LEXICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC

DEVICES
PLAN
1. Stylistic devices (SDs) based on interrelation
between primary and derivative meanings: metaphor
(allegory, personification), metonymy (synecdoche)
and irony
1.1 metaphor vs simile
2. SDs based on interrelation between denotational
and emotive meanings: oxymoron , epithet
3. SDs based on interrelation between nominal and
contextual meanings: antonomasia
Literature
Galperin – pp.136-190
Kukharenko – pp.23-27
Arnold – pp.82-102
Pelevina – pp.58-76
Meaning as the basis of
semasiological stylistic devices
Meaning (L. Vygotsky) - the unity of generalization,
communication and thinking. An entity of extreme
complexity, the meaning of a word is liable to
historical changes
 Various types of lexical meanings, the major one
being denotational, which informs of the subject of
communication; and also including connotational,
which informs about the participants and conditions
of communication.
Types of Meaning
 pragmatic (directed at the desirable effect of the
utterance),
associative (connected, through individual
psychological or linguistic associations, with related
and nonrelated notions),
ideological, or conceptual (revealing political, social,
ideological preferences of the user),
evaluative (stating the value of the indicated notion),
emotive (revealing the emotional layer of cognition
and perception),
expressive (aiming at creating the image of the object
in question),
stylistic (indicating "the register", or the situation of
the communication).
Interactions of meaning
Stan Barstow's novel "Ask Me
Tomorrow“(meaning of “pop”)
1. His face is red at first and then it goes white and his eyes
stare as if they'll pop out of his head.
2. "Just pop into the scullery and get me something to
stand this on."
3. "There is a fish and chip shop up on the main road. I
thought you might show your gratitude by popping up for
some."
4. "I've no need to change or anything then." "No, just pop
your coat on and you're fine."
5. "Actually Mrs. Swallow is out. But she won't be long.
She's popped up the road to the shops."
6. "Would you like me to pop downstairs and make you a
cup of cocoa?"
 Interaction of Different Types of
Lexical Meaning
What is known in linguistics as transferred meaning is the
interrelation between two types of lexical meaning:
dictionary and contextual
The transferred meaning of a word may be fixed in
dictionaries as a result of long and frequent use of the word
other than in its primary meaning. In this case we register a
derivative meaning of the word.
When, we perceive two meanings of the word
simultaneously, we are confronted with a stylistic device in
which the two meanings interact.
Interaction of Dictionary and
Contextual Logical Meanings
The relationship between dictionary and
contextual logical meanings can be based
on the principles of identification,
affinity or proximity(i.e. metaphor),
on the principle of symbol – referent
relation, or substitution (i.e. metonymy)
on the principle of opposition(i.e.
irony).
 METAPHOR - identification
metaphor - transference of names based on the associated
likeness between two objects, as in the "pancake", or "ball",
or "volcano" for the "sun"; "silver dust“ for "stars"; "vault",
"blanket", "veil" for the "sky".
The term metaphor meant in Greek "carry something
across" or "transfer"
a comparison between two things, based on resemblance most
or similarity, without using "like" or "as" dictionaries
and textbooks
the act of giving a thing a name that belongs to something else Aristotle

the transferring of things and words from their proper Diomedes

signification to an improper similitude for the sake of beauty,
necessity, polish, or emphasis
a device for seeing something in terms of something else Kenneth Burke
understanding and experiencing one thing in terms of another John Searle
A metaphor is a very common figure or trope which
has been studied since Aristotle’s Poetics.
 A metaphor states that something is equivalent to
another thing which is not usually associated with it.
Metaphors are not only found in literary works, but
are actually quite common in language in general.
However, many metaphors in everyday use are
described as dead metaphors, as they have been used
so frequently that their metaphorical character has
become less apparent. When one describes one's
feelings as 'up' or 'down' or when one describes
oneself as 'fuming mad' or as 'bubbling with
enthusiasm', one is using dead metaphors.

