Ward Farnsworth's Advice on Memorable Prose: 14 Rhetorical Techniques That Work

Ward Farnsworth is the Dean of the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. He is also the author of the Farnsworth Classical English series, including Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric and Classical English Style. The books catalog hundreds of rhetorical techniques used by Churchill, Lincoln, Dickens, Melville, and Burke. They are manuals for writing prose that people remember.

His writing advice comes from David Perell's How I Write podcast and the Russell Kirk Center's review of his work. Farnsworth talks about prose the way a musician talks about scales. He sees patterns that most writers miss.

Everyone's Problem Is Too Many Words

Farnsworth opens with a diagnosis. "You know what everybody's problem is? Too many words." A million people are trying to say something at the same time. The ones who get remembered say it with fewer words, better chosen. His entire project is studying utterances that survived what he calls "the internet of time" - a tournament where billions of statements were made and only a few rose to the surface.

Saxon Over Latin

"Go through your prose, look for words that are fancy, change them to Saxon." English has two word pools. Saxon words are short, old, and concrete: house, fight, think, love, blood. Latin words are long, formal, and abstract: residence, altercation, contemplate, affection, hemorrhage.

Saxon words hit harder. They get to the point. They create images. When you really know what you are talking about, you can explain yourself in Saxon words. People who reach for "utilize" when "use" will do, or "facilitate" when they mean "help," are often using the Latinate word to sound smarter. It has the opposite effect.

This is Orwell's Rule 2 stated differently. Never use a long word where a short one will do. Farnsworth gives the same advice with more precision. He names the two word pools. He explains why one hits harder than the other.

End With Short Words

Build with complex. Resolve with simple. End with short words that "get you in the gut." This is Farnsworth's most practical rule.

Churchill: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." Thirty-two consecutive Saxon words. Churchill knew what he was doing. He wrote that in English, "the oldest words, the Saxon words, are the ones that strike deepest."

Oliver Wendell Holmes: "Freedom for the thought that we hate." The sentence begins with Latinate abstractions - principle, constitution, imperatively, attachment. Then it resolves into Saxon. That last word, "hate," hits like a punch. You feel it. You do not need to think about it.

Try it with any sentence. Move the shortest, strongest word to the end. The sentence will almost always improve.

Say It Twice, in Both Languages

Lincoln's greatest technique: say it once in Latin, then again in Saxon. "I do not expect the union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall." Union and dissolved are Latinate. House and fall are Saxon. He is saying the same thing twice, in two registers.

A modern editor would cross one version out. You are repeating yourself. Lincoln knew better. The Latin version appeals to the mind. The Saxon version gets you in the gut. Together, they reach everyone.

Churchill does this too. So does the King James Bible. When you see a great speaker apparently repeating themselves, look again. Often one version uses longer, more conceptual words. The other uses shorter, more concrete words. They are speaking two languages.

Word Choice Is a System

"How the choice over here affects the choice over there." Word choice is not about individual words. It is about the relationship between words. A Latin word in a Saxon sentence stands out. A Saxon word in a Latin sentence stands out. Both effects can be useful.

Change one word and you change the pressure on every word around it. This is why find-and-replace editing often feels wrong. You swap one word and the sentence sounds off. It is not the new word that is wrong. It is the relationship between the new word and its neighbors. Like music, where a chord is not interesting by itself - the chord change is what matters.

Repetition Creates Emphasis

Saying something once is telling. Saying it three times is rhetoric. Churchill's "We shall fight" repeated six times is not redundancy. Each repetition adds weight. The repetition captures the ear and "leaves those words hanging in the air."

Most writers are afraid of repetition. They were taught to vary their language. Farnsworth says this instinct is often wrong. Strategic repetition is one of the most powerful tools in English prose. Accidental repetition is sloppy. Deliberate repetition is powerful.

Epistrophe: End With the Same Word

Lincoln at Gettysburg: "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." Ending consecutive clauses with the same word is called epistrophe. It is the mirror of anaphora (starting with the same word).

The end of a sentence is its most important position. The last thing you hear rings in the ear. Lincoln loved epistrophe. "Government of the people, by the people, for the people" - the same speech, the same device. Three repetitions at the end. It follows the rule of three. It is rhetorically perfect.

The Passive Voice Is Not Always Wrong

Farnsworth pushes back against the blanket rule to avoid passive voice. "All men are created equal" is passive. "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" is passive. Both are among the greatest sentences in English.

Churchill could have written the active version: "Never in the field of human conflict have so many owed so much to so few." But in his passive version, "so many" and "so few" end up right next to each other. The contrast is sharper. The rhythm is better.

The rule should not be "avoid the passive voice." It should be "make sure you have a good reason for every choice." That is the master rule for all of writing. Follow rules of style and grammar. But if you break one, know why.

Questions Engage Readers

Ask a question. Then answer it. This is one of the oldest rhetorical techniques. It works because a question activates the reader's brain. They start thinking about the answer before you give it. They are participating in the argument, not just receiving it.

Even a half-second of suspense is better than none.

Strategic Omission

What you leave out says as much as what you include. This is Klinkenborg's "write by implication" principle. Do not state the conclusion if the reader can reach it themselves.

Farnsworth sees omission as a rhetorical figure. A deliberate departure from complete statement. You say less than you mean. The reader fills in the gap. The gap is where the power lives. Hemingway built his entire style on it.

Apprentice Yourself to a Master

Farnsworth's practical advice: pick a writer whose prose you admire and study them the way a musician studies scales. Lincoln read the King James Bible and Shakespeare obsessively. Holmes grew up immersed in literary culture. Churchill studied rhetoric deliberately and wrote about it.

You do not need genius. You need thousands of hours of immersion in great prose. Read not for content but for technique. How does Churchill build a sentence? Where does Lincoln place the strongest word? The answers are there if you read with a pencil.

Key Takeaways

• Everyone's problem is too many words. Cut first.
• Choose Saxon words over Latin. Short, concrete, and forceful beats long and abstract.
• End sentences with short, strong words.
• Say it twice: once in Latin for the mind, once in Saxon for the gut.
• Word choice is a system. Every word affects the words around it.
• Strategic repetition is powerful. Accidental repetition is sloppy.
• Epistrophe - ending clauses with the same word - is Lincoln's secret weapon.
• The passive voice is fine when it serves rhythm and contrast.
• Questions engage readers. Ask, then answer.
• Leave things out. The gap is where the power lives.
• Apprentice yourself to a great writer. Study their prose like scales.

Farnsworth's word-choice-as-system principle is exactly what inline diffs reveal. When AI suggests changing a word, you see how it affects the surrounding sentence. Accept the change that improves the system. Reject the one that breaks it. The tool shows the relationships. You make the judgment.

This post draws from Farnsworth's appearance on How I Write and the Russell Kirk Center's review of his work. Athens is an AI writing editor that shows you how each word change affects the whole sentence.