Amplification: Heightening
In the reading for this week, there were two main types of amplification noted: Heightening and Copia.
Let’s review some examples for heightening.
METHOD 1: STRATEGIC WORD CHOICE
This is the most straightforward method. There is no empirical way to measure “stronger” or “weaker” words, but there is a fuzzy way to choose words that will leave more or less of a mark on a reader.
Subtle example: “Access to safely managed drinking water is increasing across Guatemala, but it is increasing at a greater rate in urban areas than rural areas, areas which already suffer from (WEAKER: have) decreased access to safe drinking water compared to urban areas.”
Less subtle: “In the past, students who’ve attended Breakthrough have an extremely (WEAKER: no modifier at all, fairly, slight) high amount of success in making their college dreams come true. “
To show evaluation of quantitative information, you might want to use words that are more or less intense to show your readers what you want them to think about in terms of the size or strength of a number or quantitative relationship.
METHOD 2: SERIES CONSTRUCTION
Another fairly straightforward one, here you create a list that either climbs higher in intensity to the highest position or climbs lower to the most diminished.
Example: “He has been arrested for jaywalking, robbery, and murder.”
Another version of this is “topping,” in which your last item almost escapes even belonging in the series.
Example: “He was the greatest singer ever–except for Whitney Houston.”
Another version of “topping” is to have the last item be something you have no words for, or something that you identify that you have nothing more to say. You explicitly mention nothing could possibly be higher or lower.
METHOD 3: COMPARISON
To inflate or deflate something, you compare it to something different but similar. Obvious one on the internet: Hitler.
As we will see on the next page, though, comparison can be important for technical reasons while still rhetorically flexible.
METHOD 4: REASONING / INFERENCE
This one is tricky. You want to lead your reader to an inference. For instance, to comment on how successful a military general was, you comment in excess about the army that general opposed: “The Roman army’s professionalism and preparedness was unmatched during its reign” to talk about how good of a general Hannibal was.
Amplification: Copia
Copia, or staying on a topic longer than you necessarily need to as a way to emphasize, is another main way of amplifying.
This can be especially useful in amplifying quantitative arguments.
Repeating, restating, or any method of staying on a topic by continuing to write about similar material. This keeps the audience’s mind on the same subject.
Whereas the previous methods are about salience–that is, having something set a part from something else–this method is about having nothing else in the field of vision but this one item (there is nothing else).
Examples:
“States such as Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida spent far more to reform schools than those in California, Nevada, and Arizona. The South East received a total of $80 million to put toward grants — almost double what the West received.”
“It’s no secret that the “staple” of American Ninja Warrior is the Warped Wall, it’s the most famous obstacle and the one that shows up the most, appearing in 86 of the 122 unique courses throughout the first ten seasons of the show, a whopping 70.5% appearance rate.”
“According to the FBI crime dataset, the number of reported and estimated legacy-definition rapes in the United States increased by 4.7% from 2015 to 2016, the highest number of rapes in almost two decades. “
“So I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I did find that most dog’s just aren’t super smart. In fact, most dogs are very average. That may explain why I have a hard time getting Rex to just stay still sometimes. It may not be because of his small size, but just because of the fact that he is a dog, and sometimes dogs just aren’t that smart. That’s okay, though. I still think Rex is perfect, even if he does act like he’s never been fed in his life”
For copia in quantitative writing for public audiences, it can be useful to write something in a technical way before restating it in plainer language. It amplifies by copia while also helping to address two audiences: readers who are familiar with technical elements and readers who are not.
Writing vs. Analyzing Writing
Sometimes the boundaries between heightening and copia are a little blurry, but as writers–rather than rhetorical critics–you are more concerned with thinking about the large array of choices you have and how you want your readers to react to and interpret what you write about your data, analysis, and secondary sources.