A review of basic rhetorical terms, with examples. Use this in conjunction with the rhetoric terms drill program you've been told about.
"The monkeys in council deliberated on the necessity of settling in houses. When they had made up their minds to this end and were about to set to work, an old monkey restrained them, saying that they would more easily be captured if they were caught within enclosures."Thus if you are concise; but if you wish to expand, proceed in this way.
"The monkeys in council deliberated on the founding of a city; and one coming forward made a speech to the effect that they too must have a city. "For see," said he, "how fortunate in this regard are men. Not only does each of them have a house, but all going up together to public meeting or theater delight their souls with all manner of things to see and hear."
Go on thus, dwelling on the incidents and saying that the decree was formally passed; and devise a speech for the old monkey.
"How well I remember the aged poet Sophocles, when in answer to the question, How does lovemaking suit with old age, Sophocles, --are you still the man you were? Peace, he replied; most gladly have I escaped the thing of which you speak; I feel as if I had escaped from a mad and furious master. His words have often occurred to my mind since, and they seem as good to me now as at the time when he uttered them. For certainly old age has a great sense of calm and freedom; when the passions relax their hold, then, as Sophocles says, we are freed from the grasp not of one mad master only, but of many."
"It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house." --Proverbs 21: 9One could amplify it using the steps mentioned above as follows:
Solomon, that paragon of wisdom, did indeed show his acumen when he stated in Proverbs that it would be better to live in a tiny and insignificant dwelling than to have a mansion but share it with a cantankerous wife. A man of so many wives must have known this from experience, yet he gave this proverb as a caution both to wives and their husbands and for their mutual benefit. It is indeed better to have domestic harmony than to have that discord that comes when one spouse rails against the other. Living with a nagging, brawling wife is like living with the TV forever tuned to Rush Limbaugh on a cranky day. For example, I knew of one man of great potential for public office who won over ever constituency except that at his house. There, where his wife seemed to have an inordinate power of veto, none of his legislation ever passed. He became so discouraged that he gave up his political ambitions and now sweeps floors at Taco Bell. Our own modern-day Church leaders have cautioned us to have peace in the home. Spencer W. Kimball once encouraged spouses to have regular interviews with one another where they could check up on one another and fix things that were amiss. We cannot hope to follow President Kimball or the older and wisest Solomon if we do not take the advice of the latter and so avoid the unhappy scene described by the former.