In rhetoric, a rhetorical device or resource of language is a technique that an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader. A meaning with the goal of persuading him or her towards considering a topic from a different perspective, using sentences designed to encourage or provoke a rational argument from an emotional display of a given perspective or action. Note that although rhetorical devices may be used to evoke an emotional response in the audience, this is not their primary purpose.

Categories

Logos is the use of logical ideas to appeal to the audience.

Pathos is an appeal to the audience's emotions.

Ethos describes the guiding tenets that characterize a community, nation, or ideology; it may also appeal to the author's credibility. It is an appeal based on the character of the speaker.

Irony and metaphor

Two common rhetorical devices are irony and metaphor.

The use of irony in rhetoric is primarily to convey to the audience an incongruity that is often used as a tool of humor in order to deprecate or ridicule an idea or course of action.