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There are various ways of using words figuratively. They are calling figures of speech. In other words, that is what we usually call rhetorical devices. Among the most common of them are:
1. Simile
It is a comparison between two distinctly different things and the comparison is indicated by the words as or like:
O my love’s like a red, red rose.
-----Robert Burns
That man can’t be trusted. He’s as slippery as an eel.
The old man’s hair is as white as snow.
In the above three examples people and things of different categories are compared: a woman and a rose, a man and an eel, and hair and snow. But each pair has one similarity: loveliness, slipperiness and whiteness. The discrepancy between the two things compared makes their similarity all the more striking.
2. Metaphor
It is the use of a word which originally denotes one thing to refer to another with similar quality. It is also a comparison, but the comparison is implied, not expressed with the word as or like.
Metaphors are used not only after verb to be, and not only nouns can be metaphorically. Study the following examples:
The street faded into a country road with straggling houses by it.
He often prefaced his remarks by “I can’t help doing…”
Therefore nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs can all be used in a metaphorical way. And meanwhile there’s always a comparison implied.
A metaphor or a simile has to be fresh to be effective. One that has been frequently used over a long period of time will become dull and stale, and cease to function as a metaphor or simile.
“The leg of a table” must have been a metaphor when it was first used, but today we feel that leg is used in its literal sense.
3. Personification
It is to treat a person or an idea as if it were human or had human qualities. In poetry personification is very common.
We can figure it out in Shakespeare’s poetry, right?
In prose personification is also used, though not so often as in poetry.
e.g.
The march will soon be over and defeat is starving us in the face.
This time fate was smiling to him.
Thunder roared and a pouring rain started.
Dusk came stealthily.
The storm was raging and an angry sea was continuously tossing their boat.
4. Metonymy
It is substituting the name of one thing for that of another with which it is closely associated. Thus the crown can stand for a king, and the White House for the American government, the bottle for wine or alcohol, and the bar for the legal profession. When metonymy is well used, brevity and vividness may be achieved.
e.g.
Sword and cross in hand, the European conquerors fell upon the Americas.
When the war was over, he laid down the sword and took up the pen.
His purse would not allow him that luxury.
5. Synecdoche
When a part is substituted for the whole or the whole is substituted for a part, synecdoche is applied:
e.g.
The farms were short of hands during the harvest season.
He had to earn his daily bread by doing odd jobs.
Germany beat Argentina 2 to 1 in this exciting football match.
The poor creature could no longer endure her sufferings.
In the above sentences hands stands for men, bread for food or living expenses, the names of the two countries for the two teams, and creature for a woman.
6. Euphemism
It is the substitution of a mild or vague expression for a harsh or unpleasant one, for example:
to die: to pass away, to leave us; one’s heart had stopped beating; kick the bucket
old people: senior citizens
mad: emotionally disturbed
dustman: sanitation worker
lavatory: bathroom, men’s or women’s room
concentration camp: strategic hamlets
It is obvious that those euphemisms used by the ordinary people are meant to soften harsh reality, but those used by politicians may aim at deceiving the public. Can you give some example?(used by politicians)
7. Irony
It is the use of words which are clearly opposite to what it is meant, in order to achieve a special effect. Suppose you planned an outing on a certain day, expecting it to be fine; but when the day came it was raining heavily. If you said, “What fine weather for an outing!” you were speaking ironically. If a barbarous act was called civilized or cultural, irony was used.
8. Overstatement and understatement
In overstatement the diction exaggerates the subject, and in understatement the words play down the magnitude or value of the subject. Overstatement is also called hyperbole.
Both aim at the same effect: to make the statement or description impressive or interesting.
e.g.
She is dying to know what job has been assigned her.
On hearing that he was admitted to that famous university, he whispered to himself, “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”
It took a few dollars to build the indoor swimming pool.
9. Oxymoron
In oxymoron apparently contradictory terms are combined to produce a special effect.
e.g.
When the news of failure came, his friends said that it was a victorious defeat.
The president was conspicuously absent on that occasion.
She red the long-awaited letter with a tearful smile.
10. Alliteration
It refers to the appearance of the same initial consonant sound in two or more words, such as “proud as a peacock” and “blind as a bat”. Alliteration is often used in poetry to give emphasis to words that are related in meaning. Shakespeare’s poems can illustrate this point very well~~~ J
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