Interdisciplinary work between cognitive scientists and rhetorical theorists (people who study language) has recently shed light on the old maxim that the way you say or write something is just as important as what you’re saying.

What cognitive science has discovered:
Our brains operate along basic principles of rhythm, repetition, similarity, and difference (among others).

What rhetorical studies has discovered:
Rhetorical scholars point out that the very objects of their study – literary figures of speech – function along these same principles. For instance, figures of speech based on similarity and difference include rhyme, assonance, consonance, alliteration, and many more.

How these discoveries are related:
Since figures of speech align language to the way our brains operate, we can intuitively recognize the formal (or structural) patterns in the language of a message. This recognition subtly invites our participation, because our brains naturally detect and anticipate patterns and structures.

Just think of the last time you caught yourself singing along to Britney’s latest pop-atrocity. You despise the song, but your brain is simply delighted by its repetitive structure, strong rhymes, and consistent rhythm, and just can’t help but join in.

Philosopher and theorist Kenneth Burke explains that once you grasp the trend of the form in a message, it invites participation regardless of the subject matter. The result is a sort of “collaborative expectancy” between audience and message, inherently making the message more persuasive.

When applied to business communications, formal patterning can be used to:

• create parallel structure across sentences in a sales piece
• ensure message consistency across a company’s entire business communications
• weave a powerful metaphor throughout your business proposal

Ultimately, science has reinforced a powerful principle to guide business communications:

Literary figures of speech improve the persuasiveness of a message because they align language with the ways that our brains operate.