UT clip “metaphors and similes”
SIMILE
Similes compare two things using the words like or as, seems,
as if, such as
Hackneyed similes: The morning dew was as bright as
diamond
As busy as a
As cold as a bee, bat, post, crystal , herring,
As pale as a oyster, mule, beetle, paper
As blind as a horse, cucumber, doornail,
As strong as a
As dead as a
As deaf as a
As clear as a
As dumb as an
As stubborn as a
Similes vs logical comparison
Similes realize intensification of some one feature of
the concept . Simile compares 2 objects of different
classes, entirely different except for one feature in
common: e.g. Girls, like moths, are caught by glare
Ordinary (logical) comparison weighs 2 objects
belonging to the same class with the aim of establishing
the degree of their sameness or difference
E.g. Like father, like son
Extended simile: Thoughts jerked through his brain like
the misfirings of a defective carburetor.
It was that moment of the year when the countryside
seems to faint from its own loveliness
Kinds of metaphors
Metaphors can be classified according to their degree of
originality or unexpectedness. Metaphors that are
absolutely unexpected and unpredictable are called
genuine metaphors.
Those, which are commonly used in speech and therefore
are sometimes even fixed in dictionaries, are trite or dead
metaphors. They are highly predictable and their
(metaphorical) motivation is apparent, for example
head of department, body of information, bottom of a road/
garden/ street, mouth of a river and many others. I. R.
Galperin lists time-worn or trite metaphors, for example a
ray of hope, floods of tears, a flight of fancy, a gleam of
mirth, a shadow of a smile, etc.
The expressiveness of the metaphor is
promoted by the implicit simultaneous
presence of images of both objects - the one
which is actually named and the one which
supplies its own "legal" name. So that
formally we deal with the name
transferrence based on the similarity of one
feature common to two different entities.
The wider is the gap between the associated
objects the more striking and unexpected -
the more expressive - is the metaphor.
RELATED TERMS
extended or telescoping The teacher descended upon the
metaphor: A sustained exams, sank his talons into their
metaphor. pages, ripped the answers to
shreds, and then, perching in
his chair, began to digest.
implied metaphor: A less direct John swelled and ruffled his
metaphor. plumage (versus John was a
peacock)

mixed metaphor: The awkward, The movie struck a spark that

often silly use of more than one massaged the audience's
metaphor at a time. To be avoided! conscience.

