Figures of speech

FIGURES OF FIGURES OF FIGURES OF FIGURES OF SPEECHSPEECHSPEECHSPEECH

05/04/2010 AcademicWritingSkills

FIGURES OF SPEECHFIGURES OF SPEECH

A figure of speech is a rhetorical deviceA figure of speech is a rhetorical devicethat achieves a special effect by usingwords in distinctive wayswords in distinctive ways.



A figure of speech is a use of a wordh d f lthat diverges from its normal meaning,

or a phrase with a specialized meaningn t b s d n th lit l m nin f thnot based on the literal meaning of thewords in it such as a metaphor, simile,or personificationor personification.

Figures of speech often provideFigures of speech often provideemphasis, freshness of expression, orclarityclarity.



1. Simile:A stated comparison between twodifferent things that have certaind fferent th ngs that have certa nqualities in common.

a. "My face looks like a wedding-cake left out a. My face looks like a wedding cake left out in the rain.“

- (W.H. Auden)(W.H. Auden)b. Her words were as dull as a dirt.



2. Metaphor:pAn implied comparison between twounlike things that actually haveunl ke th ngs that actually havesomething important in common.

a. I fall upon the thorns of life.- P B Shelley- P B Shelley

b. The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one.Edward Fitzgerald- Edward Fitzgerald



3. Personification:A figure of speech in which aninanimate object or abstraction isnan mate object or abstract on sendowed with human qualities orabilities.a t s.

a. My car was happy to be washed.b Fate frowned on his endeavorsb. Fate frowned on his endeavors.c. The haughty lion surveyed his realm.



4. Hyperbole:ypAn extravagant statement or the useof exaggerated terms for the purposeof exaggerated terms for the purposeof emphasis or heightened effect, butnot to be taken literally.not to ta n t ra y.

a I'd give my right arm for a cup of teaa. I d give my right arm for a cup of tea.b. My backpack weighs a ton!



5. Irony:The use of words to convey the oppositeof their literal meaning. A statement orsituation where the meaning issituation where the meaning iscontradicted by the appearance orpresentation of the idea.presentation of the idea.a.He was no notorious malefactor, but he had

been twice on the pillory, and once burnt inth h d f t ifli i htthe hand for trifling oversights.

- Direccions for Speech and Style

b.Taking money from the poor and giving it tob.Taking money from the poor and giving it tothe rich.



6. Antithesis:The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas inbalanced phrases.pa. "Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing."

- (Goethe)b. "We must learn to live together as brothers

or perish together as fools."- (Martin Luther King)- (Martin Luther King)

c. "You're easy on the eyes; Hard on the heart."- (Terri Clark)( )



7. Litotes:Deliberate understatement or denialof the contrary.of the contrary.a."The grave's a fine a private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace.", ,- Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress”

b."for life's not a paragraphp g pAnd death I think is no parenthesis.”



8. Paradox:A statement that appears tocontradict itself.contrad ct tself.

a “The child is father to the man ” a. The child is father to the man. b. “You always hurt the one you love.”



9. Synecdoche:yA figure of speech is which a part is used torepresent the whole, the whole for a part,p , p ,the specific for the general, the general forthe specific, or the material for the thing

d f imade from it.a. "Robby got wheels this summer."

wheels = car wheels = car b. ". . . the hand that wrote the letter . . ."

hand = personhand person



10. Pun:A play on words, sometimes ondifferent senses of the same word andd fferent senses of the same word andsometimes on the similar sense orsound of different words.soun of ff r nt wor s.

a. Writing with a broken pencil is pointless.b Tigers do not eat clowns because theyb. Tigers do not eat clowns because they

taste funny.c. Syrup is a source of sugar.y p f g



11.Oxymoron:yA figure of speech in whichincongruous or contradictory termsncongruous or contrad ctory termsappear side by side.

a. cold fireb honest thiefb.honest thiefc. darkly litd fearful joyd.fearful joy



12. Understatement:A figure of speech in which a writer or a speakerA figure of speech in which a writer or a speakerdeliberately makes a situation seem less importantor serious than it is.

"It's just a flesh wound "a."It s just a flesh wound."- (Black Knight, after having both of his arms cut off, in Monty Python and the

Holy Grail)

b."I am just going outside and may be some time."- (Captain Lawrence Oates, Antarctic explorer, before walking out into a

blizzard to face certain death, 1912)

c. "I have to have this operation. It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain."y

- (Holden Caulfield in The Catcher In The Rye, by J. D. Salinger)



13.Parenthesis:- a word, phrase, or sentence insertedas an aside in a sentence complete byas an as de n a sentence complete byitself.

a. The number of living languages (currentlya. The number of living languages (currentlyabout 6000, by most estimates) isdecreasing rapidly.

b. "The English (it must be owned) are rathera foul-mouthed nation."

- (William Hazlitt)



14.Apostrophe:p p- a diversion of discourse from the topicat hand to addressing some person org pthing, either present or absent.

a. "Hello darkness, my old friendI've come to talk with you again . . .."

- (Paul Simon, "The Sounds of Silence")

b "Bright star would I were steadfast as thou b. "Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art"

- (John Keats)( )



15.Onomatopoeia:pThe formation or use of words thatimitate the sounds associated with them tate the sounds assoc ated w th theobjects or actions they refer to.

a.“Achoo” : —used to represent the sound ofa sneezea sneeze.

b. “Meow” : -the cry of a cat.


THE ENDTHE END


Education

Figures of speech