Devices of Rhetoric - Tony Blair - Annual Report Statement

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Devices of Rhetoric

Tony Blair – Annual Report Statement

        Tony Blair uses a large array of rhetoric devices, he uses these for great effect, for example to get one point into the minds of the listeners, he would use repetition.

        Tony Blair starts off his speech by using personification, “…will make Britain stronger and fairer.” Using personification gave a human tendency to something non-human, Britain. Using this technique gives the listener a human trait to relate to and in turn see how that trait is used to describe Britain.

        He then moves onto quoting figures, although this is not a technique as such, quoting figures always gives an better edge on a argument or a speech, it seems more professional, and listeners are more interested in numbers rather than long sentences of information. “Inflation is at 2.2 %”

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        ‘Us and them’ is another technique Tony Blair uses often, examples such as “we” and “we’re” are used frequently. Using these makes the listeners feel the speaker, in this case Tony Blair, is speaking on their behalf.

        The next noticeable device that Blair uses is of Imperative sentences. “…now we must make the next choice: to invest in the…” using a command to tell the listeners to do something is an effective way of Delivering a speech. In this case however, the imperative sentence is almost rhetorical as the listeners have no choice but to do what Blair says, as ...

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