LESSON5

Fi
gur
esofspeech

TI
MEFRAME:5hr
s.
INTRODUCTI ON:Acer tainpiecewi l
lnotbeuniquelycomposedwi thoutfi
guresof
speech.Thishighl
i
ghtsthemai nideaandaddscol orandspicetowr i
ti
ng.Inthi
slesson,
studentscanproduceanddev el
opmast erpi
eceswi t
hcr eat
ivi
tyastheywil
lbeinject
ed
withtopicsofsimi
le,
met aphor ,
onomat opoei
a,oxymor on,per
sonif
icati
on,i
rony,
euphemi sm,andhyperbole.
OBJECTI
VES:
Attheendofthissessi
on,thestudentswil
lbeablet
o:
I
denti
fythefi
gur
esofspeech
1. Creat
esent
enceswi t
hf i
gur
esofspeech
2. Drawapict
uredepict
ing8figuresofspeech
3. Devel
oparefl
ecti
on

LEARNI
NGACTI
VITI
ES/
DISCUSSI
ON:
Afigur
eofspeechi sawordorphr aseusingf igurativelanguage—languagethat
hasothermeaningthanitsnormaldefi
niti
on.Inot herwor ds, f
iguresofspeechesrelyon
i
mpl i
edorsuggestedmeani ng,
rat
herthanadi ctionarydef ini
ti
on.Weexpr essand
devel
opt hem t
hroughhundredsofdif
ferentrhetoricaltechniques, f
rom speci
fi
ctypes
l
ikemet aphor
sandsimiles,tomoregeneralformsl i
kesar casm andslang.

Funct
ionofFi
gur
eofSpeech

Fi
gureofspeechisnotonlyusedt oembelli
sht helanguage,butalsocausea
momentofexci t
ementwhenr eading.Itisusedequal l
yi nwrit
ingaswel lasinspeech.I
t,
i
nf act
,provi
desemphasis,cl
ari
tyorf reshnesstoexpr essi
on.Cl ar
it
y,howev er,
may
sometimessufferbecauseafi
gureofspeechi ntr
oducesdoubl emeaningssuchas
connotat
iveanddenotati
vemeanings.I talsostr
engthenst hecreativ
eexpr essi
onand
descri
pti
onalongwithmakingthel anguagemor egr aphic,poi
ntedandv ivi
d.
 Ty
pesofFi
gur
esofSpeech

1]Si
mil
e

Asimil
eisaf i
gureofspeechthatusescomparison.Inasimi l
e,weusetwo
speci
fi
cwords“li
ke”and“as”tocomparetwounlikel
ythings,thatactual
l
yhavenothi
ng
i
ncommon.Thi sisdonetobringoutthedramati
cnatureoft heproseandinvokevi
vi
d
i
magesandcompar isons.I
tisoneofthemostcommonf or
msofaf igur
eofspeech
andisusedi
nev er
ythi
ngf r
om day-
to-
daytalkt
opoems.

Letusseesomeexampl esofsimil
e.“Shei sasbraveasal i
on”.Hereyouwi l
l
noticeagi rl
andherbr aver
yarebeingcompar edt oali
on.thisi
sanunusual andill
ogical
compar i
son,butitbri
ngsoutthevivi
dimageryandl yri
calquali
tyi
nt hesent
ence.The
l
iteralsentencewoul dhaveread“Sheisbrav
e” ,
butusingt hesimil
emakesi tsound
muchbet ter
.Othersuchexampl escanbequitelikeamouseast allasamount ai
n,as
strongasanox, preci
ousli
keanangel

2]Met
aphor

Amet aphorandasi milear

equit
esimilaractual
ly.Ametaphoralsouses
comparest
ot hi
ngst hatareinnowaysimil
ar.Itdoessot obri
ngoutthesymbolism.A
metaphori
sawor dorphraseusedtoshowitssimi l
ari
tytoanothert
hing.I
thel
psto
expl
ainani
dea, buti
fy outakeametaphoratitsli
ter
almeaningitwil
lsoundabsurd.

Anexampleofamet aphori
s“ Al
exisachicken”.Li
ter
all
y,t
hissoundssovery
absurd.Butthi
sisametaphorwhichsuggeststhatAlexisacoward,orfri
ght
ened.I
t
compar esorimpli
est
hatAlexisachickentobri
ngoutt hesymboli
sm.Someot her
examplesare‘lov
eisabatt
lefi
eld”
,“al
ltheworl
d’sastage”,“
thatt
echnologyi
sa
dinosaur”et
c.

