REPETITIONBy Reuben and Christina

WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT WORKS

Repetition is the repeating of a word or phrase to emphasise your contention.

To repeat something so many times that people remember it and makes the speaker sound more confident in what they are saying and by doing so makes the audience more confident that what the speaker is saying is true.

CRITIQUEJust because you repeat something doesn't make it anymore truthful or factual. This technique can be deceptive or manipulative because it can reinforce a false idea and make people agree with it making the argument unsound.

If you were building a sound argument you would not have to repeat yourself because you would base it on facts and evidence not on emotion invoked by repetition.

EXAMPLE

I have a dream (Martin Luther King Jr.) Luther repeats the phrase "I have a dream" indicating that everyone else should share his dream of equality between blacks and whites.

We shall fight them on the beaches (Winston Churchill) Churchill repeats the phrase "We shall fight them" and mentions different places and in doing so he is stating that any time and any place England will fight and not give in.

POWER OF THREE

We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender

The writer uses repetition to make the reader believe that what they're saying is true. This makes the reader agree with the contention because he repeats "we shall fight" which emphasises the point that England will never give up and never surrender to the enemy.