dead metaphor: A commonly used tying up loose ends, a submarine

metaphor that has become over sandwich, a branch of government,
time part of ordinary language. and most clichés
Why use metaphors?
They enliven ordinary language.
They are generous to readers and listeners; they
encourage interpretation.
They are more efficient and economical than ordinary
language; they give maximum meaning with a
minimum of words.
They create new meanings; they allow you to write
about feelings, thoughts, things, experiences, etc. for
which there are no easy words; they are necessary.
They are a sign of genius.
 Creative ways to use metaphors
as verbs The news that ignited his face
snuffed out her smile.
as adjectives and adverbs Her carnivorous pencil carved up
Susan's devotion.
as prepositional phrases The doctor inspected the rash with a
vulture's eye.
as appositives or modifiers On the sidewalk was yesterday's paper,
an ink-stained sponge
Scratching at the window with claws of pine, the Imogene Bolls, "Coyote Wind"
wind wants in.
What a thrill--my thumb instead of an onion. Sylvia Plath, "Cut"
The top quite gone except for a sort of hinge of
skin....A celebration this is. Out of a gap a
million soldiers run, redcoats every one.
The clouds were low and hairy in the skies, like Robert Frost, "Once by the Pacific"
locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.
Little boys lie still, awake wondering, wondering James Wright, "The Undermining of
delicate little boxes of dust. the Defense Economy"
Speaker Ground (unhappy with his bank
manager): Bankers are powerful, influential and
blood-thirsty people, which act in an evil, cruel
fashion, seducing customers with loans and then
sucking the life (blood) from them. Bankers, like
vampires, often bring misery and death
(financial) to their customers.
Listener Ground (reasonably happy with his
bank manager): Bankers, like vampires, are
powerful, influential and charming people, which
often grant loans but expect more money in
return. This expectation is often considered
greedy and ruthless.
Conversational Ground: Bankers, like vampires,
are powerful and influential. They are blood-
thirsty inasmuch as they can be greedy, suck
blood inasmuch as they take money (i.e.,
financial life-blood), seductive inasmuch as they
can be charming, and cruel inasmuch as they can
be ruthless.
Imparted Ground: Bankers are cruel, evil,
seductive blood-suckers and bringers of misery
and ruin.
KINDS OF METAPHOR
If a metaphor involves likeness between inanimate and
animate objects, we deal with personification, as in "the face
of London", or "the pain of the ocean".
Metaphor, as all other SDs, is fresh, original, genuine, when
first used, and trite, hackneyed, stale when often repeated.
In the latter case it gradually loses its expressiveness
becoming just another entry in the dictionary, as in the "leg
of a table" or the "sunrise", thus serving a very important
source of enriching the vocabulary of the language.
Metaphor can be expressed by all notional parts of speech,
and functions in the sentence as any of its members.
When the speaker (writer) in his desire to present an
elaborated image does not limit its creation to a single
metaphor but offers a group of them, each supplying
another feature of the described phenomenon, this cluster
creates a sustained (prolonged) metaphor.
Personification and allegory
Personification is giving human qualities to something
that is not human
Objects: The lights blinked in the distance
The moon is a harsh mistress
Your computer hates me
Concepts: Time marches on
It is not nice to fool Mother Nature
Animals: The birds expressed their joy
The groundhog hovered indecisively
Allegory
Allegory – a story which represents an idea or
belief, is a form of extended metaphor, in which
objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are
equated with the meanings that lie outside the
narrative itself. The underlying meaning has
moral, social, religious, or political significance,
and characters are often personifications of
abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy. Thus an
allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal
meaning and a symbolic meaning (Aesop Fables)
 Everyday metaphors
Everyday speech also provides many examples of metaphoric expressions.

Barbie doll(a US slang for an empty-headed but sexually attractive young

woman),
basket case(a nervous wreck or someone who is mentally incapacitated;
patients in mental hospitals are often taught basket-weaving skills),
culture vulture (a person who is excessively and indiscriminately interested in the arts),
Egghead (an intellectual),
a good egg or a bad egg (a nice person or a dubious character),
Faceless man (a person who is not known to the public, but who uses power behind the
scenes),
headshrink or headshrinker (humorous and informal expression for a psychoanalyst or a
psychiatrist, now shortened to shrink),
shrinking violet (humorous and informal word for a person who lacks self-confidence, a
shy person),
Muckrakers (the name given to US investigative journalists and writers using excessive
sensationalism at the beginning of the 20th century),
yellow journalism (the methods 41 of the muckracking press), etc.

She’s got her claws into him, ...he messed up with a bad egg, ...their relationship bit the
dust, ...she pulled wool around his eyes.
Specific functions are achieved by metaphors used in
newspapers. The following metaphoric expressions were
abstracted from political commentaries:

