<p>Ok. I’ll be blunt. What’s the point of trying to find alliteration or rhymes or the type of diction? How does it even remotely help the writer get his point across? </p>
<p>Despite this, english teachers for AP Lang seem to love to tell their students to look for it and mention them. But the prompt asks “how do these devices help the writer’s argument/view?” Sooo… thoughts?</p>
<p>Well diction is word choice… so yea it matters.
Alliteration makes the writing flow better as compared to writing without it. Even though a piece of writing doesn’t HAVE to have it, it makes it sound a little better. Just like in a rap song, a certain phrase of words just seems to flow well, the same can be said for alliteration in writing.</p>
<p>and its free points on the exam! lol
hope that kind of helped XD</p>
<p>I don’t know; it just sounds like pure BS to me… sorry, I do like how you attempted to explain it. I’ll probably write this BS - albeit modified slightly - tomorrow anyways… sigh</p>
<p>First of all, diction is vital to the essay. The difference in diction is like saying: “I want that cat.” vs. “I need to have that cat.” The “need to have” puts more emphasis than “want,” thereby expressing the writer’s intent as to what they want to convey. Here’s some other examples:
That dream of yours is admirable. That dream of yours is commendable.
I like you. I love you.
These examples suck. These examples are less than satisfactory.
(Diction conveys the tone, the emotion, the mood, the author’s point of view, and a clear distinction between the emphasis on pathos, logos, and ethos).</p>
<p>Pop quiz: Judging by my diction throughout this comment, what kind of persona/tone do I present?
A. Questioning
B. Formal
C. Informal
D. Melancholy
E. Indifference</p>
<p>The answer is B.</p>
<p>Now for alliteration, I never used it in my essay because, like you, I never found how it helps the author convey the message. I guess you can say it “creates a cadence” (alliteration here, lol) which helps the reader grasp the flow of the paragraph.</p>
<p>If the excerpt was a speech or meant to be read aloud, you relate to how, when read aloud the alliteration creates a powerful and commanding presence which forces the reader to focus on the author’s purpose and understand his speech.</p>
<p>What do you do with those ones that say how do the rh strats help the autors classification on this (Ie those that don’t say how do the strategies help get his point across)</p>
<p>You’re right; I don’t think you’re really supposed to have this giant laundry list of the rhetorical strategies with specific latin names and all that jazz that you found…it doesn’t really show an actual comprehension/analysis of the passage. </p>
<p>Diction is pretty important though…it’s also a go-to if you can’t catch the gist of a rhetorical passage ;-)</p>