TOPIC: FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE-FIGURES OF SPEECH i.

Metonymy Examples:
ii. Synecdoche a) Man proposes, God disposes.
Lesson #_______ b) United we stand, divided we fall.
Lesson # _______ c) A jack of all trades but master of none.
Topic: Figures of Speech
Topic: Figures of Speech— Examples of Figure of Speech Epigram
Figurative language is a type of communication that does not use a
An Epigram is a brief pointed saying often in poetical form, frequently
word’s strict or realistic meaning. It applies the use of the particular Simile
introducing antithetical ideas which excite surprise and arrest attention;
language techniques called Figures of Speech. Simile is a figure in which a comparison is made between two objects of it closely resembles a proverb.
different kinds, which are alike or at least I one point. The words like,
What is a Figure of Speech? Examples:
as or so are always used.
a) A favourite has no friend.
A figure of speech is a word, phrase or expression used in a different Examples: b) Failures are pillars of success.
way from its usual meaning in order to create a particular mental picture a) The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the battle field. c) A gift is never little.
or greater effect on your reader or listener. It includes making b) He looks as cheerful as a rose.
comparisons, contrasts, associations, exaggerations and constructions. c) The story is old as the hills. Paradox
The figure of speech may be divided into five sections Paradox is a figure of speech in which a truth is conveyed under the
Metaphor
form of an apparent absurdity of contradiction.
1. Figures of speech based on Similarity or Likeness: Metaphor is a figure in which there is comparison of one thing with
Examples:
i. Simile another without the words like or as.
a) The child is father of the man.
ii. Metaphor Examples: b) There is no one so poor as a wealthy miser.
iii. Personification a) The ship ploughs the sea. c) The part is greater than the whole.
iv. Apostrophe b) The camel is the ship of the desert.
2. Figures of speech based on Sound: c) Revenge is a kind of wild justice. Oxymoron
i. Pun
ii. Alliteration Personification Oxymoron is a figure by which two contradictory qualities are predicted
iii. Onomatopoeia at once of the same thing. An adjective is added to a word of quite a
Personification is a figure in which objects are spoken of as having the
3. Figures of speech based on Contrast, Differences or contrary meaning.
qualities of a human being.
Surprise: Examples:
Examples:
i. Antithesis a) She accepted it as the kind cruelty of the surgeon’s knife.
a) The earth thirsts for rain; when it rains she smiles with
ii. Epigram b) He is always idly busy.
plenty.
iii. Paradox c) Parting is such a sweet sorrow.
b) Mute Nature moves her worshipers.
iv. Oxymoron c) The hills rejoice and clap their hands.
v. Irony Irony
vi. Euphemism Irony is the use of words, the natural meaning of which is just the
Apostrophe
vii. Litotes opposite of what is intended to be expressed. By this figure, therefore,
Apostrophe is a figure by which the speaker addresses some inanimate
4. Figures of speech based on Association or Substitution: we say one thing, but mean just the opposite.
thing or some abstract idea as if it were a living person, or some absent
i. Interrogation Examples:
person as if he were present.
ii. Exclamation a) A very fine friend you are to forsake me in my trouble.
Examples:
iii. Climax b) He was a cleverest general that ever lost a battle.
a) Come back to me, O Helen, in the pride of thy beauty.
iv. Anticlimax c) He left me to the tender mercies of my enemy.
b) Milton! Thou should’st be living at this hour.
v. Hyperbole c) Oh Death! The poor man’s friend and the best.
vi. Transferred Epithet Euphemism
vii. Tautology Antithesis Euphemism is a figure by means of which we speak in pleasing or
5. Figures of speech based on Construction or Arrangement In Antithesis a striking opposition of contrast of words or feelings is favorable terms of an unpleasant or bad thing.
of words: made in the same sentence. It is employed to secure emphasis. Examples:

