Rhetorical Device: Antimetabole
Antimetabole is a powerful rhetorical device that is used to emphasize a point by repeating a phrase or clause, but in reverse order. It is often used in speeches, poetry, and even everyday conversation, as it can help to emphasize an idea or phrase. By repeating words, but in reverse order, the speaker can create a more memorable statement that drives the point home more effectively. Antimetabole is also often used to create humour or wit with its clever use of language. It is closely related to another rhetorical device called chiasmus.
Examples
We do not stop playing because ; because we stop playing.Benjamin Franklin
In America, you can always finds a . In Soviet Russia, always finds you! Yakov Smirnoff
Fair is and is fair! William Shakespeare, "Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 1"
Then, if you speak, you must not ; Or if you , you must not speak. William Shakespeare, "Measure for Measure, Act 1, Scene 4"
All for and for all! Alexandre Dumas, "The Three Musketeers"
Ask not what your country can do for ; ask what can do for your country! John F. Kennedy "Inaugural Address" (20 January 1963)
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of . But it is, perhaps, of the beginning. Winston Churchill "Mansion House" (20 November 1942)
But we must remember a crucial fact: East and West do not mistrust each other because ; because we mistrust each other. Ronald Reagan "Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate" (12 June 1987)
It is time for us to say here in Beijing, and for the world to hear, that it is no longer acceptable to discuss women’s rights as separate from human rights. If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are and are human rights once and for all. Hillary Rodham Clinton"Women's Rights Are Human Rights" (5 September 1995)