...political parties have learnt their lesson..., ... the

government decided behind the closed door...,
...Europeans looking forward to their new money..., ...there
were few members of Congress without skeleton in their
closets...,
... young generation heading for the promised land..., ...their
recent campaign has come to nothing...,
...local directors keeping them in dark...,
...Clinton doesn’t seem to notice he is playing with fire here.
Examples for analysis
Dear Nature is our kindest Mother (Byron) – attributive m.
In the slanting beams that streamed though the open
window the dust danced and was golden (O.Wilde) – verbal
m.
 The leaves fell sorrowfully – adverbial m.
Ray of hope, a storm of indignation, a flight of fancy, flood
of tears, shadow of a smile – hackneyed, trite metaphor
Mr. Pickwick bottled up his vengeance and corked it
down..Mr Domby’s cup of satisfaction was so full at this
moment, however, that he felt he could afford a drop or two
of its contents even to sprinkle on the dust in the by=path
of his little daughter (Dickens). – sustained m.
Metonymy- substitution
A metonymy involves substitution of one by another
or the association of one thing with another which
often occurs with or near it.
Metonymy is based on a different type of relationship
between the dictionary and contextual logical
meanings, a relationship based on some kind of
association connecting the two concepts which the
meanings present
For example, the word crown can stand for a king or
queen, cup or glass for the drink it contains,
woolsack for the Chancellor of the Exchequer who
sits on it, or the position and dignity of the Lord
Chancellor
Lexical metonymy
Mauser
Maxim
Levy’s
Mackintosch,
hooligan,
ohm,
ampere,
watt,
volt
Relationships metonymy is based on
1. A concrete thing is used instead of an abstract notion.
‘The camp, the pulpit and the law For rich men’s sons and free.’
(P. B. Shelley)
2.The container instead of the thing contained:
‘The hall applauded.’ ‘He drank two glasses and left.’ ‘I managed
just a cup.’
3.The relation of proximity:
‘The ballroom was glittering and happy.’ ‘The city was horrified
and scared to death!’
4.The material instead of the thing made :
‘The gold was stolen.’ ‘The iron is hot.’ ‘He was taken away in
irons.’
5.The instrument which the doer uses in performing the action
instead of the action or the doer himself:
‘Well, Mr. Weller, says the gentleman, you’re a very good whip
and can do what you like with your horses, we know.’(Dickens)
Synecdochy (Greek “take up with something else” )as a
special case of metonymy
Five main types of synecdochy
1. pars pro toto: Ukraine mourns dead from
Lviv air show. Tell us what happened. We’re
all ears! Could you give me a hand with this
heavy table?
2. totum pro parte
3. species pro genere
4. genus pro specie
5. singularis pro plurari
Synecdoche
It involves the substitution of a part for the whole, or the
whole for a part.
 Washington and London (= USA and UK) agree
on most issues; He was followed into the room by a pair
of heavy boots (= by a man in heavy boots); cf. the
Russian: "Да, да ", ответили рыжие панталоны
(Чехов). In a similar way, the word crown (to fight for
the crown) may denote "the royal power/the king"; the
word colours in the phrase to defend the colours of a
school denotes the organization itself.
'John had gone into the room and drank the only bottle of
Coke that I had'
Sentences for analysis
She was too fond of a bottle. The press, the bench, from the cradle
to the grave.
 They came in. Two of them, a man with long fair moustache and
a silent dark man. Definitely the moustache and I had nothing in
common.
And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and
want of bread in all your places.
Bell, book and candle shall not drive me back.
The pen is mightier than the sword.
As the sword is the worst argument that can be used, so should it
be the last.
There was something very agreeable in being so intimate with
such a waistcoat, in being on such off-hand terms with such a pair
of whiskers…
The camp, the pulpit ans the law for rich men’s sons are free
The hall applauded. The round game table was happy. The marble
spoke…
Irony - opposition
 The essence of irony consists in the foregrounding not of
the logical but of the evaluative meaning. The context is
arranged so that the qualifying word in irony reverses the
direction of the evaluation, and the word positively
charged is understood as a negative qualification and vice
versa.
Irony thus is a stylistic device in which the contextual
evaluative meaning of a word is directly opposite to its
dictionary meaning, an indirect naming of a phenomenon
in which the meaning is shifted towards the opposite pole

