Mark Forsyth

'An informative but highly entertaining journey through the figures of rhetoric ... Mark Forsyth wears his considerable knowledge lightly. He also writes beautifully.' David Marsh, Guardian In an age unhealthily obsessed with substance, this is a book on the importance of pure style, from the bestselling author of The Etymologicon and The Horologicon. From classic poetry to pop lyrics and from the King James Bible to advertising slogans, Mark Forsyth explains the secrets that make a phrase - such as 'Tiger, Tiger, burning bright', or 'To be or not to be' - memorable.In his inimitably entertaining and witty style he takes apart famous lines and shows how you too can write like Shakespeare or Oscar Wilde. Whether you're aiming for literary immortality or just an unforgettable one-liner, The Elements of Eloquenceproves that you don't need to have anything to say - you simply need to say it well. 'Sparkling ... the book offers many pleasures ... I laughed out loud' Charles Moore, Daily Telegraph

How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase

The Elements of Eloquence

Originally published: London: Icon, 2013.

Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase

Coleman McCormick

Loved it, I think I only knew a few of the technical terms for all the various forms of rhetoric. This book is informative, interesting, and hilarious.

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER THE ETYMOLOGICON. ‘An informative but highly entertaining journey through the figures of rhetoric ... Mark Forsyth wears his considerable knowledge lightly. He also writes beautifully.’ David Marsh, Guardian. Mark Forsyth presents the secret of writing unforgettable phrases, uncovering the techniques that have made immortal such lines as ‘To be or not to be’ and ‘Bond. James Bond.’ In his inimitably entertaining and witty style, he takes apart famous quotations and shows how you too can write like Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde or John Lennon. Crammed with tricks to make the most humdrum sentiments seem poetic or wise, The Elements of Eloquence reveals how writers through the ages have turned humble words into literary gold – and how you can do the same.

Yash

Who would have thought reading about the English language, its grammar and constituents-- would turn out to be a fun laugh out loud read? Ohhhh this book is much, MUCH needed after all that historical fictions and tragic love and greek tragedies and what-not.

Celeste Richardson

“The figures of rhetoric are the beauties of all the poems we have ever read. Without them we would be merely us: eating, sleeping, manufacturing and dying. With them everything can be glorious. For though we have nothing to say, we can at least say it well.”
I had no idea that there were so many different types of rhetorical phrases. Seriously, there are so many. I learned a lot from The Elements of Eloquence, but I had fun while doing it. Some of these terms weren’t unfamiliar (alliteration hyperbole, personification), but most of them were completely new to me. (Epizeuxis, anyone? How about Zeugma? Anadiplosis?) There’s no way that I’ll remember them all, but thanks to the lovely TS who gifted me a copy of Forsyth’s book after having enjoyed it herself, I’ll always be able to look back and find them again. 
“Rhetorical terminology is a catastrophe and a mess.” 
This book is without a doubt the most entertaining grammatical work I’ve read. I love the various pop culture examples that Forsyth utilizes in each chapter. The phrases are so varied that all of the different examples used were very appreciated. I also love that he does his very best to not only bring in various examples of each phrase, but uses them himself in the writing of each chapter. What blows my mind is that every single one of these phrase types is something used and familiar. We use them often and without thinking. Gaining more knowledge about what these phrases are and why they work so well was very gratifying.
“The aim of this book has been to make clear what is done, a clarity and knowledge that has been abandoned for a couple of centuries now.”
I didn’t expect to enjoy a nonfiction work about rhetoric anywhere near as much as I did, but Forsyth is an incredibly amusing author. I enjoyed ending a decade and starting the next with him. I know far more than I did before I opened this book, even if I can’t manage to retain all of that knowledge.

Faheem Kajee

Artas Bartas

What a great book on the quirks and mysteries of English language. It turns out, there is a method to being witty and memorable. And Mark Forsynth is happy to introduce you to this method. Or rather methods, for the book contains forty rhetorical principles, each carefully explained and amply illustrated. Forsynth draws on classical poems, revolutionary slogans, political speeches, nursery rhymes, and modern day pop songs to shed light on the inner workings of the English language.

Take the famous words of the Agent 007 - "Bond. James Bond," what makes this introduction so powerful is sandwiching the nouns, known among academics as diacope. It's the same principle that adds gravity to Martin Luther King's epitaph: "Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty we are free at last." A phrase "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" draws its strength from identically structured sentences (isocolon). Whereas the expression "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" works by following the principle of symmetry (chiasmus).

What makes this book a treasure trove of inspiration is Mark Forsynth readiness to dispell with academic dogmatism and explore a wide range of approaches that make for a memorable turn of phrase. He looks at sound alliteration and word substitution, ordering sentences and rhyming stanzas, paragraph structure and the use of double negatives. Heck, his chapter on the proper order of words even made the news a few months ago, delighting everyone - from bored Redditors to stern grammar Nazis. 

In short, this is one of the most delightful books on the English language you will ever read. Don't delay this pleasure, order a copy now.

The Elements of Eloquence How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase

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