Figures of speech
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Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole or vice versa. It can involve using a part to refer to the whole, a whole thing referring to a part, a general class name denoting a specific instance, or referring to materials something is made of. Some examples given include referring to people by a single characteristic like "the beard" for an older man, calling workers "hands", or saying "the law" to mean police officers. The summary provides the key definition of synecdoche as a figure of speech where a part represents the whole or vice versa, and gives some brief illustrative examples to highlight this concept in 3 sentences.
![I am so tired I could sleep for a year.
He is as skinny as a toothpick.
5.Asyndeton
a.We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any
friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. J. F.
Kennedy, Inaugural
*But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we
cannot hallow this ground.
b.We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the
seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing
strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we
shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall
fight in in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall
never surrender.
6.Apostrophe
Ex.Where, O death, thy sting?where, O death, thy victory?" 1 Corinthians
15:55, traditionally attributed to Saint Paul
"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?" Shakespeare, Romeo
and Juliet, Act II, Scene 2
"O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, / That I am meek and gentle
with these butchers! / Thou art the ruins of the noblest man / That ever
lived in the tide of times." Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1
"To what green altar, O mysterious priest, / Lead'st thou that heifer
lowing at the skies, / And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?"John
Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
"O eloquent, just, and mighty Death!" Sir Walter Raleigh, A Historie of the
World
"Roll on thou dark and deep blues de Quincey
"Death, be not proud, though some have called thee / Mighty and
dreadful, for thou art not so", John Donne, "Holy Sonnet X"
"And you, Eumaeus..." the Odyssey
"O My friends, there is no friend." Montaigne, originally attributed
to Aristotle[3]
"O policy paper, why are you so horrible?" Tamara Taylor[1]
"Productivity, why do you elude me so?" Jessica Ellis
"Ah Bartleby! Ah Humanity!", from Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman
Melville
"O black night, nurse of the golden stars!" Electra in Euripides](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/figuresofspeech-121208053204-phpapp02/85/Figures-of-speech-11-320.jpg)
Figures of speech
- 1. A figure of speech is a change from the ordinary manner of expression, using words in other than their literal sense to enhance the way a thought is expressed. The following are the more common figures of Speech you can use to achieve some interesting "effects" in your writing: Alliteration: the same sound is repeated noticeably at the beginning of words placed close together Examples-- "World Wide Web" "Find four furry foxes" Recommendation: Use alliteration sparingly. Too much can wear on the reader. Back to Top Allusion: casual reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event. e.g., " . . . a turn of phrase even Shakespeare would appreciate." Back to Top Apostrophe: direct address of an absent or dead person or personified thing. Invocation: an apostrophe to a god or muse. Examples-- "God help me!" "Ambition, you're a cruel master!" Back to Top
- 2. Irony: using words to mean the opposite of what is said. Sarcasm: cutting, sneering or taunting irony. Examples-- "He's handsome if you like rodents." Hyperbole: exaggeration not meant to be taken literally. Examples-- "I waited forever for him." "I destroyed that test!" "The world ended the day my father died." Understatement: the representation of something as significantly less than it actually is. e.g. "That was some sprinkle." (in reference to the four inches of rain which fell an hour before) Back to Top Metaphor: an implied comparison between things, events, or actions which are fundamentally unlike. Metonymy: substituting a word--which is suggested by it or which is closely associated with it--for another word Examples-- "He hit the bottle soon after his wife died." "She counted heads."
- 3. "The White House denied the allegations." Synecdoche: using a part for the whole or the whole for a part e.g. "The pen is mightier than the sword" Personification: representing a thing, quality, or idea as a person Examples-- "The book just begged to be read." "The ocean screamed its fury" "Fear lived with us in Vietnam." Recommendations: o The comparison should be more evocative and appealing than the literal, plain statement of the thought. o Use sparingly. Too much of this and you call attention to yourself as the author instead of leaving your reader immersed in your story Back to Top Onomatopoeia: using words to imitate the sound they represent Examples-- "I heard the hiss of steam down in the access tunnel." "The clock in the living room cuckooed the hour." "The clang of the cymbals echoed across the square." Back to Top Parallelism (aka "Balance"): Expressing two ideas of equal importance through similar phrasing. Antithesis: parallelism in grammatical pattern but strong contrast in meaning.