 J. Steinbeck's "She turned with the sweet smile of an

alligator,“
UT clip about irony
Irony is a stylistic device also based on the
simultaneous realization of two logical meanings,
dictionary and contextual, but the two meanings
stand in opposition to each other, for example:
“It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign
country without a penny in one’s pocket.”
Irony can be considered as an extreme case of a
metaphor, however, metaphor is based on the relation
of homonymy while irony is based on antonymy -
verbal irony
Sustained type of irony is formed by the contradiction
of the speaker's (writer's) considerations and the
generally accepted moral and ethical codes
Examples of irony
I like the parliamentary debate
Particularly when it is not too late
 I like a beefsteak, as well as any;
 Have no objections to a pot of beer.
I like the weather when it is not too
rainy –
that is I like two months of every year
 (Byron)
Irony: expression of something which is contrary to the intended
meaning; the words say one thing but mean another.
*Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
Metaphor: implied comparison achieved through a figurative use
of words; the word is used not in its literal sense, but in one
analogous to it.
*Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage. Shakespeare,
Macbeth
*From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron
curtain has descended across
the continent. W. Churchill
Metonymy: substitution of one word for another which it
suggests.
*He is a man of the cloth
*The pen is mightier than the sword.
*By the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat thy bread
SDs based on interrelation between denotational
and emotional meanings: epithet, oxymoron
Definition
The epithet is a stylistic device based on the interplay of
emotive and logical meaning in an attributive word,
phrase and even sentence, used to characterise an object
and pointing out to the reader some of the properties or
features of the object
Epithet expresses characteristics of an object, both
existing and imaginary. Its basic feature is its emotiveness
and subjectivity: the characteristic attached to the object
to qualify it is always chosen by the speaker himself.
Through long and repeated use epithets become fixed
(dead, traditional, trite, hackneyed). Many fixed epithets
are closely connected with folklore and can be traced buck
to folk ballads (e.g. "true love", "merry Christmas", etc.)
 Semantic groups
affective (or emotive proper) epithets. These epithets serve
to convey the emotional evaluation of the object by the
speaker. Most of the qualifying words found in the
dictionary can be and are used as affective epithets (e.g.
"gorgeous", "nasty", "magnificent", "atrocious", etc.).
figurative, or transferred, epithets - is formed of
metaphors, metonymies and similes expressed by
adjectives. E.g. "the smiling sun", "the frowning cloud",
"the sleepless pillow", ''the tobacco-stained smile", "a
ghost-like face", "a dream-like experience".
Associated: fantastic terrors, careful attention
Unassociated: bootless cries sullen earth, voiceless sands
Structural (distributional) types
Epithets are used singly, in pairs, in chains, in two-step
structures, and in inverted constructions, also as phrase-
attributes. All previously given examples demonstrated
single epithets. Pairs are represented by two epithets
joined by a conjunction or asyndetically as in "wonderful
and incomparable beauty“ or "a tired old town”. Chains
(also called strings) of epithets present a group of
homogeneous attributes varying in number from three
up to sometimes twenty and even more. E.g. "You're a
scolding, unjust, abusive, aggravating, bad old creature.“
Two-step epithets - the process of qualifying passes two
stages: the qualification of the object and the
qualification of the qualification itself, as in "an
unnaturally mild day”, or "a pompously majestic female".
More structural types
Phrase-epithets always produce an original impression :
"the sunshine-in-the-breakfast-room smell”, or "a move-
if-you-dare expression“, a little man with a Say-nothing-
to-me, or — I'll- contradict- you expression on his face
inverted (syntactical, reversed) epithets - based on the
contradiction between the logical and the syntactical:
logically defining becomes syntactically defined and vice