Strand: English Grammar Unit 3: Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage Content Standard 9.6.1 Benchmark 9.6.5.1
 a) He has gone the way of all. Climax Alliteration
b) That statement is an invention. Climax is a figure in which the sense rises by successive steps to what This consists in the repetition of the same letter of syllable at the
c) You are telling me a fairy tale. is more important and impressive. beginning of two or more words.
Examples: Examples:
Litotes a) I came, I saw, I conquered a) Full fathom five thy father lies.
Litotes is the use of a negative to express a strong affirmative of b) Great, wide, beautiful world. b) The snake slipped under a spray.
opposite kind. c) He begs, he lies, he steals, he kills for goal. c) Fair fowls have feathers fair.
Examples:
a) I am a citizen of no mean city. Anti-Climax or Bathos
Onomatopoeia
b) I can assure you he is no fool. This is the opposite to Climax, and signifies a ludicrous descent from
the higher to lower. Onomatopoeia is the employment of words that imitate the sound or
c) He was not insensible to love.
Examples: echo the sense.
Lesson # _____ a) The soldier fights for glory and a shilling a day. Examples:
b) A hero perish, or a sparrow fall. a) The bull bellowed.
Metonymy c) I die, I faint, I fail. b) The thunder roared and the lightning crashed.
Metonymy means “a change of name,” and is so called because in this c) The rattle of the hail upon the roof awoke me.
figure a thing is spoken of not by its own name, but by the name of Hyperbole
some conspicuous accompaniment. Hyperbole is a greatly exaggerated statement, used mainly for effect,
but not intended to be taken literally. Exercises
Examples:
Examples: Name and explain the figure of speech in the following lines:
a) You must address the chair.
a) He would drown the stage with tears. 1. Called him chief jewel in his diadem.
b) The pen is mightier than the sword.
b) It is an age since we met. 2. Till birds and beasts, enchanted as he sang.
c) He is our pride.
c) He has tons and tons of money. 3. Love id not Time’s fool.
Synecdoche 4. Birds greet her with their ‘cooing’ glad.
Synecdoche or “the understanding of one thing by means of another.” Transferred Epithet 5. A pilgrim, going a lone highway.
By this figure one noun is changed for another of a similar meaning. In this figure an epithet is transferred from a word to which it properly 6. Faithful of course she lived.
Examples: belongs to some other word closely connected with it. 7. The soldier fights for glory and a shilling a day.
a) All hands to the pump. Examples: 8. He has gathered to his forefathers.
b) Give us day our daily bread. a) He passed a sleepless night. 9. I laugh, I run, I leap, I sang, I dance for joy.
c) He is Newton of this century. b) He tossed from side to side on his restless pillow. 10. Sing of the filth and dirt.
c) It is sad world we live in. 11. An ambassador is an honest man who lies abroad for the
Interrogation good of his country.
Tautology
Interrogation is a statement thrown into the form of a question for 12. She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore.
Tautology is the use of unnecessary words to express the same idea.
rhetorical effect. No answer is expected to such a question. 13. A maiden of eighteen summers.
Examples:
Examples: 14. Scepter and crown must tumble down.
a) He dwelt in lonely isolation.
a) Was not Helen of Troy a beautiful woman? 15. O death where is thy sting! O grave! where is thy victory?
b) The one sole survivor of the wreck was a Norwegian.
b) Who is here so vile that will not love this country?
c) I rejoiced at the happy sight.
c) Who would be so wicked as to shy his own father?
Pun—A pun is a play upon words.
Exclamation
Exclamation is a figure in which the exclamatory form is used to draw Examples:
greater attention to a point than a mere bald statement of it could do. a) He is too much of a bear, to bear this calmly.
Examples: b) Is life worth living? That depends upon liver.
a) What a piece of work is man! c) The person told the sexton, and sexton tolled the bell.
b) What a glorious sunset!
c) Oh that those lips had language!

Strand: English Grammar Unit 3: Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage Content Standard 9.6.1 Benchmark 9.6.5.1