Figures Of Speech :-

A figure of speech is a rhetorical

device that achieves a special effect by

using words in distinctive ways.

Literary devices are ways of using

words imaginatively to make writing

more descriptive and colourful.

Examples :-

1. She is a night owl.2. Her teddy bear was her best friend,

never telling her secrets.3. The sun is a golden ball.4. The wheels of justice turn slowly.5. At night the lake is a wide silence,

without imagination.

Simile

A simile is a figure of speech that compares two things that are alike in some way. To help you identify a simile, know that the words “like” or “as” are typically used.

Examples :-1. "as blind as a bat" indicating that

the person cannot see any better than a bat.

2. She is as thin as a toothpick.

Oxymoron

Is two contradictory terms used together.

Small crowdLoosely Bound Well known Secret Kind Cruelty bittersweetact naturally

litotes

Consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.

Alliteration

It is the repetition of

beginning sounds.

“Sally sells seashells.”

"good as gold”

Anaphora

Is a technique where several phrases or verses begin with the same word or words.

We laughed, we loved, we sang

Assonance

It is the repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close together . It is used to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences.

MetonymyThe definition of a metonymy is a figure of speech in which one thing is replaced with a word closely associated with it.

referring to the King as "the Crown."

The word "wheels" refers to a vehicle."Milk" is commonly used to refer to cow's milk when, in

reality there are many sources of milk.

Synecdoche vs Metonymy they both use a word or phrase to represent something

else. They could also both be considered metaphors because the word or words used are not taken literally.

A synecdoche uses part for the whole or the whole for a part.

A metonymy is a substitution where a word or phrase is used in place of another word or phrase. A good example is the phrase “The pen is mightier than the sword.” The word “pen” substitutes for written work, and the word “sword” substitutes for violence or warfare.

Figure of repetition that occurs when the

last word or set of words in one sentence,

clause, or phrase is repeated one or more

times at the end of successive sentences,

clauses, or phrases.

government of the people, by the people, for

the people shall not perish from the earth." -

-Abraham Lincoln,

AntithesisThe placing of a sentence or one of its parts

against another to which it is opposed to form a balanced contrast of ideas, as in “Give me liberty or give me death.”.

Antithesis can be used in many different contexts; but, the common thread is that it contains two contrasting ideas.

Examples :-• To err is human; to forgive divine.

• Speech is silver, but silence is gold.

• John Milton in “Paradise Lost” says:

“Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n.”

• Give me some sunshine, Give me some rain, Give me another chance I wannagrow up once again. - Swanand Kirkire

A play on words, either on different

senses of the same word or on the similar

sense or sound of different words.

Ask for me tomorrow and you shall / Find me a

grave man. William Shakespeare, Romeo and

Juliet The adjective “grave” means serious or un-

funny. The noun “grave” refers to the place where

the dead are buried. In this quote, Mercutio is

saying that he will die tomorrow and he is quite

serious about it!

Euphemism

Is a word or phrase that replaces a word or phrase to make it more polite or pleasant.Examples :-

Passed away instead of died

Homeless instead of bumBetween jobs instead of unemployed

Domestic engineer instead of maid.

ONOMATOPOEIA

It is a word that sounds like what it is

describing.

The use of words (such as hiss or murmur)

that imitate the sounds associated with the

objects or actions they refer to.

Buzz

Click

Hyperbole

Uses exaggeration for emphasis or

effect.

A statement is made emphatic by over

statement.

All the perfumes of Arabia / Will not

sweeten this little hand.

Irony

Is using words where the meaning is the

opposite of their usual meaning.

Examples :-

The titanic was said to be sinked .

After begging for a cat and finally

getting one , she found that she was

allergic .

Personification

Is giving human qualities to

non-living things or ideas.

Snowflakes danced

An allusion is a reference, either direct or

indirect, to a well-known person, place or

event.

Understatement

when something is said to make something appear less important or less serious.

The tsunami caused some damage -referring to a huge tsunami

Climax Figure of repetition in which words or phrases or

sentences are arranged in order of increasing intensity or importance, often in parallel construction; words or phrases arranged by degrees of increasing significance.

What a piece of work is man!.How noble in reason ,how infinite in faculties ! In action , how like an angel !

Paradox

In which a statement appears to contradict itself. An

oxymoron puts opposite words together, a paradox

puts opposite ideas together.

The child is father of the man. William

Wordsworth, “The Rainbow” When a man

is old, his son or daughter needs to take

care of him. The child thus becomes a

“parent” to his or her own parent.

CHIASMUS

A verbal pattern (a type

of antithesis) in which the second

half of an expression is balanced

against the first with the parts

reversed.

• "Eat to live, not live to eat" - Attributed to Socrates.

• "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy.

• "You win to play, and you play to win."

• "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind."

Apostrophe

In which some absent or nonexistent

person or thing is addressed as if

present and capable of understanding.

O Death, where is thy sting? O grave,

where is thy victory? (The narrator is

talking to death and the grave as if they

are people who can hear him)