FIGURES OF SPEECH

FIGURES OF SPEECH

words or phrases that depart from straightforward literal language

used and crafted for emphasis, freshness, expression, or clarity.

sometimes called a rhetorical figure or a locution.

1. SIMILEExpressed comparison between

unlike things that have a common quality.

Can be identified by the use of as or like.

Examples:

–The little stars, like the little children, went first to bed.

–Far in the distance the river gleamed as a flashing sword of silver.

2. METAPHORan implied comparison between

things essentially different but having some common quality.

Examples:oA train is a dragon that roars

through the dark.

oLove is a rose but you better not pick it.

3.PERSONIFICATIONascribes intelligence, action,

or feeling to abstract ideas of inanimate things.

Examples:oThe first rays of morning tiptoed through the meadow.

oThe flowers waltzed in the gentle breeze.

4.APOSTROPHEThe dead are addressed to be living;

the absent as if present; and the inanimate object and abstract idea as if they were person.

Example:

oOh world ! I cannot hold thee close enough.

oBelieve it is the lost wisdom of my grandfather whose ways were his own and who died before I could ask.

5. ALLUSION

For rhetorical effect, reference is

made to some familiar fact of history

or literature.

Example:

o There is no “Open Sesame” to the

treasure of learning.

6. HYPERBOLEAn exaggerated statement made for

effect.

Example:

o I have looked all over creation for my

book.

oIt is going to take a bazillion years to

get through Medical School.

7. ALLITERATIONRepetition of initial similar consonant

sound.

Example:

oThe soul selects her own society.

oYou'll never put a better bit of butter on your knife.

oVowel – assonanceo Johnny went here and there and everywhere.

8. METONYMYthe use of the name of one thing

for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated

(as *crown* in *lands belonging to the crown*)

The pen is mightier than sword. 

9. OXYMORONplural oxymora, two opposite

ideas are joined to create an effect.

The common oxymoron is a combination of an adjective proceeded by a noun with contrasting meanings e.g. “cruel kindness” or “living

death”.

10. REPETITION• is the simple repeating of a word,

within a sentence or a poetical line, with no particular placement of the words, in order to provide emphasis.

• Today, as never before, the fates of men are so intimately linked to one another that a disaster for one is a disaster for everybody.(Natalia Ginzburg, The Little Virtues, 1962)

11. REPETENDAn instance of using a word,

phrase, or clause more than once in a short"I want her to live. I want her

to breathe. I want her to aerobicize."

A. alliteration B. apostrophe C. allusion

D. personification E. repetend F. hyperbole

G. Metaphor H. simile I. oxymoronJ. metonymy K. repetition

1."Good coffee is like friendship: rich and warm and strong.“

2."You'll never put a better bit of butter on your knife." 3.A horse is a horse, of course, of course, and no one can

talk to a horse of course. 4.All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little

hand. 5.Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy

victory? 6.Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat sighing

through all her works gave signs of woe. 7.He was eager to help but his legs were rubber. 8.Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die…

Hold fast to dreams for when dreams go… 9.I am going on a working vacation. 10.I violated the Noah rule: predicting rain doesn't count;

building arks does.

SIMILE

OXYMORON

OXYMORON

ONOMATOPOEIA