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. SIMILE
Expressed 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. METAPHOR
an implied comparison between things
essentially different but having some
common quality.
Examples:
o A train is a dragon that roars through the
dark.
o Love is a rose but you better not pick it.
 3.PERSONIFICATION
ascribes 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.APOSTROPHE
The dead are addressed to be living; the absent
as if present; and the inanimate object and
abstract idea as if they were person.
Example:
o Oh world ! I cannot hold thee close enough.
o Believe 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. HYPERBOLE
An exaggerated statement made for effect.
Example:

o I have looked all over creation for my book.

o It is going to take a bazillion years to get

through Medical School.
 7. ALLITERATION
Repetition of initial similar consonant sound.
Example:
o The soul selects her own society.
o You'll never put a better bit of butter on your
knife.
o Vowel – assonance
o Johnny went here and there and everywhere.
 8. METONYMY
the 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. OXYMORON
plural 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. REPETEND
An 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."
SYNECDOCHE
 FIGURES OF SPEECH

alliteration apostrophe
assonance allusion
personification repetend
hyperbole
metaphor simile
oxymoron metonymy
repetition
SIMILE
SIMILE
OXYMORON
metaphor
OXYMORON
metaphor
ONOMATOPOEIA
A. alliteration B. apostrophe C. allusion
D. personification E. repetend F. hyperbole
G. Metaphor H. simile I. oxymoron
J. metonymy K. Repetition L. assonance
ANSWERS
ANSWERS
QUIZ
1. The camel is the ship of the desert.
2. Death lays its icy hands on Kings.
3. Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale.
4. Did David’s bed swim with his tears?
5.How high his Honour holds his haughty
head !
6. The best brains ( i.e. scholars ) have
assembled here.
7. “My heart is like an apple tree whose
boughs are bent with thickest fruit.”
8. “Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard around the world.”
9. “He beareth not the sword in vain”
10. I must confess that in my quest I felt
depressed and restless.