Know three things about figures of speech on this website:
- People may say: "Clear and correct language matters more than creative language". Good communicators keep all three balls in play. People may say: "Figures of speech are ancient, arcane and unimportant". Ancient they are, but unimportant they are not. People may say: "Figures of speech belong in literature". This is false. False because the figures speak to us in Tweets and adverts and speeches and novels and essays and news headlines and instruction manuals and academic articles. The invisible figures are visible here, there, everywhere.
- You may think "My teachers didn't teach them so the figures don't matter". The premise is often true. True premises do not, however, make a conclusion true. True, Aristotle has been expelled from the language classroom, but persuasive language has never mattered more. More figures of speech make speech more persuasive.
- Use the figures wisely. The showier a text – the more its figures jostle for attention – the less audiences may trust it. Season your prose like you sweeten your tea: seductively sweet, not sickeningly sweet.
But why accept this bombast on figures of speech when you can instead listen to the choir of figures on this page?
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