Adams Sherman Hill - The Principles of Rhetoric

In probably his most influential work, Hill argues for a focus on rhetoric as a science, not an art. Therefore, The Principles of Rhetoric is only concerned with two elements: grammar and style. The text ignores Invention, and like many current traditional textbooks, places a heavy focus on exposition, which, according to the current-traditionalists, sets up the rational and empirical evidence in order to appeal to reason and understanding. Hill's Principles follows this definition fairly strictly. He sees rhetoric as style, not substance; it doesn't offer any new meaning or understanding. Therefore, what one needs to understand is how to use rhetoric to create more intellectual arguments, not to generate new knowledge.

Much of the early focus inThe Principles of Rhetoric is devoted primarily to Grammatical Purity. Hill offers many examples and rules on proper usage, including the three main ideas that language must be: reputable, national, and present. Figurative language is considered inferior to exposition.

Hill also discusses the modes of writing in The Principles of Rhetoric, choosing to focus extensively on narration, description, and argumentation. Hill believed that movement and method in narration are “the life and logic of discourse”, a view that his journalist background may have helped develop. Description brings "before the mind of the reader persons or things as they appear to the writer". Argument and persuasion, for Hill, are closely linked, with persuasion acting as "an adjunct" to argument; its main emphasis on feelings, not intellect.