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An illustration of Cardinal Richelieu holding a sword, by H. A. Ogden, 1892, from The Works of Edward Bulwer Lytton "The pen is mightier than the sword" is an expression indicating that the written word is more effective than violence as a means of social or political change.
The general meaning is that spoken words are ephemeral, and easily forgotten or disputed, but writing can be relied on to prove what was said or agreed to. Applied in a legal context, it means that if people wish to establish a formal agreement, it is best to put it in writing, in order to avoid the disputes that may arise from an oral agreement.
Also apophthegm. A terse, pithy saying, akin to a proverb, maxim, or aphorism. aposiopesis A rhetorical device in which speech is broken off abruptly and the sentence is left unfinished. apostrophe A figure of speech in which a speaker breaks off from addressing the audience (e.g., in a play) and directs speech to a third party such as an opposing litigant or some other individual, sometimes ...
Overwriting is a simple compound of the English prefix "over-" ("excessive") and "writing", and as the name suggests, means using extra words that add little value. One rhetoric professor described it as "a wordy writing style characterized by excessive detail, needless repetition, overwrought figures of speech, and/or convoluted sentence ...
For example, to write that a person noted, observed, clarified, explained, exposed, found, pointed out, showed, confirmed, or revealed something can imply objectivity or truthfulness, instead of simply conveying the fact that it was said. To write that someone insisted, speculated, or surmised can suggest the degree of the person's carefulness ...
Studies in Words is a work of linguistic scholarship written by C. S. Lewis and published by the Cambridge University Press in 1960. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] In this book, Lewis examines the history of various words used in the English language which have changed their meanings often quite widely throughout the centuries.
The rule of three can refer to a collection of three words, phrases, sentences, lines, paragraphs/stanzas, chapters/sections of writing and even whole books. [2] [4] The three elements together are known as a triad. [5] The technique is used not just in prose, but also in poetry, oral storytelling, films, and advertising.
"This breakfast is making me sick," George said. 'George said' is the dialogue tag, [6] which is also known as an identifier, an attributive, [7] a speaker attribution, [8] a speech attribution, [9] a dialogue tag, and a tag line. [10] Stephen King, in his book On Writing, asserted that said is the best dialogue tag to use.