A Well-Organized Toolbox

This handbook has nothing new to say about rhetoric. It is, rather, a compilation of the best stuff rhetoricians and composition instructors have been saying since Aristotle wrote the book on it in 322 B.C. Some of that stuff was first said as recently as last year, while some of it was first said two-thousand years ago. The difference between this handbook and every other handbook I have been able to dig up is that this one is explicitly arranged in the framework of classical rhetoric. I came up with the idea for it last summer when I discovered after buying yet another pair of needle-nosed pliers that I already had five in various toolboxes, tool drawers, and craft tables scattered throughout the house. Interestingly, I found one pair in a sock drawer, where it could have languished in disuse forever. I realized then that the efficacy of a single toolbox organized by purpose could apply equally well to a handbook of rhetoric and composition. This handbook, then, purports to act as a single toolbox with clear labels and a place to keep everything. It makes no claim to present new tools. It just organizes the existing tools, old and new, in a way that prevents us from having to go buy or invent a new tool when we probably already have the one we need.

Choices, Effects

Inspired by Martha Kolln’s and Loretta Gray’s subtitle “Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects,” this handbook focuses on rhetorical choices and effects. It treats rules not so much as rules, but as choices with different effects. Remember, it is a handbook, so not every tool is going to be explained in detail. You might have to consult rhetorics, textbooks, and Google for more detailed explanations. It can be used as a close companion to:

• Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students by Sharon Crowley and Deborah Hawhee
• Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects by Martha Kolln and Loretta Gray

Using the Handbook

Every important tool, or choice, in this handbook has a number. It is a handbook, so reading it from front to back might not be so interesting. The idea is that if you need a tool, if you are looking for a particular effect, you can search for it. If you are using it in the context of an advanced composition class, your instructor or classmates might be able to refer you to a section to help with a particular purpose.

Editions

This is a living edition, meaning that it can be updated at any time. Conceptually, it has some empty drawers for tools that have yet to be invented. In extreme cases, that might mean that some drawers are relabeled, moved, or created from time to time. If you are in the habit of referring to a concept or tool by its associated number, check periodically to make sure that hasn’t changed. While many of the tools identified in this edition are universally applicable, keep in mind it is keyed toward a very specific genre, the argumentative research essay.

Pronouns

Conventions regarding pronoun use in English are evolving to become more inclusive. There are many choices, some of which are identified in the “Lexical Effectiveness” chapter. This handbook uses a hybrid method, so when pronouns are used to refer to hypothetical single individuals, they will alternate in a random fashion between he, him, his; she, her, hers; and the singular they, them, theirs.