- 4. Examples-- "Give me liberty or give me death!" "That isn't the truth, it's a lie." "You seem so wise, yet how foolish you are." Recommendation: Don't use too much of this; it can easily wear on the reader. Paradox: a statement that seems self-contradictory. The effect of this is to jolt the reader into paying attention. Examples-- "He who loses his life for My sake will save it." "One day is sometimes better than a whole year." Oxymoron: a paradoxical statement in which two contradictory terms or words are brought together. Examples-- "The quiet was deafening." "He was clearly misunderstood." "They were alone together." Anaphora: repetition of the same word or words at the beginning or successive clauses, verses, or sentences, e.g., "He came as conqueror. He came as ally. He came as a stranger. He came as brother."
- 5. Climax: The arrangement of a series of ideas or events in ascending order of importance, interest, or effectiveness. Stresses the relative importance of ideas or events. Anticlimax: the use of climax up to the end of a series of thoughts and then the insertion of some unimportant idea in the last, most important position. Useful in humorous writing. Back to Top Simile: an explicit comparison between things, events, or actions which are fundamentally unlike. . Typically involves the words "like" or "as" Examples: "His arguments withered like grapevines in the fall." "He was cold as an arctic wind." "Crooked as a dog's hind leg." "Casual dress, like casual speech, tends to be loose, relaxed and colorful"
- 6. 1.Synecdocheis a figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole (for example, ABCs for alphabet) or the whole for a part ("England won the World Cup in 1966"). Synecdoche is often treated as a type of metonymy. Ex.A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword). A part referring to the whole Referring to people according to a single characteristic: "the gray beard" for an older man or "the long hair" for a hippie Describing a complete vehicle as "wheels" Calling a worker "a pair of hands" All "hands" on deck A whole thing referring to a part of it "The city posted a sign", which means that an employee of the local government (but not the geographic location or all of its residents) posted a sign A general class name used to denote a specific member of that or an associated class "truck" for any four-wheel drive vehicle (as well as long-haul trailers, etc.) He's good people. [Here, the word "people" is used to denote a specific instance of people, i.e. a person. So the sentence would be interpreted as "He's a good person.") A specific class name used to refer to a general set of associated things "John Hancock" for the signature of any person "bug" for any kind of insect or spider, even if it is not a true bug a genericized trademark, for example "Coke" for any variety of cola The material that a thing is made of referring to that thing "steel" for a sword "willow" for a cricket bat or "pigskin" for an American or Canadian football "plastic" for credit cards "lead" for bullets "silver" for flatware or other dishes that were once made of silver metal "rubber" for a condom
- 7. 2.metaphor: changing a word from its literal meaning to one not properly applicable but analogous to it; assertion of identity rather than, as with simile, likeness. Ex.Between the lower east side tenements the sky is a snotty handkerchief." (Marge Piercy, "The Butt of Winter") "The streets were a furnace, the sun an executioner." (Cynthia Ozick, "Rosa") "But my heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely hill." (William Sharp, "The Lonely Hunter") "I can mingle with the stars, and throw a party on Mars; I am a prisoner locked up behind Xanax bars." (Lil Wayne, "I Feel Like Dying") "Love is an alchemist that can transmute poison into food--and a spaniel that prefers even punishment from one hand to caresses from another." (Charles Colton, Lacon) "Men's words are bullets, that their enemies take up and make use of against them." (George Savile, Maxims) "A man may break a word with you, sir, and words are but wind." (William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors) "The rain came down in long knitting needles." (Enid Bagnold, National Velvet)
- 8. "Language is a road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going." (Rita Mae Brown) "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." (Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, 1863) Lenny: Hey, maybe there is no cabin. Maybe it's one of them metaphorical things. Carl: Oh yeah, yeah. Like maybe the cabin is the place inside each of us, created by our goodwill and teamwork. Lenny: Nah, they said there would be sandwiches. (The Simpsons) "Memory is a crazy woman that hoards colored rags and throws away food." (Austin O'Malley, Keystones of Thought) "Ice formed on the butler's upper slopes." (P.G. Wodehouse, The Color of the Woosters, 1938) "Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations." (Faith Baldwin, Face Toward the Spring, 1956) *"But silk has nothing to do with tobacco. It’s a metaphor, a metaphor that means something like, 'smooth as silk.' Somebody in an advertising agency dreamt up the name 'Silk Cut' to suggest a cigarette that wouldn’t give you a sore throat or a hacking cough or lung cancer." (David Lodge, Nice Work. Viking, 1988)
