Tricolon
A rhetorical structure of three parallel clauses, phrases, or words — the most persuasive number in English.
A tricolon is a set of three parallel elements arranged in succession — three phrases, three clauses, three single words — usually of similar length and grammatical shape. The pattern is so common that most readers do not notice it, which is part of its power. The ear expects three; two feels unfinished, four feels like a list.
When the three elements grow slightly in length or weight, the figure is called a tricolon crescens, and the effect is of climax: 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' Caesar's 'Veni, vidi, vici' is a tricolon of equal weight. Lincoln's 'of the people, by the people, for the people' is a tricolon in miniature.
The tricolon is the workhorse of persuasive prose. It gives an argument the feel of completeness without requiring the argument itself to be complete. Writers who become aware of it can use it deliberately; writers who become too aware of it can start to use it in every third sentence, and the reader begins, unconsciously, to distrust them.
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Keep reading the glossary
The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the start of successive clauses.
A rhetorical figure that removes conjunctions between clauses for speed and force.
The art of persuasive speaking and writing — the discipline behind every great quoted line.
A short, sharp statement that compresses a truth or observation into a single line.