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Tricolon – the pattern of three phrases in parallel, found commonly in Western writing after Cicero—for example, the kitten had white fur, blue eyes, and a pink tongue. Trivium – grammar, rhetoric, and logic taught in schools during the medieval period. Tropes – a figure of speech that uses a word aside from its literal meaning.
There is a danger that the avoidance of prolixity can produce writing that feels unnatural or sterile. Physicist Richard Feynman has spoken out against verbosity in scientific writing. [29] Wordiness is common in informal or playful conversation, lyrics, and comedy. People with Asperger syndrome and autism often present with verbose speech. [30]
Level of detail in writing, sometimes known as level of abstraction, refers to three concepts: the precision in using the right words to form phrases, clauses and sentences; [1] the generality of statements; and the organisational strategy in which authors arrange ideas according to a common topic in the hierarchy of detail.
Listening, speaking, reading and writing are generally called the four language skills. Speaking and writing are the productive skills, while reading and listening are the receptive skills. Often the skills are divided into sub-skills, such as discriminating sounds in connected speech, or understanding relationships within a sentence. Learning ...
Speech is the subject of study for linguistics, cognitive science, communication studies, psychology, computer science, speech pathology, otolaryngology, and acoustics. Speech compares with written language, [1] which may differ in its vocabulary, syntax, and phonetics from the spoken language, a situation called diglossia.
A fully revealed grammar, which describes the grammatical constructions of a particular speech type in great detail is called descriptive grammar. This kind of linguistic description contrasts with linguistic prescription , a plan to marginalize some constructions while codifying others, either absolutely or in the framework of a standard ...
Uses of figurative language, or figures of speech, can take multiple forms, such as simile, metaphor, hyperbole, and many others. [10] Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature says that figurative language can be classified in five categories: resemblance or relationship, emphasis or understatement, figures of sound, verbal games, and errors.
However, he found danger in using the style. If the audience was not sufficiently prepared for a major speech, he claimed that it would appear as if the speaker were inebriated. He believed it necessary for a speaker to fully appreciate the two other styles—plain and middle—used respectively for 'teaching' and for 'pleasing'.