- 9. "From its Dutch beginnings in the 17th century, New York was distinguished among the European colonies by its diversity. Conceptually, the melting pot as a metaphor for mixing disparate cultures can be traced at least as far back as 1782 to a naturalized New Yorker from France . . . later to DeWitt Clinton and Ralph Waldo Emerson." (Sam Roberts, "The Melting Metaphor." Only in New York. St. Martin's, 2009) 3.Metonymy: substitution of cause for effect, proper name for one of its qualities, etc. Metonymy 'He is a man of cloth', which means he belongs to a religious order. 'He writes with a fine hand', means he has a good handwriting. 'We have always remained loyal to the crown', that means the people are loyal to the king or the ruler of their country. 'The pen is mightier than the sword' refers that the power of literary works is greater than military force. 'The House was called to order', refers to the members of the House. Some More Metonymy Examples An institution - members or leaders (like in the Army or Red Cross) A committee or a board - members A newspaper - journalists or editors A faction - leaders or constitution members A hospital - doctors, nurses and other people working there A country - members of the population or leaders Red letter day – an important day. In calendars, important days and holidays are marked in red A part referring to the whole Referring to people according to a single characteristic: "the gray beard" for an older man or "the long hair" for a hippie This leads to bahuvrihi compounds. Describing a complete vehicle as "wheels" Calling a worker "a pair of hands" All "hands" on deck A whole thing referring to a part of it "The city posted a sign", which means that an employee of the local government (but not the geographic location or all of its residents) posted a sign A general class name used to denote a specific member of that or an associated class
- 10. "truck" for any four-wheel drive vehicle (as well as long-haul trailers, etc.) He's good people. [Here, the word "people" is used to denote a specific instance of people, i.e. a person. So the sentence would be interpreted as "He's a good person.") A specific class name used to refer to a general set of associated things "John Hancock" for the signature of any person "bug" for any kind of insect or spider, even if it is not a true bug a genericized trademark, for example "Coke" for any variety of cola The material that a thing is made of referring to that thing "steel" for a sword "willow" for a cricket bat or "pigskin" for an American or Canadian football "plastic" for credit cards "lead" for bullets "silver" for flatware or other dishes that were once made of silver metal "rubber" for a condom 4.Hyperbole It is going to take a bazillion years to get through Medical School. I ate the whole cow. He's 900 years old. I am so hungry I could eat a horse. There are millions of other things to do. Running faster than the speed of light. You could be Miss Universe. It took light years for this to work. I waited in line for centuries. I've told you a million times don't exaggerate. I had to walk fifteen miles uphill both ways, in snow five feet deep. I had worse than that in my eye. If I don't get these jeans, I will DIE! I have a million things to do today. I could eat a horse. She cried for days. The whole world was staring at me. The package took forever to arrive in the mail. I had a ton of homework. it took him two seconds to drive here. Her smile was a mile wide. His teeth were blinding white. My car is a million years old. I don't have two cents to rub together. I told you a thousand times! Maybe I'll do it in a million years. I was so embarrassed, I thought I might die.
- 11. I am so tired I could sleep for a year. He is as skinny as a toothpick. 5.Asyndeton a.We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. J. F. Kennedy, Inaugural *But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. b.We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender. 6.Apostrophe Ex.Where, O death, thy sting?where, O death, thy victory?" 1 Corinthians 15:55, traditionally attributed to Saint Paul "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?" Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene 2 "O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, / That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! / Thou art the ruins of the noblest man / That ever lived in the tide of times." Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1 "To what green altar, O mysterious priest, / Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, / And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?"John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn" "O eloquent, just, and mighty Death!" Sir Walter Raleigh, A Historie of the World "Roll on thou dark and deep blues de Quincey "Death, be not proud, though some have called thee / Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so", John Donne, "Holy Sonnet X" "And you, Eumaeus..." the Odyssey "O My friends, there is no friend." Montaigne, originally attributed to Aristotle[3] "O policy paper, why are you so horrible?" Tamara Taylor[1] "Productivity, why do you elude me so?" Jessica Ellis "Ah Bartleby! Ah Humanity!", from Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville "O black night, nurse of the golden stars!" Electra in Euripides
- 12. 7.Irony Ex. a.A young couple are too poor to buy each other Christmas gifts. The wife cuts off her treasured hair to sell it to a wig-maker for money to buy her husband a chain for his heirloom pocket watch. She's shocked when she learns he had pawned his watch to buy her a set of combs for her long, beautiful, prized hair. b."Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room." Ellipsis The man looked above...all he could see were three black silhouettes against the bright blue sky. When the man looked above he couldn't quite believe what he saw....