Figure of Speech
Figure of Speech
Figure of Speech
1.SIMILE
In simile two unlike things are explicitly compared. For example, "She is like a fairy". A
simile is introduced by words such as like, so, as etc.
2. METAPHOR
It is an informal or implied simile in which words like, as, so are omitted. For example,
"He is like a lion (Simile) "and "He is a lion (metaphor)". In the following examples,
metaphors are underlined.
She is a star of our family.
The childhood of the world; the anger of the tempest; the deceitfulness of
the riches: wine is a mocker.
She is now in the sunset of her days.
3. PERSONIFICATION
4. METONYMY
Metonymy is meant for a change of name. It is a substitute of the thing names for the
thing meant. Following examples will clarify the concept.
It is a direct address to some inanimate thing or some abstract idea as if it were living
person or some absent person as if it were present. Example, "Boy's mother loved him
very much."
6. HYPERBOLE
7. SYNECDOCHE
Synecdoche is the understanding of one thing by means of another. Here, a part is used
to designate the whole or the whole to designate a part. For example, "I have the Viceroy,
love the man.", and "All hands (crew) at work."
8. TRANSFERRED EPITHETS
9. EUPHEMISM
By using the euphemism, we speak in agreeable and favorable terms of some person,
object or event which is ordinarily considered unpleasant and disagreeable. For
example,
In this mode of speech, the real meanings of the words used are different from the
intended meanings. For example, the child of cobbler has no shoe.
11. PUN
This consists of a play on the various meanings of a word. Its effect is often ludicrous.
For example,
It is a brief pointed saying. It couples words which apparently contradict each other. The
language of the epigram is remarkable for its brevity. Examples are as under:
He is no dullard.
I am nota little
He is not a bad sort.
16. INTERROGATION
This is a rhetorical mode of affirming or denying something more strongly than could be
done in ordinary language. Examples,
It is used for strong expression of feelings. For examples,O lift me as a wave, a leaf, a
cloud I fall upon the thorns of life; I bleed!
18. CLIMAX
This is the opposite to climax and signifies a ludicrous descent from the higher to the
lower.
A man so various, that he seemed to be. Not one, but all mankind's epitome;
who in the course of one revolving moon; was lawyer, statesman, fiddler, and
buffoon.
20. ALLITERATION
The repetition of the same letter or syllable at the beginning of twO or more words is
called alliteration. For example,
The formation ofa word whose sound is made to suggest or echo the sense as in
cuckoo, bang, growl, hiss.
This consists of expressing some fact or idea in a roundabout way, instead of stating it
at once. For example,
23. Enjambment
An enjambed line typically lacks punctuation at its line break, so the reader is carried
smoothly and swiftly-without interruption-to the next line of the poem.