versa. E.g. instead of "this devilish woman", W. Thackeray
says "this devil of a woman“, "the giant of a man" (a
gigantic man), "the toy of a girl" (a small, toylike girl),
"the kitten of a woman" (a kittenlike woman), Just a
ghost of a smile appeared on his face; she is a doll of a
baby.
What kind of epithet?
О dreamy, gloomy, friendly trees! Rich, full, high
alcohol wines
my true love; a sweet heart; the green wood; a dark
forest; brave cavaliers; merry old England
The brute of a boy, the shadow of a smile, the devil of a
job, the pig of a boy
Do-it-yourself attitude; mystery-making, come-hither-
but go-away-again-because-butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-
my-mouth expression of Gioconda
Desperate core of rattling hearts, pioneering
appropriation of masculine tailoring
Oxymoron
Oxymoron is a stylistic device the syntactic and
semantic structures of which come to clashes. It
combines, in one phrase, two words (usually: noun +
adjective) whose meanings are opposite and
incompatible:
a living corpse; sweet sorrow; a nice rascal; awfully
(terribly) nice; a deafening silence; a low skyscraper.
little big man, the poorest millionaire, sweet sorrow,
nice rascal, pleasantly ugly face, horribly beautiful,
deafening silence, poor little rich girl, unpleasant
pleasure, adult children, blind eye, buried alive, agree
to disagree, a little pregnant
Interjections and exclamations
Interjections – words we use when we express our feelings
strongly. They exist in the language as conventional
symbols of human emotions.
Wow! Oops! Auch! Aha! Yummy! Ugh! Yukky! Tut,tut!
Byron “Don Juan”:
All present life is but an interjection
An “oh” or “ah” of joy or misery
Or a “ha, ha” or “bah’ – a yawn of “pooh”
Of which perhaps the latter is most true
Exclamations – are the words that may retain some logical
meaning, though suppressed by emotive one.
Heavens! God! Good gracious! Look out! Bless me! Come
on! Dear! Fine! Boy! Terrible! Man! Splendid!
SD based on interrelation between nominative
and logical meanings: antonomasia
Antonomasia is a lexical SD in which a proper name is
used instead of a common noun or vice versa
1 type: Th. Dreiser : "He took little satisfaction in telling
each Mary something...." He is the Napoleon of crime (= a
genius in crime as great as Napoleon was in wars); You are a
real Cicero
2 type: when a common noun serves as an individualizing
name: "There are three doctors in an illness like yours. Dr.
Rest, Dr. Diet and Dr. Fresh Air." Mister Know-all; Miss
Toady, Miss Sharp (W.Thackeray); Mr. Murdstone
(Ch.Dickens)
Society is now one polished horde, formed of two mighty
tribes, the Bores and the Bored.” (G. G. Byron)
3 groups of semasiological SDs
1. The interaction of different types of lexical meaning.
a) dictionary and contextual (metaphor, metonymy,
irony);
b) primary and derivative (zeugma and pun);
c) logical and emotive (epithet, oxymoron);
d) logical and nominative (autonomasia); 
2. Intensification of a feature (simile, hyperbole,
periphrasis).
Peculiar use of set expressions (cliches, proverbs,
epigram, quotations).
 SDs based on interaction of primary and
derivative meanings (zeugma and pun)
Zeugma is the use of a word in the same grammatical but
different semantic relations to two adjacent words in the
context, the semantic relations being on the one hand
literal, and on the other, transferred.
e. g. Dora, plunged at once into privileged intimacy and into
the middle of the room.
Moira in the bar was dispensing champagne and bright
laughs in copious qualities,...”
“Mr. Well’s hair, manner, and eyes were all out of control,...”
Let’s have a dance ere we are married, that we may lighten
our own hearts and our wives’ heels. (Shakespeare)
PUN
The pun is a S.D. based on the interaction of two well
known meanings of a word or a phrase. The pun is
often used in advertising slogans, headlines, catch-
phrases, jokes
e.g.- Did you miss my lecture ?
- Not at all.
Seven days without water make one weak.
“Bow to the board,” said Bumble. Oliver brushed away
two or three tears that were lingering in his eyes; and
seeing no board but the table, fortunately bowed to
that. (Ch. Dickens)
“New cheese for the cheeseboard.” (A slogan advertising new
cheese for the cheese bored.)
“My dog is a champion boxer.” (A saying based on
homophony of the word boxer: a breed or a fighter.)
