Figures of speech

A figure of speech is figurative language in the form of a single word or phrase. It can be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words. There are mainly five figures of speech: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification and synecdoche. Figures of speech often provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity. However, clarity may also suffer from their use, as any figure of speech introduces an ambiguity between literal and figurative interpretation. A figure of speech is sometimes called a rhetorical figure or a locution.

A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two things through the explicit use of connecting words (such as like, as, so, than, or various verbs such as resemble). Although similes and metaphors are sometimes considered as interchangeable, similes acknowledge the imperfections and limitations of the comparative relationship to a greater extent than metaphors. Metaphors are subtler and therefore rhetorically stronger in that metaphors equate two things rather than simply compare them.

Examples :

Kate is cute as a kitten,” comparing the way someone looks to the way a kitten looks

Amcel is busy as a bee” comparing someone’s level of energy to a fast-flying bee

Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.comparing the uncertainty of life to the uncertainty of choosing a chocolate from a box

Metaphor is more rhetorically powerful than a simile. While a simile compares two items, a metaphor may compare or directly equates them, and so does not necessarily apply any distancing words of comparison, such as "like" or "as". 

Examples :

Life is a roller coaster

Their home was a prison

She is a peacock

Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally

Examples:I have a million things to do. – meaning he/she has many things to docan a man do / work a million things?This car goes faster than the speed of light – meaning the car runs so fastI’ve told you a million times

Personification gives human traits to inanimate objects or ideas

Examples:

The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky – can stars danced?

The bees played hide and seek with the flowers as they buzzed from one to another – can bees play a hide and seek?

The wind howled its mighty objection – can wind howled?

A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of something, or vice versa.

Examples:

No busy hand provoke a tear

No roving foot shall crush thee here

Metonymy is a figures of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated.

Examples:

The suits were at meeting. (The suits stand for business people.)

The pen is mightier than the sword. (Pen refers to written words and sword to military force.)

Let me give you a hand. (Hand means help.)

Simile – comparing two things by using the words like or as

Metaphor – a direct comparison of two unlike things or ideas

Hyperbole - exaggeration

Personification – gives human traits to inanimate objects or ideas

Synecdoche – using a part for the whole

Metonymy – using another word which is clearly identifiable or associated with the idea referred to

Apostrophe – a direct address to something inanimate or dead or absent

Ex. Break, break , break

On thy cold grey stones, O sea!

Oxymoron – using contradictory terms

Ex. O heavy lightness, serious vanity!

Litotes – giving an assertion by means of negation or understatement

Ex. I never saw a moor,

I never saw a see;

Yet know I how the heather looks,

And what a wave must be

Allusion – refers to any scientific, historical, mythological, literary, or biblical event or figure

Ex. I am not Lazarus nor Prince Hamlet

Paradox – a phrase or statement that on the surface seems contradictory , but makes some kind of emotional sense

Ex. You have to die to live

FINAL EXAMINATION SCHEDULEMarch 24 tuesdayEDUC 225 4:00-6:00 pm VSB 304March 25 wednesdayEDUC 226 2:00-4:00 pm VSB 304EDUC 227 4:00-6:00 pm VSB 304March 26 thursday

SOC 2 7:30-9:30am CAS 704EDUC 3214 9:30-11:30 am CAS 704March 27 fridayENGED 5 7:30-9:30am VSB 304ENGED 6 9:30-11:30 ANM VSB 304