Figures of Speech (simplified version)

Figures of Speech

1 Simile

明喻

Simile is the most common figure of speech

in

English.

It

is

not

direct

statement

or

description. It is a comparison, but is different

from

an

ordinary,

literal

comparison.

Its

form

is

“subject

(tenor)

+

reference

(vehicle)”,

indicated

by

indicators

of

resemblance

(simile

markers

): like, as, as…as, etc.

O

my

Luve’s

like

a

red,

red

rose

.

—

by

Robert Burns

tenor + simile markers + vehicle

2 Metaphor

暗喻

A

metaphor

is

also

a

comparison

between

two

different

things

with

a

similar

quality,

unlike

a

simile,

the

comparison

is

implied.

There

are

no

simile

markers.

So

metaphor

is

also called “Condensed Simile”

Style is the dress of thought.

subject + reference

3 Personification

拟人

It

makes

inanimate

objects,

natural

phenomena, abstractions or animals possess the

qualities of human beings.

Time and tide wait for no man.

4 Zoosemy

拟物

On

the

contrary,

a

zoosemy

is

to

describe

human

beings

with

the

qualities

of

animals,

plants, inanimate objects or abstractions.

She is shedding crocodile tears.

5 Apostrophe

顿呼

A

speaker

or

writer

directly

addresses

to

an absent or imaginary person or a personified

abstraction.

It

is

often

introduced

by

the

exclamation

“O”.

Apostrophe

is

often

used

to

convey extreme emotion, for examples:

“O eloquent, just, and mighty Death!”

6 Analogy

类比

Analogy

is

a

form

of

comparison,

comparing

the

two

unlike

things

with

many

common

qualities

or

points

of

resemblance,

or

even

the

differences.

There

are

four

sentence

patterns.

Water moves in waves the way (that) light

travels.

7 Hyperbole

夸张

Hyperbole

is

the

use

of

overstatement

or

exaggerated

expression

in

quantity,

shape

and

degree (level) to intensify feelings, to emphasize

a point, or to create humour.

He almost died laughing.

8 Understatement

低调陈述

Understatement

is

the

opposite

of

hyperbole, or overstatement. In understatement

the words play down the magnitude or value of

the subject. It emphasizes a fact by deliberately

understating it. Understatement can be divided

into Litotes and Meiosis.

Litotes

A litotes is understatement used ironically,

especially

using

a

negative

to

express

the

contrary,

to

emphasize

or

weaken

the

expressions.

This

is

no

laughing

matter.

(=This

is

a

serious matter.)

Meiosis

Meiosis

is

using

weak

expressions

to

replace

strong

ones,

that

is,

using

comparative

degree

of

adjectives

and

adverbs

or

intensive

adverbs

(almost,

hardly,

kind

of,

rather,

scarcely,

something

of,

sort

of,

etc.)

to

weaken

mood.

It

took

a

few

dollars

to

build

this

indoor

swimming pool.

9 Metonymy

转喻

The name of one thing substitutes for that

of another with which it is closely associated in

nature or meaning.

Shakespeare is my favourite.

The

crown

has

lost

much

of

its

ancient

power.

10 Synecdoche

提喻

When

a

part

stands

for

the

whole

or

the

whole stands for a part, Synecdoche is applied.

The

farms

were

short

of

hands

(helpers,

labourers) at harvest time.

The birds sang to welcome the smiling year

(=spring).

11 Antithesis

对句、对偶

Antithesis

is

a

counter- proposition

and

denotes

a

direct

contrast

to

the

original

proposition.

Man proposes, God disposes.

Speech is silver; silence is gold.

12 Epigram

警句

An

epigram

is

a

brief,

clever,

and

usually

memorable

statement

that

has

the

nature

of

a

proverb.

Hunger is the best sauce.

=A

hungry

person

is

not

choosy

about

his

food.

13 Parallelism

排比

It’s

the

deliberate

arrangement

of

two

or

more words,

phrases,

clauses

or

sentences

that

are

symmetric

in

grammatical

structure

to

create vigorous rhythm and deeper impression.

My boss has traveled around the world by

land, by sea, and by air.

14 Climax

层进

A

climax

is

a

figure

of

speech

in

which

words,

phrases,

or

clauses

are

arranged

in

order

of

increasing

importance

—

the

most

important placed at the end of a sentence. For

examples:

He

sacrificed

his

business,

his

home,

and

his honor for political gain.

There

are

three

things

that

will

endure:

faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is

love.

15 Anti-climax

突降

Similarly

an

anti-climax

is

an

abrupt

declension (either deliberate or unintended) on

the part of a speaker or writer from the dignity

of idea which he appeared to be aiming at.

I have lost my beau and lip-stick too!

He lost his wife, his child, his household goods,

and his dog at one swoop.

16 Anastrophe

倒装

Anastrophe is a figure of speech involving

an

inversion

of

a

language’s

ordinary

order

of

words; for example, saying “smart you are” to

mean “you are smart”.

Sweet was that evening.

Extremely sorry I am for my mistakes.

17 Repetition

反复

Repetition

is

the

simple

repeating

of

a

word, within a sentence or a poetical line, with

no particular placement of the words, in order

to emphasize.

Immediate repetition

“

Stop it, stop it, stop it

”

, the woman cried.

They kept talking, talking, talking all night

long.

Intermittent repetition

Like draws like.

Easy come, easy go.

Out of sight, out of mind.

18 Anaphora

首语重复

An

anaphora

is

a

rhetorical

device

that

consists of repeating a sequence of words at the

beginnings

of

neighboring

clauses,

thereby

lending them emphasis.

Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition!

19 Epistrophe

尾词重复

Epistrophe

is

the

repetition

of

the

same

word or words at the end of successive phrases,

clauses

or

sentences.

It

is

an

extremely

emphatic device because of the emphasis placed

on the last word in a phrase or sentence.

When

I

was

a

child,

I

spoke

as

a

child,

I

understood as a child, I thought as a child.

20 Chiasmus

回文

In

rhetoric,

chiasmus

is

the

figure

of

speech in which two or more clauses are related

to each other through a reversal of structures in

order to make a larger point; that is, the clauses

display inverted parallelism. The elements of a

simple chiasmus are often labelled in the form

A

B

B

A,

where

the

letters

correspond

to

grammar, words, or meaning.

In inverted meaning

Who

dotes,

yet

doubts;

suspects,

yet

strongly loves.

In inverted grammar

He knowingly lied and we blindly followed.

(A B A B)

In inverted word

Madam,

I’m

Adam.

Ma is as selfless as I am.

21 Anadiplosis

顶真、联珠法

Anadiplosis

(also

called

catchword

repetition,

or

chain

reapetition,

means

“a

doubling,

folding

up”)

is

the

repetition

of

the

last

word

of

a

preceding

clause.

The

word

is

used

at

the

end

of

a

sentence

and

then

used

again at the beginning of the next sentence. For

examples:

When I give I give myself.

Strength

through

unity,

unity

through

faith.

22 Circumlocution

迂回法

Circumlocution

is

an

ambiguous

or

roundabout

figure

of

speech.

In

its

most

basic

form,

circumlocution

is

using

many

words

(such as “a to

ol used for cutting things such as

paper and hair”) to describe something simple

(“scissors”).

In

this

sense,

the

vast

majority

of

definitions

found

in

dictionaries

are