The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase

Using examples from a vast range of writings, Mark Forsyth presents an amusing and wonderfully erudite guide to the ‘formulas, flowers and figures†of rhetoric. For each of 39 figures, he explains some that are well-known – hyperbole, paradox, rhetorical questions – and other, less familiar strategies that work their magic behind the scenes, such as diacope in the immortal phrase ‘Bond. James Bond.â€