Chapter 5:

Figures of Speech

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Figures of speech
• Figures of speech are words or phrases
which are used for special effect, and which
do not have their usual or literal meaning.
• They make our speech concise, colorful,
profound, impressive, etc.
• They are: Simile Hyperbole
Metaphor Litotes
Personification Irony
Metonymy
Synecdoche
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Simile and metaphor
• Simile is “the use of comparison of one
thing with another.”
e.g. as brave as a lion
a face like a mask
He eats like a horse.
• Metaphor is the use of a word or phrase to
indicate something different from the literal
meaning.
e.g. I make him eat his words.
She has a heart of stone.
He was a lion in the fight. 3
The distinction between a simile and a metaphor

• A simile an explicit or direct comparison

in which something is compared to
something else by the use of a function
word such as like or as.
– My hand are as cold as ice. (=My hands are
very cold)
– Tom eats like a horse. (=Tom eats as much
as a horse does. Tom’s appetite is explicitly
compared to that of a horse.)
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The distinction between a simile and a metaphor

• A metaphor is an implicit or indirect

comparison in which no function word is
used.
– She has a heart of stone. (= She has a
pitiless and unfeeling nature)
– I’ll make him eat his words. (= I make him
admit that what he ‘d said is wrong.)
– He was a lion in the fight (= He fought
bravely and successfully just like a lion in
the fight for food.)
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 Dead metaphors
• Dead metaphors are used so often that they have
lost their metaphoric characteristics. It is
understood directly without paying attention to
the comparison.

– The leg/face of the table

– The back of the chair
– The mouth of the river
– The head of the state
– The childhood of the earth
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Dead metaphors
• Dead metaphors are in fact idioms or fixed
expressions that native speakers of a language
give special meanings and use naturally and
unconsciously.
– He looked as though he hasn’t had a square
meal for months. (= a large and satisfying
meal)
– He washed his hand out of the matter.
(=refused to have anything more to do with the
matter)
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Dead metaphors
• Body of an essay
• The arm of the chair
• The foot of the bed
• Flowerbed
• Seeds of doubt
• World wide web
• Head teacher
• To lose face
• To lend a hand
Metaphors and similes?

• The dog was a jack-in-the-box, trying to jump

up on the visitors.
• "I feel like roadkill; it's been a rough week,"
announced Samira as she walked in.
• The motion sickness hit the sailor as fast as
lightning.
http://www.englishdaily626.com/similes-
metaphors.php?002
1.
  My mother does not like me to go out with him because he is as wily as a ______.
              
