FIGURES OF SPEECH

1. Simile (As/ Like): It is a direct comparison between two different objects, things etc. using
as/like.
Eg: 1. He is as brave as a lion.
2. This room is as hot as a furnace.

2. Metaphor: It is an Implied Simile. It is a word or phrase that is used in an imaginative way

to show that somebody/something has the same qualities as another thing.
Eg: 1. He is a lion.
2. This room is a furnace.

3. Alliteration: In this figure of speech “A Letter” is repeated. (sound)

1st letter of a word is repeated.
Eg: 1. The bright bird flew.
2. Four fools fell in a fountain.

4. Personification: When any non-living or in animate object gets human action, it is

Personification.
Eg: The roses were smiling and the wind was telling a fairy tale.

5. Irony: In this figure of speech, a positive sentence gives negative stress to the meaning of a
sentence.

Eg: 1. She is so intelligent that wisdom is invisible on the earth.{Means cunning]

2. Of course, these politicians were honourable last year.
[Means – now having no respect]

6. Litotes: In this figure of speech a negative sentence gives positive stress to the meaning of a
sentence.
Eg: 1. I am not an ordinary man. [Means extra ordinary man]
2. I am no novice in teaching. [Means very much experienced in teaching]

7. Antithesis: Two sentences with opposite ideas.

Eg: 1. United we stand, divided we fall.
2. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

8. Oxymoron: Two words with opposite ideas.

Eg: 1. My life is an open secret.
2. She is the wisest fool.
9. Onomatopoeia: It suggests the sense of sound.
Eg: 1. Zoom, zoom , aeroplane flies.
2. Tidy hinched and Tidy clinched.

10. Hyperbole: Hyperbole is an over - statement and exaggeration.

Eg: 1. She wept an ocean of tears.
2. The tea is icy cold.

11. Synecdoche: It is a substitution of word used as a part for the whole.

Eg: 1. Our hearts are peace.
2. His orchard’s his bread.

12. Metonymy: It is a substitution of name.

Eg: 1. She must address the chair.[Chair = Chairman]
2. The pen is mightier than the sword. [The pen = Author, The sword =
Soldier]