A study of the meanings of "generation," a popular term in current rhetorical jargon, reveals important developments in the art and theory of rhetoric. As now used, it refers without clear distinction to rule-governed, heuristic, and trial-and-error procedures. The rule-governed procedures of transformation grammar are being employed to solve a number of traditional rhetorical problems, most notably in stylistics. A growing interest in heuristics is producing a variety of procedures for solving a broad range of developmental problems hitherto solved by trial-and-error. In the process, the domain of rhetoric is being expanded and redefined. New and important opportunities for research are opening up as a result of these efforts to understand and control cognitive processes. (Author/AMM)