FIGURES OF

SPEECH
Figures of Speech
•Is the use of more expressive
language applying varieties of
words to provide creative and
dramatic approach to the
meaning being presented.
Simile
• Comparison that uses the expressions “like” and
“as…as”
• E.g. My love is like a red red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
My love is like the melodie
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.
Robert Burns, “My Love is Like a Red Red Rose”
Metaphor
• Directly compares two unlike objects
• E.g. Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Langston Hughes, “Dreams”
Personification
• Giving human qualities to inanimate or non
living objects
• E.g.
The wind whispers serenely through
the silent night.
The boat dances when hit by waves.
Onomatopoeia
• The use of sound words

• E.g. Tick-tick-tick – denotes time or clock

Vroooom – sound of an engine
Boom! – explosion
Metonymy
•The use of a term connected with an object
to represent it
•E.g.
“The pen is mightier than the sword.”

- Edward Bulwer Lytton, “Richelieu” (Play)

Synecdoche
• The use of part of an object to represent the
whole
• E.g.
“His parents bought him a new set of
wheels.”
“I would like to have your hand in marriage.”
Antonomasia
• The use of famous person’s name to represent
someone
• E.g.
The OFWs are today’s new Jose Rizal of our
country.
My teammate is Kobe Bryant in our
basketball club.
Allusion
• The use of indirect reference to people, place, thing or idea
regarding cultural, mystical or political concept
• E.g.
Our new classmate is an Einstein during examinations.
(Referring to Albert Einstein)
You don’t always have to carry weight of the world on your
shoulders.
(Referring to Atlas in Mythology)
Apostrophe
• Call to a person, a thing or a personified idea which is
not really present
• E.g.
O Captain my Captain! Our fearful trip is done,
The ship was weathered every rack, the prize we
sought is won
Walt Whitman, “Oh Captain! My Captain”
Hyperbole
• Express exaggeration
• E.g.
I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
-Joseph Condrad, “The Heart of Darkness”