   (A) wolf  
(B) wizard
   (C) fox  
   (D) lily  
              
2.  The child was as hungry as a ______. He ate up a full bowl of rice in minutes.
              
   (A) dog  
(B) wolf
   (C) fox  
   (D) pig  
              
3.  This bus is as slow as a ______. We may not be able to reach there on time.
              
   (A) bear  
(B) clock
   (C) tortoise  
   (D) snake  
              
4.  She likes spoiling people's fun. She is really a ______.
              
   (A) couch potato  
(B) wet blanket
   (C) hard nut  
   (D) hard bargain  
              
5.  She exercises regularly and keeps herself as fit as a ______.
              
   (A) flower  
(B) fiddle
   (C) fish  
   (D) falcon  
              
6.  I find him extremely annoying; he is getting under my ______.
              
   (A) brain  
   (B) arms
   (C) back  
   (D) skin  
              
7.  Her heart ______ when she learnt that she had not been given the job.
              
   (A) jerked  
   (B) sank
   (C) jumped  
   (D) shattered  
        
8.  The boxer was fighting like a ______ and overpowered his opponent.
        
   (A) tiger  
   (B) gorilla  
   (C) snake  
   (D) wolf  
        
9.  His punches were as ______ as lightning and caught his opponent by surprise.
        
   (A) sharp  
   (B) dazzling  
   (C) brilliant  
   (D) quick  
        
10.  This is a ______ scheme. No way am I going to be part of it.
        
   (A) lily-livered  
   (B) blood red  
   (C) hare-brained  
 
  (D) greenhorn
Live metaphors (=creative
metaphors)
• Live metaphors are implied or indirect
comparisons which have a variety of figurative
meanings through their endless use.
E.g. Tom is a pig.
→ Tom is short and fat.
→ Tom is slow and lazy.
→ Tom is greedy.
→ Tom is not intelligent.
→ Tom is neither intelligent nor ambitious.
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Live metaphors
• Live metaphors can only be understood after the
implicit comparison found in any of them is
seriously considered and fully appreciated.
• Native speakers of a language use live metaphors
intentionally and creatively in order to make their
speech more vivid, figurative, concise, etc.
E.g. You are a mist that appears for a little time and
vanishes.
(= You are implicitly compared to a mist that does
not last long, i.e. you come and leave quickly)

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Metonymy (Hoán dụ)
• Metonymy is the substitution of the name of
one thing for that of another to which it is
related.
1. A sign substitutes for the person/ object it
symbolizes.
 Can you protect your children from the
cradle to the grave? (=from childhood to
death)
2. An instrument substitutes for an agent.
 He is the best pen (=the best writer) of
the day. 13
Metonymy
3. A container substitutes for what is kept in the
container.
 He drank the cup (=the coffee, the tea, the
chocolate, etc. in the cup)
4. An organ of the human body, which
[+concrete] substitutes for something which is
[+abstract] such as love, hatred, sincerity, a
mental ability, a natural talent, etc.
 She has a good head of business. (= she is
good at/ clever at dealing with business)

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Metonymy
5. The abstract substitutes for the concrete
 His Majesty = the king
 His Holiness = the Pope
 The authorities = the group of powerful
people
6. A material substitutes for a thing made.
 The marble (= the marble statue)
speaks.
Metonymy
7. An author/a producer/ a place where
goods are made substitutes for his
works/ its product.
 I love old china. (crockery made in
China)
 I have never read Shakespeare. (the
works of Shakespeare)
 Distinction between metaphor and metonymy
Metaphor Metonymy
• Metaphor is based on the • Metonymy does not
associated similarity depend on such similarity.
shared by the two things
being implicitly compared.
• e.g. The organization is •e.g. No man is an island:
keeping the brake on pay entire of itself; every man is
rises. (= reduce its speed  a piece of the continent.
control pay rises or cause (an island and the continent,
pay rises to slow down) which are both [+concrete],
stand for isolation and
community, which are both
[+abstract])
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Synecdoche (Phép cải dung)
• Synecdoche is a special kind of metonymy
in which “a part or aspect of a person,
object, etc. is meant to refer to the whole
person, object, etc.”
– They organized a fleet of fifty sails.
(=ships)
- He managed to earn his bread.
(=necessaries)

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 Synecdoche
• Synecdoche also involves a whole or genus
used to substitute for a part or species.
• E.g. - the smiling year  the smiling season
of the year, the spring
- the Christian world  the Christian
Church as a whole
- Capitol Hill  The Senate and the
House of Representatives

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 Distinction b/w metonymy and synecdoche
Metonymy Synecdoche
A. The princess captures A. He has a kind heart.
the hearts of the B. A heart, which is
nation. [+organ of the human
B. The hearts, which is body], [+concrete] and
[+organ of the human [+part], is used to stand
body], [+concrete], is for a person, which is
used to stand for the [+human], [+concrete]
love, which is and [+whole]. So “a
[+emotional kind heart” in this case
experience]. So “the is a synecdoche.
heart” in this case is a
metonymy.
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Distinction b/w metonymy and synecdoche
• A synecdoche uses part for the whole or the whole
for a part.
• A metonymy is a substitution where a word or
phrase is used in place of another word or phrase.
• “The pen is mightier than the sword.”
 The word “pen” substitutes for written work, and
the word “sword” substitutes for violence or warfare.
 
