FIGURES OF SPEECH

Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two
different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words like
or as. Therefore, it is a direct comparison.
Examples:
Our soldiers are as brave as lions.
Her cheeks are red like a rose.
He is as funny as a monkey.
The water well was as dry as a bone.
Metaphor
Metaphor is a figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two things essentially
unalike. It is basically comparing two things by using one kind of object or using in place of
another to suggest the likeness between them.

My brother was boiling mad. (This implies he was too angry.)

The assignment was a breeze. (This implies that the assignment was not difficult.)

It is going to be clear skies from now on. (This implies that clear skies are not a threat
and life is going to be without hardships)

Personification

Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human

attributes. The non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability
to act like human beings.
Examples:
The stuffed bear smiled as the little boy hugged him close
The wind whispered through dry grass.

The flowers danced in the gentle breeze.

Time and tide waits for none.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is naming a thing or an action by imitating the sound associated with it. For
instance, saying, The gushing stream flows in the forest is a more meaningful description than
just saying, The stream flows in the forest.
Examples:

The buzzing bee flew away.

The sack fell into the river with a splash.

The books fell on the table with a loud thump.

He looked at the roaring sky.

The rustling leaves kept me awake.

Oxymoron and Paradox

Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect. The
common oxymoron phrase is a combination of an adjective proceeded by a noun with contrasting
meanings, e.g. cruel kindness or living death. It is important to understand the difference
between a paradox and an oxymoron. A paradox may consist of a sentence or even a group of
sentences. An oxymoron, on the other hand, is a combination of two contradictory or opposite
words. A paradox seems contradictory to the general truth but it does contain an implied truth.
An oxymoron, however, may produce a dramatic effect but does not make sense. Examples of
oxymoron are found both in casual conversations and in literature.
Examples of Oxymoron

Open secret

Awfully pretty

Foolish wisdom

Original copies

Liquid gas

Examples of Paradox

You can save money by spending it.

The person who wrote something so stupid can't write at all
Men work together whether they work together or apart. - Robert Frost
The beginning of the end

Hyperbole
Hyperbole, derived from a Greek word meaning over-casting is a figure of speech, which
involves an exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis.

Examples:

mile-high ice-cream cones

Your suitcase weighs a ton!
I am dying of shame.
I am trying to solve a million issues these days.

Alliteration

Alliteration is derived from Latins Latira. It means letters of alphabet. It is a stylistic device
in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a
series.

Examples:

The wild and woolly walrus waits and wonders when well walk by.

A big bully beats a baby boy.

Assonance

Assonance takes place when two or more words close to one another repeat the same vowel
sound but start with different consonant sounds.

We light fire on the mountain.

I feel depressed and restless.
Go and mow the lawn.
Johnny went here and there and everywhere.
The engineer held the steering to steer the vehicle.
Fleet feet sweep by sleeping geese

Irony

Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is
different from the actual meaning of the words.

There are three types of irony:

Situational Irony-where actions or events have the opposite result from what is expected
or what is intended
 Verbal Irony-where someone says the opposite of what they really mean or intend;
sarcasm is a particularly biting form of verbal irony

Dramatic Irony-occurs when the audience or reader of a text knows something that the
characters do not

Situational Irony Examples:

1. There are roaches infesting the office of a pest control service.

2. A plumber spends all day working on leaky faucets and comes home to find a pipe has burst in
his home.

Verbal Irony Examples:

1. Looking at her son's messy room, Mom says, "Wow, you could win an award for cleanliness!"

2. On the way to school, the school bus gets a flat tire and the bus driver says, "Excellent! This
day couldn't start off any better!"

Dramatic Irony Examples:

1. The audience knows that a killer is hiding in the closet, but the girl in the horror movie does
not.

2. The reader knows that a storm is coming, but the children playing on the playground do not.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Metonymy is a figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something
else with which it is closely associated. We can come across examples of metonymy both from
literature and in everyday life.
Examples

England decides to keep check on immigration. (England refers to the government.)

 The pen is mightier than the sword. (Pen refers to written words and sword to military
force.)

Metonymy is often confused with another figure of speech called synecdoche. They resemble
each other but are not the same. Synecdoche refers to a thing by the name of one of its parts. For
example, calling a car a wheel is a synecdoche. A part of a car i.e. a wheel stands for the
whole car. The term coke is a common synecdoche for all carbonated drinks. In a metonymy,
on the other hand, the word we use to describe another thing is closely linked to that particular
thing, but is not a part of it. For example, Crown which means power or authority is a
metonymy.

Allusion
Allusion is a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural,
literary or political significance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it
refers.

The rise in poverty will unlock the Pandoras box of crimes. This is an allusion to one
of Greek Mythologys origin myth, Pandoras box.

This place is like a Garden of Eden. This is a biblical allusion to the garden of God
in the Book of Genesis.

Hey! Guess who the new Newton of our school is? Newton, means a genius
student, alludes to a famous scientist Isaac Newton.

Mental Workout
1. Underline the simile used in the following excerpts.
O my Luves like a red, red rose
Thats newly sprung in June;
O my Luves like the melodie
Thats sweetly played in tune. Robert Burns

I wandered lonely as a cloud

that floats on high oer vales and hills. Worsworth

2. Underline the metaphor

She is all states, and all princes, I. John Donne
 All the worlds a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and
their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. William
Shakespeare
3. Underline the personification
The shadows of the ships
Rock on the crest
In the low blue lustre
Of the tardy and the soft inrolling tide. Carl Sandburg

Pearl Button swung on the little gate in front of the House of Boxes. It was the early afternoon
of a sunshiny day with little winds playing hide-and-seek in it. Katherine Mansfield

4. Determine if the given examples are oxymoron or paradox.

a. Tragic comedy
b. Play a game of war to promote peace.
c. Seriously funny
d. Be cruel to be kind
e. Truth is honey which is bitter.

5. Underline the onomatopoeia

Im getting married in the morning!
Ding dong! The bells are gonna chime. Loewe and Lerner

The moan of doves in immemorial elms,

And murmuring of innumerable bees Alfred Lord Tennyson

6. Underline the repeated consonants (alliteration).

His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly
falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead. James Joyce

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,

The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
7. Underline the hyperbole in the excerpt below:
Ill love you, dear, Ill love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,
Ill love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry W.H. Auden