FIGURES

OF
SPEECH
Figures of Speech
• are expressions in which words are used
out of their literal meaning or out of their
ordinary use to add beauty or emotional
intensity.
• They transfer the writer’s sense
impressions by comparing or identifying
one thing with another that has meaning
familiar to the reader.
 Euphemism
• this is an indirect or a mild word or
expression substituted for one that is
considered to be too blunt or harsh.

EXAMPLES
He lost the game = He didn’t make it
Fat = horizontally challenged
 Hyperbole
• this is an extravagant statement.
• It is the use of exaggerated terms for the
purpose of emphasis or heightened
effect.

EXAMPLE
I think of you every minute of every day.
 Irony
• this expression normally signifies the
opposite, typically for humorous or
emphatic effect.

EXAMPLE
You gave me a good plan. Its only problem
is that it can never be done.
 Simile
• this is used to compare two different
ideas or objects, making them the same
using “as,” “like,” “as if,” or “as though.”

EXAMPLE
My love’s scent is like the freshness of
melons.
 Metaphor
• this shoes comparison that Is not
situated, but is implied.
• Unlike, simile, it does not use works like
“as,” “like,” “as if,” or “as though”

EXAMPLE
You are the apple of my eye.
 Metonymy
• this expression uses substitution or
representation of something that it is
associate with.

EXAMPLE
the pen and plume = a writer
 Synecdoche
• this states a part to represent a whole or
vice versa.

EXAMPLE
“ten brilliant minds” is used for “ten
intelligent people”
 Onomatopoeia
• this is a word derived from a sound made
by an animal, a person, or nature.

EXAMPLES
“splash” of water
“cuckoo” of birds
“neigh” horses
 Oxymoron
• this expression uses contradictory terms
in the same phrase.

EXAMPLES
The right mistake
An honest liar
Loud silence
 Paradox
• this is a seemingly contradictory terms or
absurd statement which when
investigated may prove to be true or well
founded.
EXAMPLE
The French are thought to have an
unhealthy lifestyle, yet have a long-life
expectancy.
 Personification
• this assigns actions done by humans to
something non-human or abstract.

EXAMPLE
The wind howled furiously last night.
 OTHER
FIGURES
OF SPEECH
 Alliteration
• this is the use of the same letter or sound
at the beginning of closely connected
words.

EXAMPLES
The hare habitually hibernates
All power, prosperity, as well as pain will
be yours.
 Assonance
• this is an expression composed of
several words having the same vowel
sounds.

EXAMPLES
Hastes makes wastes
Make or break
 Antithesis
• this shows contrasting ideas in a
grammatically parallel expression.
• In other words, this uses contradicting
concepts.
EXAMPLE
It was the best of times, it was the worst of
times
 Apostrophe
• this is an expression addressed to a non-
existent or dead person, an inanimate
object, or an idea or quality.

EXAMPLES
O Death, why have you come?
Redeem me, O Great Oak!
 Asyndeton
• this omits the use of conjunction between
parts of sentences
 
EXAMPLES
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
I came, I saw, I conquer.
 Polysyndeton
• this uses repetition of conjunctions for
rhetorical effect.

EXAMPLES
I tasted fillet mignon and escargot and caviar
and fettucine.
It is expensive, but it is beautiful, but then again
it will cost me much. But I really like it.
 Ellipsis
• this is the omission of an unnecessary word or
words in the middle of the sentence to produce
a dramatic effect.
• This is usually followed by three period (…).

EXAMPLES
I did not mind it until…
That scornful person made me a… but ah! Who
cares?
 Litotes
• this is an understatement in which an
affirmative is expressed by a negative of
its contrary.

EXAMPLES
A concept of no small importance.
An event to be attended by no less than the
president.
 Rhetorical Question
• this asks a question not to be answered
but only to express a distinct message.
EXAMPLES
Why doesn’t he like me?
Isn’t it a great day?
How could you do such a thing?
ROLD, WHEN KAYA?
 Transferred Epithet
• this uses deliberate misapplication of an
adjective to a noun.

EXAMPLES
Immature pen
Minute mind
 REFERENCES
Hernandez, C. R. (2007). MSA comprehensive
English handbook. MSA Publishing House.
Comprehensive LET reviewer based on NCBTS
and table of specification (TOS): General
education. (2011). Lorimar Publishing Inc.