FIGURE OF SPEECH

word or group of
words used to
give particular
emphasis to an
idea or sentiment.
ALLITERATION
use of similar
consonants: a poetic or
literary effect achieved
by using several words
that begin with the
same or similar
consonants.
ALLITERATION
"Whither wilt
thou wander,
wayfarer?”
ANTICLIMAX
Sequence of ideas that
abruptly diminish in dignity or
importance at the end of a
sentence or passage,
generally for satirical effect.
The following sentence
contains an illustration of
anticlimax:
ANTICLIMAX
“Among the great
achievements of Benito
Mussolini's regime were the
revival of a strong national
consciousness, the
expansion of the Italian
Empire, and the running of
the trains on time
ANASTROPHE
Inversionin the
construction by
changing the
normal order of
words.
ANASTROPHE
Sweet is the
lore which
nature brings
 ANTITHESIS
Juxtaposition of two words,
phrases, clauses, or sentences
contrasted or opposed in
meaning in such a way as to
give emphasis to contrasting
ideas.
ANTITHESIS
An example of
antithesis is the
following line by the
English poet
Alexander Pope: “To
err is human, to
forgive divine.”
 HE
Device by which an actor
turns from the audience, or
a writer from readers, to
address a person who
usually is either absent or
deceased, an inanimate
object, or an abstract idea.
APOSTROPHE
The English poet John Milton,
in his poem Il Penseroso,
invokes the spirit of
melancholy in the following
words: “Hail divinest
Melancholy, whose saintly
visage is too bright to hit the
sense of human sight.”
 CLIMAX
Arrangement of words,
clauses, or sentences in
the order of their
importance, the least
forcible coming first and
the others rising in power
until the last.
 CLIMAX
“Itis an outrage to bind
a Roman citizen; it is a
crime to scourge him; it
is almost parricide to kill
him; but to crucify him—
what shall I say of this?”
 CONCEIT
An elaborate, often
extravagant metaphor or
simile making an analogy
between totally dissimilar
things. The term originally
meant “concept” or
“idea.”
 CONCEIT
An example occurs in the
poem “A Valediction:
Forbidding Mourning,” by
the English poet John
Donne, in which two lovers'
souls are compared to the
legs of drawing.
EPIGRAM
A brief pointed
saying which is
aimed to attract
attention
EPIGRAM
The child is

the father of
man.
 EUPHEMISM
Substitution of a
delicate or inoffensive
term or phrase for one
that has coarse, sordid,
or otherwise unpleasant
associations.
EUPHEMISM
use of
“lavatory” or
“rest room” for
“toilet,” and
“pass away” for
EXCLAMATION
Sudden outcry or
interjection
expressing violent
emotion, such as
fright, grief, or
hatred.
 EXCLAMATION
“Out, out, damned
spot .... !” and the line in
Shakespeare's tragedy
Hamlet where the prince
cries, “O villain, villain,
smiling damned villain!”
 HYPERBOLE
Form of inordinate
exaggeration according to
which a person or thing is
depicted as being better
or worse, or larger or
smaller, than is actually
HYPERBOLE
Inthe sentence from
an essay by the
English writer Thomas
Babington Macaulay:
“Dr. Johnson drank his
tea in oceans.”
 INTERROGATION
Rhetoricalquestion, asking
of questions not to gain
information but to assert
more emphatically the
obvious answer to what is
asked. No answer, in fact, is
expected by the speaker.
 INTERROGATION
“Didyou help me when I
needed help? Did you
once offer to intercede in
my behalf? Did you do
anything to lessen my
load?”
 IRONY
Dryly humorous or
lightly sarcastic mode of
speech, in which words
are used to convey a
meaning contrary to
their literal sense.
IRONY
“A Modest Proposal”,
that the poor people
of Ireland should rid
themselves of poverty
by selling their
children to the rich to
 LITOTES
Understatement

employed for the

purpose of enhancing
the effect of the ideas
expressed.
 LITOTES
“The English poet
Thomas Gray showed no
inconsiderable powers as
a prose writer,” meaning
that Gray was in fact a
very good prose writer.
METAPHOR
Use of a word or phrase
denoting one kind of idea
or object in place of
another word or phrase
for the purpose of
suggesting a likeness
between the two.
METAPHOR
“He uttered a volley
of oaths” and “The
man tore through the
building.”
 METONYMY
Use of a word or phrase
for another to which it
bears an important
relation, as the effect for
the cause, the abstract for
the concrete, and similar
constructions.
 METONYMY
Examples of metonymy are
“He was an avid reader of
Chaucer,” when the poems
of the English writer Geoffrey
Chaucer are meant, and
“The hostess kept a good
table,” when good food is
implied.
ONOMATOPOEIA
Imitationof
natural sounds
by words.
ONOMATOPOEIA
Examples in English are
the italicized words in
the phrases “the
humming bee,””the
cackling hen,””the
whizzing arrow,” and
“the buzzing saw.”
OXYMORON
Combination of
two seemingly
contradictory or
incongruous
words.
 OXYMORON
Inthe line by the English
poet Sir Philip Sidney in
which lovers are said to
speak “of living deaths,
dear wounds, fair storms,
and freezing fires.”
(Compare with paradox.)
 PARADOX
Statement or
sentiment that
appears
contradictory to
common sense yet is
true in fact.
PARADOX
Examples of paradox
are “mobilization for
peace” and “a well-
known secret agent.”
(Compare with
oxymoron)
PERSONIFICATION
Representation of

inanimate objects
or abstract ideas as
living beings
PERSONIFICATION
In the sentences
“Necessity is the mother
of invention,””Lean
famine stalked the land,”
and “Night enfolded the
town in its ebon wings.”
REPETITION
Repetition of
words and
phrases to
increase the
musical effect
REPETITION
Up! Up! My

friend and
clear your
looks.
SIMILE
Specific

comparison by
means of the words
“like” or “as”
between two kinds
of ideas or objects.
SIMILE
Examples of the simile are
contained in the sentence
“Christianity shone like a
beacon in the black night of
paganism” and in the line by
the English poet William
Wordsworth: “But, like a thirsty
wind, to roam about.”
(Compare with metaphor)
SYNECDOCHE
Figurative locution
whereby the part is
made to stand for the
whole, the whole for a
part, the species for
the genus, and vice
 SYNECDOCHE
In the phrase “50 head of
cattle,””head” is used to mean
whole animals, and in the
sentence “The president's
administration contained the
best brains in the
country,””brains” is used for
intellectually brilliant persons.
(Compare with metonymy)
TAUTOLOGY
Unnecessary

use of words or
ideas which do
not add to the
meaning.
TAUTOLOGY
Books! ‘tis
dull and
endless
strife.
TRANSFERRED EPITHET
An epithet or
adjective is
transferred from its
original noun to
another closely
related to it.
TRANSFERRED EPITHET

Melodious

birds sing
madrigals
THANK
YOU