February 01, 2012

Figures Of Speech

1. Simile
A figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made between two essentially unlike things and usually using “like” or “as”.
(Ex. Christian eats like a pig.)

2. Metaphor
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one object or idea is applied to another, thereby suggesting a likeness or analogy between them.
(Ex. He was a lion in the battlefield.)

3. Personification
            A type of metaphor in which distinctive human characteristics, e.g., honesty, emotion, volition, etc., are attributed to an animal, object or idea.
(Ex. My car was happy to be washed.)

4. Hyperbole
            It is a way of expressing the excess or exaggerating a thing to such an extent that it becomes unbelievable.
(Ex. The whole world was staring at me.)

5. Irony
            It is humorous or lightly sarcastic mode of speech. Words are used here to convey a meaning contrary to their literal meaning.
(Ex. The boy is so intelligent that he failed in all the subjects.)

6. Metonymy
            It is a rhetorical device in which a strong association of a thing is used to represent it.
(Ex. The truck hit me from behind. –The truck hit my car from behind.)

7. Onomatopoeia
            This figure of speech imitates the sounds produced by the objects or actions.
(Ex. The whirring of the washing machine.)

8. Alliteration
            It refers to the repetition of any particular sound among words placed close together, in a sentence. These are mainly consonant sounds, but can be vowel sounds too. It is often used as a figure of speech in poetry.
(Ex. Sara's seven sisters slept soundly in sand.)

9. Litotes

            This figure of speech refers to the use of understatement, to affirm a particular situation or event with the use of a negative opposite.
(Ex. Einstein is not a bad mathematician. - Einstein is a great mathematician.)        

10. Rhetoric
This refers to the art of persuasion through effective speech. Questions that have an obvious answer are known as rhetorical questions. Such questions are not expected to be answered, as the answer is already known.
(Ex. If practice makes perfect, and no one's perfect, then why practice? - Billy Corgan)






(This was my assignment in English before. I forgot the sources. Sorry!)

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