Here’s why:
- Hedged language is honestly pretty amazing. It reminds me of one of Marshall Eriksen’s catchphrases, “Lawyered!” You are essentially creating a loophole with word choice. It demonstrates the real power of language and why we even bother to learn about all these rhetorical features and conventions.
- Have you ever read a sentence that never seemed to end? The sentence just drags on and on, word by word. Having parallelism allows for such a sentence without the confusion. Parallelism aids in organizing a piece, determining its structure, and highlighting main points. It eases the audience’s job of reading. Most likely, they begin to recognize the pattern at hand and learn how to navigate around the structure easily.
- We also learned how not use the word cult. Let me explain… I have this Austrian friend who moved here when he entered high school. English was not his first language. One day, we were talking about the word ‘cult.’ Now as native-English speakers, we understand the negative connotation behind this word. Cult is usually used in a negative way, implying that the group of people are exclusive and unwelcoming. However, my friend did not know this. He only knew the denotation, which led him to think that a cult was a very close, tight-knit group of friends. He asked, “Are [my friends and I] a cult?” When I declared they were not, he countered with, “Why not?!”
...It took many, many attempts to explain why a cult was not something he wanted to be in.
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