Rhythmic use of words shows man in Paris to be French (5)
I believe the answer is:
metre
'rhythmic use of words shows man' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'paris to be french' is the wordplay.
'paris' becomes 'm' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'to be french' becomes 'etre' (form of the verb 'to be' in French).
'm'+'etre'='METRE'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for metre that I've seen before include "Distance" , "Moisture remover" , "Characteristic of feet" , "determined by scanning" , "Yard is smaller than this" .)