Figures of speech

A figure of speech is figurative language in the form of a single word or phrase. It

can be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or
a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words.
There are mainly five figures of
speech: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification and synecdoche. Figures of
speech often provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity. However, clarity
may also suffer from their use, as any figure of speech introduces an ambiguity
between literal and figurative interpretation. A figure of speech is sometimes called
a rhetorical figure or a locution.
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two things through the explicit
use of connecting words (such as like, as, so, than, or various verbs such as
resemble). Although similes and metaphors are sometimes considered as
interchangeable, similes acknowledge the imperfections and limitations of the
comparative relationship to a greater extent than metaphors. Metaphors are subtler
and therefore rhetorically stronger in that metaphors equate two things rather than
simply compare them.
Examples :
Kate is cute as a kitten, comparing the way someone looks to the way a kitten looks
Amcel is busy as a bee comparing someones level of energy to a fast-flying bee
Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.
comparing the uncertainty of life to the uncertainty of choosing a chocolate from a box

Metaphor is more rhetorically powerful than a simile. While a simile compares two
items, a metaphor may compare or directly equates them, and so does not
necessarily apply any distancing words of comparison, such as "like" or "as".
Examples :
Life is a roller coaster
Their home was a prison
She is a peacock

Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to

create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally
Examples:
I have a million things to do. meaning he/she has many things to do
can a man do / work a million things?
This car goes faster than the speed of light meaning the car runs so fast
Ive told you a million times

Personification gives human traits to inanimate objects or ideas

Examples:
The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky can stars danced?
The bees played hide and seek with the flowers as they buzzed from one to another can
bees play a hide and seek?
The wind howled its mighty objection can wind howled?

A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to

the whole of something, or vice versa.
Examples:
No busy hand provoke a tear
No roving foot shall crush thee here

Metonymy is a figures of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of
something else with which it is closely associated.
Examples:
The suits were at meeting. (The suits stand for business people.)
The pen is mightier than the sword. (Pen refers to written words and sword to military force.)
Let me give you a hand. (Hand means help.)

Simile comparing two things by using the words like or as

Metaphor a direct comparison of two unlike things or ideas
Hyperbole - exaggeration
Personification gives human traits to inanimate objects or ideas
Synecdoche using a part for the whole
Metonymy using another word which is clearly identifiable or associated with the
idea referred to
Apostrophe a direct address to something inanimate or dead or absent
Ex. Break, break , break
On thy cold grey stones, O sea!
Oxymoron using contradictory terms
Ex. O heavy lightness, serious vanity!
Litotes giving an assertion by means of negation or understatement
Ex. I never saw a moor,
I never saw a see;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be
Allusion refers to any scientific, historical, mythological, literary, or biblical event or
figure
Ex. I am not Lazarus nor Prince Hamlet
Paradox a phrase or statement that on the surface seems contradictory , but
makes some kind of emotional sense
Ex. You have to die to live

FINAL EXAMINATION SCHEDULE

March 24 tuesday
EDUC 225 4:00-6:00 pm VSB 304
March 25 wednesday
EDUC 226 2:00-4:00 pm VSB 304
EDUC 227 4:00-6:00 pm VSB 304

March 26 thursday
SOC 2 7:30-9:30am CAS 704
EDUC 3214 9:30-11:30 am CAS 704
March 27 friday
ENGED 5 7:30-9:30am VSB 304
ENGED 6 9:30-11:30 ANM VSB 304