Whileasimileandmetaphorseem tobeverysimi
lar,t
herei
sonebasi
c
di
ff
erencebetweent het
wo.I
nasi mil
e,thecomparisonhappenswitht
hehel
poft
he
words“as”and“l
ike”.Amet
aphorwillnothaveei
therofthosetwowords.
3]Per
soni
fi
cat
ion

Anotherv
eryi
nter
estingfi
gur
eofspeechi
spersonif
icat
ion.I
nthi
s,wepersoni
fy
orrepr
esentanon-
humanent i
tyashuman.Wegiv
eani nanimateobj
ectoranint
angi
ble
i
deaofsomehumanqual it
iessuchasemoti
ons,
orgesturesorevenspeech.Thi
sis
donetoportr
ay

t
heobj
ectasal
iv
eandhelpthel
ist
enerorreaderpai
ntavi
vi
dpi
ctur
e.Agai
n,i
fwet
ake
t
hewordsatt
hei
rli
ter
almeani
ngtheywil
lsoundabsurd.

“Thewi ndhowledasthest
orm gr
ewstronger”
.Herewehavetakenanobj
ect,
thewind,
andper soni
fi
editasali
vi
ngthi
ngbyclaimingithowl
ed.Ot
hersuchexampl
escouldbe,
“ti
mer anawayf r
om hi
m”,“t
heboatdancedinthepuddl
e”,
“thecardi
edi
nthemiddleof
theroad”etc.

4]Hy
per
bol
e

Hyper
bolei
ntheGr eeklanguaget r
anslat
est o‘excess’.Andthatiswhatitdoes,
it
exaggerat
es.Weusehy perbolestoemphasi zetheimpor t
anceorov er
statesomethi
ng.
Thisexagger
atescl
aimsandst atementsarenev ermeantt obet akenatthei
rli
ter
al
meaning.Theyareusedtocr eateastrongandlast i
ngimpr ession

Anexampl ewoul dbe“Sincehehasbeenawayf rom homehehasgot t

enasthin
asat oot
hpick“.Obviousl
y,hehasnotgottenasthi
nasat oot hpi
ck,weonlyexagger
ate
toemphasizeonhowt hi
nhehasbecome.Someot herexampl esare,“
Thoseshoescost
aking’sr
ansom” ,“Forthemill
iontht
ime,cl
eanthekit
chen”,“hisgrandf
atheri
solder
thanthehil
l
s” .

5]Onomat
opei
a

Thi
sisaf
igureofspeechwherewordsorphrasesi
ndicat
esounds.Oft
entobri
ng
aboutmor
eimageryandbetterdescr
ibeaset
ti
ng,
authorsusewordstoinvol
veal
lfi
ve
ofoursenses.Onomat
opei
aref
erst
othosewor
dst
hati
mit
atet
hesoundsofanobj
ect
orperson.

6.Oxy moronisafigur
eofspeechinwhichtwooppositei
deasarejoi
nedtocr eatean
eff
ect.Thecommonoxy moronphrasei
sacombi nati
onofanadjecti
veproceededbya
nounwi thcont
rast
ingmeanings,
suchas“ cr
uelki
ndness,
”or“l
iv
ingdeath”.Examples:
Opensecr et
,Tragi
ccomedy,Seri
ouslyf
unny,Awful
lypret
ty,
Fooli
shwisdom, Origi
nal
copies,Li
quidgas

7.I
rony

isast
oryt
ell
i
ngtoolusedtocreat
eacontr
astbet
weenhowthi
ngsseem and
howtheyr
eal
lyar
ebeneaththesurf
ace.Thet
erm comesfr
om t
heLat
inwordi
ronia,
whi
chmeans“fei
gnedi
gnorance.
”

Dr amati
cir
onyoccurswhenreadersareinformedofsigni
ficantinformat i
onthat
keycharacter
sareunawareof—basical
ly
, whereweknowwhatwi l
lhappenbef oret
hey
do.Tensionri
sesbetweenthepoi
ntofrevel
ati
on( whenthereaderfir
str ecei
v esthe
secr
etinsight
)andrecogni
ti
on(whenthecharactersaref
inal
lybroughtint otheloop).
Again,

Shakespear
e’sabigfanoft
hisone—evenhi
scomedies,suchasTwelft
hNi
ghtandA
MidsummerNi ght
’sDream,
areful
lofdr
amat
ici
rony
.Situati
onal
irony

Whent hetruthcontradi
ctsanexpect
edoutcome, i
t'
ssituati
onali
rony—also
knownas“ t
heironyofev ents.
”Agai
n,j
usttoclar
if
y ,
ironyisnotthesameas
"coincidence"and" badluck."I
fyoubuyanewcarandt henaccidental
lydri
veiti
ntoa
tree,thatisbothcoi nci
denceandbadluck.Howev er
,ifapr of
essionalst
untdri
ver
crashesi ntoatreeont heirwayhomef r
om recei
vi
nga“ bestdri
ver”awardthati
s
situati
onallyir
onic.

