variety, suspense and relief, concealment and surprise, the creation of expectations and then the satisfaction or frustration of them.Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric is for anyone who wants to be a better speaker or writer.

“An original and absorbing guide to English style. Get it if you can.”—Wall Street JournalSay it with style—on paper or in person. This book explains why the best writing sounds that way, with hundreds of examples from Lincoln, Churchill, Douglass, and other masters of the language. As Farnsworth says, “Explaining a precept may take just a few words, but only examples can make it familiar to the ear. So we will consider examples from writers and orators who all have lessons to teach.”Farnsworth shows how small choices about words, sentences, and paragraphs put force into writing and speech that have stood the test of time. What was the secret? Knowledge of choices in the selection of words, the arrangement of sentences, the creation of a cadence. Now that knowledge can be yours through hundreds of examples of the very best use of rhetorical devices, classical cadence patterns, hyperbole and much more.This is must for anyone who wants to speak or write with clear, persuasive, enjoyable, unforgettable style. “A storehouse of effective writing, showing the techniques you may freely adapt to make music of your own.”—The Baltimore Sun

“Instructive and entertaining.”—Wall Street JournalLearn how to argue from the masters. This book is a complete course on the art of argument, taught by the greatest practitioners of it: Churchill, Lincoln, and hundreds of others from the golden age of debate in England and America. The book’s concise chapters provide lessons in all aspects of give and take—the syllogism and the slippery slope, the argumentum ad hominem and reductio ad absurdum, the fallacy and the insult. Ward Farnsworth shows how the full range of such techniques can be used or repelled, and illustrates them with examples that are fascinating, instructive, and fun to read.The result is a browsable reference in which every page is a pleasure. It will leave you better able to win arguments and to defend yourself under fire. It’s also an entertaining reminder that argument can be a source of beauty and delight. As Farnsworth says of the illustrations, they show talented advocates “crossing analytical swords and exchanging abuse when those things were done with more talent and dignity than is common today. They made argument a spectator sport of lasting value and interest.”Farnsworth’s Classical English Argument is the fourth book in a series about the ideas and methods embedded in the best speech and writing of an earlier time. Previous titles in the series are Farnsworth’s Classical English Rhetoric, Farnsworth’s Classical English Metaphor, and Farnsworth’s Classical English Style. Each book is a treasury of insight and an essential reference for all users of language.

This title presents an enlightening overview and analysis of the uses of rhetoric in the English language. The way we use our language to convince and cajole is based on timeless principles - on repetition and variety, suspense and relief, expectation and satisfaction - that have been employed by writers and speakers since the Golden Age of Greece. They can be applied with effect to the construction of simple sentences and paragraphs, or entire compositions. Farnsworth's "Classical English Rhetoric" draws on examples from some of the great masters of English prose - Lincoln and Churchill, Dickens and Melville, Burke and Pain - to illustrate and analyse the most frequently used rhetorical devices with unrivalled clarity and detail. For anyone with an interest in the true potential of language, this is an indispensable guide, a highly useful reference, and a rewarding (and even entertaining) source of instruction.