FIGURES OF SPEECH
Figure-of-Speech may be classified as under:
1. Those based on resemblance
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Personification
• Apostrophe
2. Those based on Contrast:
• Antithesis
• Epigram
* Oxymoron
* Paradox
3. Those based on Association:
• Metonymy
• Synecdoche
4. Those depending on Construction:
• Climax
• Anticlimax
1. ALLITERATION: Alliteration refers to the repetition of an initial consonant sound, at least three times in a sentence.
EXAMPLES :
• A peck of pickled peppers
• Don't delay the dawn disarming display. Dusk demands daylight.
• Sara's seven sisters slept soundly in the sand.
• Sally sells sea shells by the seashore”
2. SIMILE: In Simile, a comparison is made between two objects of different kinds with at least one point in common. The Simile is introduced by the word ‘as…as’ or 'like'.
“Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get”
EXAMPLES:
• As active as quicksilver
• As afraid as a grasshopper
• As ageless as the sun
• As agile as a cat
• As agile as a monkey
• As alert as a bird
• As alike as two peas
• As alone as a leper
• As alone as Crusoe
• As ambitious as the devil
3. METAPHOR: An implied comparison between two unlike things that actually have something important in common (as if two things were one.)
EXAMPLES:
• The camel is the ship of the desert.
• Life is a dream.
• The news was a dragger to his heart.
• Revenge is a kind of wild justice.
• “My heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely hill”
* NOTE: Every SIMILE can be compressed into a METAPHOR, and Every METAPHOR can be expanded into a SIMILE.
EXAMPLES:
• Tanaji fought as fiercely as a loin. (Simile)
• Tanaji was a lion in the fight. (Metaphor)
• The waves thundered on the shore. (Metaphor)
• The waves broke on the shore with a noise like thunder. (Simile)
•My love is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June. (Simile)
• Love is a rose but you better not pick it. (Metaphor)
4. ANTITHESIS: In Antithesis, a striking opposition or contrast of words or sentiments is made in the same sentence. It is employed to secure emphasis.
EXAMPLES:
• Man proposes, but God disposes.
• Not that I loved Caesar less, but I loved Rome more.
• Speech is silver, but Silence is Gold.
• Many are called, but few are chosen.
• To err is human, but to forgive on the divine.
5. OXYMORON: A figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear side by side or at once of the same thing.
EXAMPLES:
• She accepted it as the kind cruelty of a surgeon’s knife.
• It is an open secret.
6. PARADOX: A statement that appears to contradict itself in the same sentence.
EXAMPLES :
“War is peace. Ignorance is strength. Freedom is slavery.” Though we know these things aren’t true, they present an interesting paradox that makes a person think seriously about what they have just read or heard.
7. IRONY: The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. It is often used to poke fun at a situation that everyone else sees as a very serious matter.
EXAMPLES :
“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!”
8. APOSTROPHE: An Apostrophe is a direct address to the dead, to the absent, or to a personified object or idea. This figure is a special form of Personification.
EXAMPLES:
• Milton! You should not be living at this hour.
• Friend! I know not which way I must look for comfort.
• Roll on! Thou deep and dark blue Ocean, roll.
• Death! Where is thy sting? O Grave! Where is thy victory?
9. EUPHEMISM: Euphemism consists in the description of a disagreeable thing by an agreeable name.
EXAMPLES:
• You are telling me a fairy tale. (You are telling me lies)
• He is gone to heaven. (He is dead)
•We have to let you go. (You're fired.)
•You're well fed. (You're fat.)
10. HYPERBOLE: Hyperbole is an exaggerated statement for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.
EXAMPLES:
• Why, man, if the river is dry, I am able to fill it with tears.
• Hamlet! You have not cleft my heart in twain.
•“It was as big as a mountain! It was faster than a cheetah! It was dumber than a rock!”
11. SYNECDOCHE: A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole
EXAMPLES :
ABCs for alphabet or the whole for a part
England won the World Cup in 1966.
Seeing eyes, helping hands.
12. ONOMATOPOEIA: This is the use of a word that actually sounds like what it means.
Onomatopoeia (pronounced ON-a-MAT-a-PEE-a) refers to words (such as bow-wow and hiss ) that imitate the sounds
Good examples include “hiss” or “ding-dong” or “fizz.”
13. PERSONIFICATION: In Personification, inanimate objects and abstract notions are spoken of as having life and intelligence.
This is a way of giving an inanimate object the qualities of a living thing.
EXAMPLES:
• Death lays its icy hands on King.
• Pride goes forth on horseback, grand and gay.
• Laughter is holding on both sides.
•“The tree quaked with fear as the
