A.

Figures of Speech based on Analogy

1. Simile
- A simile is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things using the words “like” or “as.”
Ex.
- As busy as a bee.
- As white as a ghost.

2. Metaphor
- A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes something by saying it's something else. It is not meant to be
taken literally.
Ex.
- cold feet.
- Life is a highway.

3. Personification
- The basic idea behind personification is that you take an object or animal and give it human qualities, such as
emotions or thoughts.
Ex.
- Justice is blind and, at times, deaf.
- The light danced on the surface of the water.

4. Allusion
- An allusion is when we hint at something and expect the other person to understand what we are referencing.
Ex.
- Chocolate cake is my Achilles heel.
- We got a new Einstein in school today.

5. Reification
- the act of treating something abstract, such as an idea, relation, system, quality, etc., as if it were a concrete
object.
Ex.
- a wedding ring is the reification of a couple's love.
- He had to heed the call of Mother Nature and go live in the woods.

6. Metonymy
- figure of speech in which the name of an object or concept is replaced with a word closely related to or suggested
by the original.
Ex.
- Referring to the New York Stock Exchange as “Wall Street”
- The White House. (Referring to the American administration.)

7. Synecdoche
- Synecdoche refers to a literary device in which a part of something is substituted for the whole
Ex.
- The phrase "hired hands" can be used to refer to workers.
- The word "head" can refer to counting cattle or people.

8. Symbol
- Symbols take the form of words, sounds, gestures, ideas, or visual images and are used to convey other ideas and
beliefs.
Ex.
- the color white stands for purity
- An owl can be a symbol meaning wisdom

9. Synesthesia
- synesthesia refers to an author's blending of human senses to describe an object.
Ex.
- Hearing music and seeing colors in your mind
- colored hearing

B. Figures of Speech based on Rhetoric

1. Rhetorical Question
- A rhetorical question is one for which the questioner does not expect a direct answer: in many cases it may be
intended to start a discourse, or as a means of displaying or emphasize the speaker's or author's opinion on a
topic.
Ex.
- What time do you call this?
- Does a bear poop in the woods?
2. Anachronism
- something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing or person that
belongs to an earlier time.
Ex.
- a caveman who microwaves his dinner.
- The sword is an anachronism in modern warfare.

3. Litotes
- Litotes is a figure of speech and a form of understatement in which a sentiment is expressed ironically by
negating its contrary.
Ex.
- It's not rocket science.
- He doesn't always have the best sense of direction.

4. Hyperbole
- Hyperbole is a figure of speech that uses an exaggerated or extravagant statement to create a strong emotional
response.
Ex.
- The car went faster than the speed of light.
- That joke is so old; the last time I heard it, I was riding a dinosaur.

5. Meiosis
- meiosis is a euphemistic figure of speech that intentionally understates something or implies that it is lesser in
significance or size than it really is.
Ex.
- calling the Atlantic Ocean “the pond.”
- Grease-monkey (mechanic)

6. Paradox
- A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself.
Ex.
- All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
- Save money by spending it.

7. Irony
- a situation in which something which was intended to have a particular result has the opposite or a very different
result.
Ex.
- if it were a cold, rainy gray day, you might say, “What a beautiful day!’’
- A fire station burns down.

C. Figures of Speech based on Syntax

1. Antithesis
- Antithesis is a rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a
contrasting effect.
Ex.
- Keep your mouth closed and your eyes open.
- Speech is silver, but silence is gold.

2. Apostrophe
- An apostrophe is a punctuation mark used in contractions to replace missing letters.
Ex.
- It's a nice day outside. (contraction)
- The cat is dirty. Its fur is matted.

3. Asyndeton
- Asyndeton is a literary device that excludes conjunctions (and, or, but, for, nor, so, yet) to add emphasis.
Ex.
- He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, a maniac.
- It is a northern country; they have cold weather, they have cold hearts.

4. Chiasmus
- Chiasmus is a figure of speech in which the grammar of one phrase is inverted in the following phrase, such that
two key concepts from the original phrase reappear in the second phrase in inverted order.
Ex.
- When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
- She has all my love; my heart belongs to her.

5. Oxymoron
- An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines contradictory words with opposing meanings.
Ex.
- Walking dead
- Foolish wisdom

6. Pun
- A pun is a literary device that is also known as a “play on words.” Puns involve words with similar or identical
sounds but with different meanings.
Ex.
- The cyclist was two tired to win the race.
- This candy cane is in mint condition.

D. Figures of Sound

1. Alliteration
- Alliteration is a literary technique derived from Latin, meaning “letters of the alphabet.” It occurs when two or
more words are linked that share the same first consonant sound.
Ex.
- Claire, close your cluttered closet.
- Go and gather the green leaves on the grass.

2. Anaphora
- repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially
for rhetorical or poetic effect.
Ex.
- Go big or go home.
- Get busy living or get busy dying.

3. Assonance
- Assonance is a literary technique where the same or similar vowel sound is repeated. It's often used in poetry, or
in narrative prose, to create an atmosphere and a rhythm.
Ex.
- Chips and dips
- Surf and turf

4. Cacophony
- Cacophonic is a poetic sound device in which certain sounds create harsh and hard tones.
Ex.
- He grunted and in a gruff voice said, “Give me that trash and I'll throw it out!
- a cacophony of hoots, cackles, and wails.

5. Consonance
- Consonance is a figure of speech in which the same consonant sound repeats within a group of words.
Ex.
- Mike likes his new bike.
- I will crawl away with the ball.

6. Euphony
- Euphony is the combining of words that sound pleasant together or are easy to pronounce.
Ex.
- Ode to Autumn (By John Keats)
“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch –eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees
- Success (By Emily Dickinson)
“Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need. Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,

As he, defeated, dying,

On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear!”
7. Onomatopoeia
- Onomatopoeia refers to words whose pronunciations imitate the sounds they describe.
Ex.
- The dog barked all night.
- The mouse went squeak as it ran across the room.

8. Repetition
- Repetition is when a single word or phrase is used multiple times in short succession for effect.
Ex.
- Time after time.
- Heart to heart.

9. Rhyme
- Rhymes are words whose endings match, as in “fly” and “spy.” This is one of the most common techniques in
traditional poetry and music, and most people can easily identify rhymes.
Ex.
- Cat – Sat – Bat.
- Ball – Fall – Tall.