FIGURES OF

SPEECH

(Study and Thinking Skills)

Arnold M. Duping

English 1 Instructor

FIGURES OF SPEECHIt is a rhetorical device that achieves a special effect by using words indistinctive ways.

Using original figures of speech in writing is a way to convey meanings in fresh and unexpected ways.

It is a direct comparison between two

things different from each other that have

certain qualities in common. It is usually

formed with “like” or “as”.

Her beauty is like a rose.

Love is like a rosary that is full of mystery.

Maria thinks like a computer.

Jenny walks like a duck.

SIMILE

It is an implied comparison between two

unlike things that actually have something

important in common. It doesn’t use “like”

or “as”.

Gretchen is the rose in the family.

Love is a rosary that is full of mystery.

Her mind is a sponge.

Jann is the dictionary of the group.

It is the use of words that imitate the

sounds of nature or the sounds associated

with the objects or actions they refer to.

The ringing of the phone annoys the croc.

Tick-tock-tick-tock, the mouse went up the clock.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I love to hear the chirping of the birds early in the morn.

onomatopoeia

It is a figure of speech in which one word or

phrase is substituted for another with which

is closely associated.

You have to fight for the crown.

The Malacanang Palace ordered for the arrest

of the rice smugglers in the country.

The school forces you to wake up early in the

morning.

A figure of speech in which a part is used to

represent the whole or the whole for a

part.

Sails refer to the whole ship

Gray beards refer to old men

Minds refer to thinkers

Hands refer to workers

Marching feet refer to soldiers

A figure of speech in which incongruous or

contradictory terms appear side by side.

Open secret

Deafening silence

Bitter sweet

Original copy

Seriously funny

It is a statement that appears to contradict

itself but include a latent truth.

Your enemy’s friends are your enemy.

I must be cruel to be kind.

Truth is honey which is bitter.

I can resist anything but temptation.

All animals are equal, but some are more equal than the others.

It is an extravagant statement; the use of

exaggerated terms for the purpose of

emphasis or heightened effect.

I will wait for you forever.

Agatha cried a river when her boyfriend died.

Romeo is willing to cross the ocean just to

follow Juliet.

I forget everything every time I see you smile.

A figure of speech in which a writer or

speaker deliberately makes a situation

seem less important or serious than it is.

I have to have this operation. It isn’t serious. I

just have this little tumor on the brain.

The exam is easy for me. I just can’t answer

problems 1 to 5 in the last page.

A figure of speech consisting of an

understatement in which an affirmative

is expressed by negating its opposite.

The ice cream was not too bad.

New York is not an ordinary city.

I cannot disagree with your point of view.

Your comments on the issue are not useless.

I am not as young as I used to be.

It is the use of words to convey the

opposite of their literal meaning. A

statement or situation where the meaning

is the contradicted by the appearance or

presentation of the idea.

3 TYPES of IRONY:

Situational irony

Verbal irony

Dramatic irony

Verbal Irony- refers to what is said is

different from what is being meant.

Situational Irony- refers to the opposite of

what is being expected.

Dramatic Irony- develops when the

characters act to show their ignorance to

a situation which the audience is aware

of.

Oh great! Now you have broken my new

camera.

You laughed at your classmate who has a

low score in the exam; and the next thing

you know, your score is lower than his.

This butter is a soft as a marble piece.

It is brief and indirect reference to a

person, place or thing of historical,

cultural, literary or political significance.

Don’t act like Romeo in front of her.

This place is like a Garden of Eden.

Robert is the new Rizal in our section.

The rise of poverty will unlock the Pandora’s

box of crimes.

This is used to address some absent person

or thing, some abstract quality, an

inanimate object or a non-existent

character as if they are present.

O death, please go away. I am not ready yet.

Our Father in heaven, help us save the

mankind.

Where are you peace in this time of chaos?

It is the repetition of initial consonant

sound.

Peter piper pick a peck of pickled pepper.

She sell sea shells in the sea shore.

Silly sally sing the song “ Silly Sally Song”.

It is the repetition of internal vowel sounds

in neighboring words.

I feel depressed in and restless.

Go and mow the loan.

Johnny went here and there and everywhere.

It is a play on words, sometimes of

different senses of the same word and

sometimes on the similar sense or sound

of different words.

A happy life depends on the liver.

Atheism is a non-prophet institution.

Why do we have still troops in Germany? To

keep the Russians in Czech.

An elephant’s opinion carries a lot of weight.

It is the substitution of an inoffensive

term for one considered offensively

explicit.

You are becoming a little thin at a top.(bald)

My friend is in the family way. (pregnant)

We do not hire mentally challenged (stupid) people.

Do you have a wooden inter-dental stimulator here?

It is the repetition of the same word or

phrase at the beginning of successive

clauses or verses.

My life is my purpose. My life is my goal. My

life is my inspiration.

ANAPHORA

It is a verbal pattern in which the second

half of an expression is balanced against

the first but with the parts reversed.

Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you.

Love is what makes you keep wanting to be with each other, even when you have no desire to do it.

Do you love me because you need me or do I need you because I love you?

But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

Remember to forget what you want to remember and remember what you want to forget.

chiasmus

Antithesis Antithesis, literal meaning opposite, is a rhetorical device in which two

opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting

effect.

Antithesis emphasizes the idea of contrast by parallel structures of the

contrasted phrases or clauses, i.e. the structures of phrases and clauses

are similar in order to draw the attention of the listeners or readers. For

example:

Setting foot to the moon may be a single step for a man but a giant step

for mankind.

Money is the root of all evils: poverty is the fruit of all goodness.

You are easy on the eyes, but hard on the heart.

TASK TO MASTER FIGURES OF SPEECH

1. TASKS TO DO: Compendium of Figures of SpeechWHAT TO INCLUDE:

1. Title Page

2. Contents

3. Introduction ( Say something about the project)

4. Figures of Speech (Be Original)

a. Figure of Speech Poster (At least 15 different FOS discussed)

b. Figure of Speech in an Advertisement/Print Ads/ ( At least 3 different FOS)

c. Figures of Speech in a Song/Status Post/ News/Announcement

d. Your self-written Poetry (1 focusing on onomatopoeia and 1 for anaphora)

5. Reflection: Write on the significant learning you have in doing this project.

6. References

Use long bond papers for all of these. You will be rated according to Content, 60%; Completeness, 20%; Neatness and Appearance, 10%; Originality, 10%.

This will be submitted on or before February 24, 2015.

You must Research on this for next

meeting quiz:

Ellipsis

Tricolon

Diatyposis

Dehortatio

Hypophora

Thank you!