Plain and shaped
A rhetorical figure is a deliberate departure from plain sentence structure that highlights a point. French schools drill them systematically in the dissertation and the commentaire, and they are expected in speeches, editorials and presentations. The grammar stays ordinary; the effect comes from repetition, contrast and rhythm.
The same point
Plain
Cette dépense est utile à long terme.
This spending is useful in the long run.
With a figure
Ce n'est pas une dépense, c'est un investissement.
This isn't spending, it's an investment.
Tricolon and anaphora
The rythme ternaire lines up three parallel members. It sounds complete when the last member is the longest. Anaphora repeats the same opening across several sentences or phrases and drives one idea home.
Rythme ternaire
In use
Ce projet est ambitieux, réaliste et entièrement financé par nos partenaires.
This project is ambitious, realistic and fully funded by our partners.
Tricolon, longest member last.
Nous voulons une ville plus verte. Nous voulons une ville plus sûre. Nous voulons une ville où chacun trouve sa place.
We want a greener city. We want a safer city. We want a city where everyone has a place.
Anaphora and tricolon at once.
Paris ! Paris outragé ! Paris brisé ! Paris martyrisé ! mais Paris libéré !
Paris! Paris outraged! Paris broken! Paris martyred! But Paris liberated!
De Gaulle, 25 August 1944. Anaphora building to a turn.
Antithesis and chiasmus
Antithèse sets two opposites side by side in parallel form. Chiasme repeats two terms in reverse order, following the pattern A B, B A. Both make a thought quotable.
Chiasme
In use
Hier, une start-up de trois personnes ; aujourd'hui, une entreprise de deux cents salariés.
Yesterday a three-person start-up; today a company with two hundred employees.
Antithesis without a verb.
Il faut manger pour vivre et non pas vivre pour manger.
One must eat to live, and not live to eat.
Molière, L'Avare. Chiasmus.
Nous ne travaillons pas pour nos clients, nous travaillons avec eux.
We don't work for our clients, we work with them.
Antithesis hinging on a single word.
The rhetorical question
A question rhétorique expects no answer because the answer is obvious. It draws the audience in and lets them reach the conclusion themselves. Typical openings are Qui peut croire que…, Faut-il rappeler que… and Comment ne pas….
In use
Qui peut sérieusement croire que ce budget suffira ?
Who can seriously believe this budget will be enough?
Answer – nobody.
Faut-il rappeler que la moitié de nos clients a moins de trente ans ?
Need I remind you that half our customers are under thirty?
Presents a fact as common knowledge.
Comment ne pas voir que le marché a changé ?
How can anyone fail to see that the market has changed?
Anyone who disagrees looks blind.
English speechwriting loves the rule of three too, but it prizes plainness overall. French speeches and editorials usually tolerate more visible craft: an antithesis or a chiasmus that would sound showy in English tends to come across as accomplished in French, as long as it lands.
