RRhetoric

A Guided Path

The Rhetoric Course

Each week, read two passages, take a quiz, and practice three speaking drills. Mark activities complete to save your progress in this browser.

Begin Week 1 ↓ First, try a five-minute lesson →

Week 1 of 10

Sentence Control

Change sentence length, vocabulary, and the position of the main clause.

  1. Read Cormac McCarthy — "They rode on." (Blood Meridian)

    Follow the phrases added after the main clause and consider how they extend the scene.

  2. Read Thomas Jefferson (Committee of Five) — Declaration of Independence - Self-Evident Truths

    Identify the main clause and the statements that depend on it.

  3. Quiz Syntax & Word Order — 10 questions

    Aim for 7 of 10 before moving on; re-run it if you fall short.

  4. Drill 1.1 The Length Dial

    Controlling sentence length at will.

  5. Drill 1.2 Saxon and Latin

    Toggling between Anglo-Saxon and Latinate diction.

  6. Drill 1.3 The Cumulative Builder

    Constructing right-branching (cumulative/loose) sentences.

Week 2 of 10

Repetition Structures

Repeat openings and endings to connect ideas and change their emphasis.

  1. Read Martin Luther King Jr. — "I Have a Dream"

    Notice what each return of “I have a dream” adds to the speech.

  2. Read William Shakespeare — Macbeth "Tomorrow" Soliloquy

    Consider how the repeated “tomorrow” presents time as unchanging.

  3. Quiz Repetition & Refrain — 10 questions

    Aim for 7 of 10 before moving on; re-run it if you fall short.

  4. Drill 2.1 Anaphora Surge

    Beginning successive clauses with the same word or phrase.

  5. Drill 2.2 Epistrophe Lock

    Ending successive clauses with the same word or phrase.

  6. Drill 2.3 The Chain (Anadiplosis)

    Ending one clause with a word that begins the next.

Week 3 of 10

Antithesis and Contrast

Place contrasting ideas in matching grammatical forms.

  1. Read Charles Dickens — A Tale of Two Cities Opening

    Compare the opposites paired within each repeated clause.

  2. Read Abraham Lincoln — Lincoln's Second Inaugural

    Examine how “malice toward none” and “charity for all” frame a response to the war.

  3. Quiz Balance & Opposition — 10 questions

    Aim for 7 of 10 before moving on; re-run it if you fall short.

  4. Drill 3.1 Antithesis Engine

    Constructing balanced opposing phrases.

  5. Drill 3.2 Chiasmus Forge

    Creating ABBA reversal patterns.

  6. Drill 3.3 The Concession Pivot

    Genuinely conceding an opponent's strongest point, then turning it to your advantage.

Week 4 of 10

Metaphor and Image

Use comparisons and images to explain an idea.

  1. Read F. Scott Fitzgerald — The Great Gatsby's Green Light

    Trace the associations between the green light, longing, and the future.

  2. Read William Butler Yeats — "The Second Coming"

    Follow the images of the falcon, the widening gyre, and the approaching beast.

  3. Quiz Metaphor & Figuration — 10 questions

    Aim for 7 of 10 before moving on; re-run it if you fall short.

  4. Drill 4.1 Metaphor Roulette

    Generating metaphors from random source domains on demand.

  5. Drill 4.2 The Sustained Metaphor

    Maintaining a single metaphor over an extended passage without mixing or breaking.

  6. Drill 4.3 Personification Engine

    Giving abstract concepts character, motive, and behavior.

Week 5 of 10

Rhythm and Conjunction

Add or omit conjunctions to change the rhythm of a sentence.

  1. Read Herman Melville — Moby-Dick Opening

    Compare the short opening command with the longer sentence that follows.

  2. Read Gwendolyn Brooks — "We Real Cool"

    Read across the line breaks and listen for the repeated “We.”

  3. Quiz Omission & Flow — 10 questions

    Aim for 7 of 10 before moving on; re-run it if you fall short.

  4. Drill 5.1 Asyndeton Rush

    Removing conjunctions to create speed, urgency, and force.

  5. Drill 5.2 Polysyndeton Weight

    Multiplying conjunctions to create weight, accumulation, and emotional density.