Ver
bali
rony

Thethi
rdandf i
nalmajortypeofironyi
sv er
balirony,inwhichthei ntended
meani ngofastat
ementi st
heopposi teofwhatissaid.Soundsi milartosar casm?Well,
they’
renotexactl
ythesame: sarcasm i
salmostalway susedwi ththei nt
entt odeni
grat
e
someoneorsomet hi
ng,whi
leironyisn’
tnecessari
ly
.Howev er,
somewoul darguethat
sarcasm i
ssimplyonet y
peofv erbali
rony,al
ongwith“ov er
statement ”and
“
under
stat
ement
”—whi
chwe’
l
lqui
ckl
ycov
err
ightnow.

8.Euphemi
sm

Thet erm euphemi sm ref

erst opolit
e,indir
ectexpressi
onsthatr epl
acewor ds
andphrasesconsi deredharshandi mpol it
e,orwhi chsuggestsomet hingunpleasant.
Euphemism isani di
omat icexpression,whichlosesi tsl
it
eral
meani ngsandr efersto
somethingelse,i
nor dertohideitsunpl easantness.Forexample,“ki
ckt hebucket”isa
euphemism thatdescr i
besthedeat hofaper son.Inaddit
ion,manyor gani
zationsuse
theter
m“ downsi zi
ng”forthedistressingactof“ fi
ring”i
tsemployees.

Euphemi
sm isfr
equentl
yusedi
nev
ery
dayl
i
fe.Letusl
ookatsomecommon
euphemi
sm examples:

Youar
ebecomi
ngal
i
ttl
ethi
nont
op(
bal
d).

Ourt
eacheri
sint
hef
ami
l
yway(
pregnant
).

Hei
sal
i
ttl
eti
psy(
drunk)
.

Wedonothi
rement
all
ychal
l
enged(
stupi
d)peopl
e.

Hei
saspeci
alchi
l
d(di
sabl
edorl
ear
ningchal
l
enged)
.

REVI
EW OFCONCEPTS:
Euphemi sm
Thet erm euphemi sm r
ef er
stopol i
te,i
ndi
rectexpressionsthatr eplacewor ds
andphr asesconsi der
edhar shandi mpoli
te,orwhichsuggestsomet hing
unpl easant .Euphemi sm isanidiomat i
cexpressi
on, whichlosesi tslit
eral
meani ngsandr eferstosomet hingelse,i
nordertohidei tsunpleasant ness.
Irony
i
sast orytel
li
ngt oolusedt ocreateacont r
astbetweenhowt hingsseem andhow
theyr eallyarebeneat ht hesurface.Theterm comesf rom theLat inwor dironia,
whi chmeans“ feignedignorance.”
Oxy mor onisaf igureofspeechi nwhi chtwoopposi t
ei deasarej oinedtocr eate
anef fect.
Onomat opeia
 Thisi saf igureofspeechwher ewordsorphr asesi ndi catesounds.Of t
ent obri
ng
aboutmor eimager yandbet terdescribeasetting, author susewor dstoinvolv
e
al
lfiveofoursenses.Onomat opeiarefer
stot hosewor dst hati mi t
atethesounds
ofanobj ectorper son.
Hy per bole
Hyper bolei nt heGr eeklanguaget ranslat
esto‘ excess’ .Andt hati swhatitdoes,it
eexagger at es.
Personi fi
cat ion
Anot herv eryi nt
erest i
ngfigureofspeechi sper soni f
icat i
on.Int his,wepersoni
fy
orrepr esentanon- humanent i
tyashuman.
Met aphor
Amet aphorandasi milearequi t
esimi l
aract
ual ly
.Amet aphoral souses
compar est ot hi
ngst hatar ei
nnowaysi mil
ar
Asimi leisaf igureofspeecht hatusescompar ison.I nasi mi le, weuset wo
specificwor ds“ l
i
ke”and“ as”tocompar etwounl ikelyt hings, thatactuall
yhave
nothingi ncommon.

POST-
TEST
Composea5-
li
nepoem wi
thf
igur
esofspeech.
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REFERENCES:
htt
ps:
//www.
toppr
.com/
gui
des/
engl
i
sh/
vocabul
ary
/fi
gur
es-
of-
speech/