“Prince of Wails.” (The title of an article about Prince of
Wales.)
“Bald ambitions.” (The title of an article about bold ambitions
of a bald musician.)
“The Hole Truth.” (The title of an article about the pop group
The Hole. The meaning of the word whole should be
inferred.)
“Why is six afraid of seven? Because seven ate nine.”
(A joke based on homophony: eight/ate.)
Play on words may be based upon polysemy and
homonymy:
a) Visitor, to a little boy:
Is your mother engaged?
Engaged ? She is already married;
b) A young lady, weeping softly into her mother's lap:
My husband just can't bear children!
He needn't bear children, my dear. You shouldn't expect too
much of your husband.
Play on words may be based upon similarity of
pronunciation:
John said to Pete at dinner: "Carry on". But Pete never ate
carrion.
SDs based on Intensification of a Feature
Periphrasis is a round-about way of speaking used to
name some object or phenomenon. Longer-phrase is
used instead of a shorter one
e. g. The fair sex. My better half.
Periphrases are divided into:
1. Logical - based on inherent properties of a thing.
e. g. Instrument of destruction (weapon), the subject of
administration (President, king, prime minister).
2. Figurative - based on imagery: metaphor, metonymy
e. g. To tie a knot - to get married; in disgrace of fortune -
bad luck. Love = the most pardonable of human
weaknesses. Money= root of all evil
SDs based on Intensification of a Feature
Euphemism is a periphrasis used to avoid some unpleasant
things, or taboo things.
e. g. To pass away - to die. To answer the call of nature
Religious euphemisms: devil = the dickens, the deuce,
old Nick; God = Lord, Almighty, Heaven, goodness.
Moral euphemisms: to die = to be gone, to expire, to be no
more, to depart, to decease, to go west, to join the majority,
dead = departed, late; a whore = a woman of a certain type
Medical euphemisms: lunatic asylum = mental hospital,
idiots = mentally challenged, insane = person of unsound
mind.
Political euphemisms: starvation - undernourishment;
revolution – unrest, poor people = less fortunate elements;
absence of wages and salaries = delay in payment
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is deliberate overstatement or exaggeration,
the aim of which is to intensify one of the features of the
object in question to such a degree as to show its utter
absurdity
e. g. A thousand pardons, scared to death, immensely
obliged. Mary was scared to death. Pete knows everybody in
the town. Every single rascal tries to cheat the public here.
Hyperbole can be expressed by all notional parts of
speech. The most typical cases of expression are: by
pronouns (all, every, everybody, everything); by numerical
nouns (a million, a thousand); by adverbs of time (ever,
never).
SDs based on Intensification of a Feature
Meiosis is a deliberate diminution of a certain quality
of an object or phenomenon. This figure of quantity
is opposite in meaning to hyperbole. Meiosis
underlines insignificance of such qualities of objects and
phenomena as their size, volume, distance, time, shape,
etc. The domain of meiosis is colloquial speech.
There was not a drop of water left in the bucket.It was a cat-
size pony.August can do the job in a second.Their house is
one minute from here. The guy is so disgusting! He is a real
microbe.She was a pocket-size woman
Litotes is a specific variant of meiosis. It is a combination of
the negative particle "not" and a word with negative
meaning or a negative prefix. He is not without sense of
humour. The mission was not impossible
1. Christina's love is hungry: it swallows every penny Bert
offers. 2. The empty shell of the Embassy frightened
Philip. 3. Mary was a large dark moth, hег wings lifted,
ready to fly. 4. One more truck had passed by, full of
moustaches and beards. 5. Rambos are necessary in
Victoria's business. 6. Dance music was bellowing from
the open door. 7. Dismal and rainy day emerged from the
womb of the night. 8. Some remarkable pictures in the
gallery: a Petrov-Vodkin, two Van Dycks and an
Aivazovsky. 9.Edward's family is a couple of aunts a
thousand years old. 10. It was not unwise to behave like
that. 11. Jenny is the size of a peanut. 12. A spasm of high-
voltage nervousness ran through Diana. 13. Don't move
the tiniest part of an inch! 14.Every Caesar has his Brutus.