  6. Drill 5.3 The Conjunction Toggle

    Switching between asyndeton and polysyndeton to control pacing.

Week 6 of 10

Argument Moves

Use questions, concessions, and appeals to develop an argument.

  1. Read Martin Luther King Jr. — Letter from Birmingham Jail

    Follow the clauses that explain why waiting is intolerable.

  2. Read William Shakespeare — The Merchant of Venice - "Hath not a Jew eyes?"

    Examine how repeated questions ask the audience to acknowledge shared human responses.

  3. Quiz Address & Argument — 10 questions

    Aim for 7 of 10 before moving on; re-run it if you fall short.

  4. Drill 6.1 Reductio Sprint

    Extending an opponent's logic to its absurd conclusion.

  5. Drill 6.2 The A Fortiori Ladder

    Arguing from lesser to greater cases.

  6. Drill 6.3 The Distinction

    Showing precisely why an apparent precedent doesn't apply.

Week 7 of 10

Register and Persona

Change tone and register while keeping the claim clear.

  1. Read J.D. Salinger — The Catcher in the Rye Opening

    Notice how digressions and refusals establish the narrator’s attitude toward the reader.

  2. Read Jane Austen — Pride and Prejudice Opening

    Compare the opening claim with the assumptions about marriage that follow.

  3. Quiz Irony & Understatement — 10 questions

    Aim for 7 of 10 before moving on; re-run it if you fall short.

  4. Drill 7.1 The Register Elevator

    Moving fluidly between formal, conversational, and colloquial registers.

  5. Drill 7.2 The Authority Spectrum

    Delivering the same content through different personas.

  6. Drill 7.3 Emotional Coloring

    Modulating emotional register while preserving logical content.

Week 8 of 10

Arrangement and Structure

Choose when to supply background, reveal a consequence, or pause on a scene.

  1. Read Gabriel García Márquez — Ice and Firing Squad (One Hundred Years of Solitude)

    Separate the firing squad, the act of remembering, and the childhood visit in the opening sentence.

  2. Read Jorge Luis Borges — "The Garden of Forking Paths"

    Consider how the account of branching time changes the meaning of the surrounding story.

  3. Quiz Narrative & Time — 10 questions

    Aim for 7 of 10 before moving on; re-run it if you fall short.

  4. Drill 8.1 In Medias Res

    Opening with a dramatic moment and filling in context afterward.

  5. Drill 8.2 The Nested Digression

    Departing from the main thread on purpose and returning seamlessly.

  6. Drill 8.3 The Three-Movement Structure

    Organizing any response into setup, development, and payoff.

Week 9 of 10

Precision and Compression

Choose sounds and words that carry the point with less repetition.

  1. Read Elizabeth Bishop — "One Art"

    Compare the repeated denial of difficulty with the losses the speaker names.

  2. Read Wallace Stevens — "The Snow Man"

    Track how one extended sentence links perception to the winter landscape.

  3. Quiz Sound & Diction — 10 questions

    Aim for 7 of 10 before moving on; re-run it if you fall short.

  4. Drill 9.1 The Half-Life

    Distilling an argument to its essence under increasing pressure.

  5. Drill 9.2 Ellipsis Sculpting

    Removing words to strengthen impact.

  6. Drill 9.3 The Aphorism Forge

    Compressing complex insight into a single memorable sentence.

Week 10 of 10

Combining Techniques

Combine techniques while keeping one argument clear.

  1. Read Abraham Lincoln — The Gettysburg Address

    Examine how repeated structures connect the founding claim to the duties of the living.

  2. Read George Saunders — "Lincoln in the Bardo"

    Compare how the different speakers’ voices contribute to the same scene.

  3. Quiz All families — 20 questions

    Aim for 7 of 10 before moving on; re-run it if you fall short.

  4. Drill 10.1 Rhetoric Roulette

    Deploying any named technique within seconds.

  5. Drill 10.3 The Shapeshifter

    Transitioning between techniques mid-sentence without losing coherence.

  6. Drill 10.5 The Masterclass Minute

    Improvised rhetorical virtuosity.