 Hyperbole (Ngoa dụ)
• Hyperbole (=overstatement) is the use of
“exaggerated statement that is made for
special effect and is not meant to be taken
literally.”
– I’ve invited millions of (= a lot of) people to
my party.
– She sheds floods of (= cries a lot) tears
whenever she is upset.
– I haven’t seen you for ages (= for a few week,
for a couple of months, for a while).
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 Hyperbole (Ngoa dụ)
• I have a million things to do.
• I had a ton of homework.
• This car goes faster than the speed of light.
• You could have knocked me over with a
feather.
Litotes (phép nói giảm)
• Litotes (=meiosis) is the use of deliberately
gentler, milder or weaker statements to express
something in a controlled way.
– I don’t think I would agree with you (= I disagree with
you)
– I’m afraid that no passenger is allowed to smoke in
here. (= You are not allowed to smoke here.)
• An expression of litotes is an “ironical
understatement, especially using a negative to
emphasize the contrary.”
– It’s not bad. (=It is fine.)
– It’s wasn’t easy. (= It was very difficult.)
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 Litotes (phép nói giảm)
• The ice cream was not too bad.
• New York is not an ordinary city.
• I cannot disagree with your point of view.
• William Shakespeare was not a bad
playwright at all.
 Irony
• Irony is the “expression of one’s
meaning by saying the direct opposite
of one’s thoughts in order to be
emphatic, amusing, sarcastic, etc.”
– What a lovely day it was! Everything I had
went wrong.
– Your plan is really tricky. The other team
will figure it out in about one play.
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 Personification (Nhân cách hóa)
• Personification is a special kind of
metaphor - some human
characteristic is attributed to an inanimate
object or abstract notion
- a lifeless thing or quality is stated as if it
were living.
e.g. pitiless cold, cruel heat, treacherous
calm, sullen sky

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 Personification (Nhân cách hóa)

• The stars danced playfully in the moonlit

sky.
• The first rays of morning tiptoed through
the meadow.
• The wind howled its mighty objection.
 Identify the figure of speech in each sentence

1. The bees played hide and seek with the flowers as

they buzzed from one to another.
2. Your comments on politics are not useless.
3. Do you like my new wheels?
4. The river swallowed the earth as the water continued
to rise higher and higher.
5. The kettle is boiling.
6. He is a walking dictionary.
 Identify the figure of speech in each sentence

7. "Chocolate is my ray of sunshine on a bad day,"

admitted Reena.
8. The lettuce was as crisp as an early fall morning.
9. He is a man of seventy winters.
10. Time flew and before we knew it, it was time for me
to go home.
11. My love for you is as deep as the ocean.
12. If I can’t buy that new game, I will die.
 Identify the figure of speech in each sentence

13.I need more hands down here.

14.10 pounds for 10 days. You are very generous.
15.My uncle is not very well at the moment.
16.That joke is so old, the last time I heard it I was
riding on a dinosaur.
17.The pool was a boiling cauldron on that hot
summer day.
18. The sisters are like two peas in a pod.
 Identify the figure of speech in each sentence

19.She is the apple of my eye.

20.The trees are dancing together with the wind.
21. You are the sunshine of my life.
22.These lands belong to the crown.
23.The US has won a gold medal.
24. That was no pleasant journey.
 Onomatopoeia
• Onomatopoeia is the imitation of natural
sounds by means of words or groups of
words.
• Hiss (snake), cuckoo , thud (uỵch,
thịch), moo (cow), baa (sheep), hush
(suỵt), pop, etc. are onomatopoeia words.
• Growl (gầm gừ), splash (tõm), crackle
(răng rắc), etc. exemplify semi-
onomatopoeia.
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Onomatopoeia
– She is always squeaking and
squawking. (rít lên oai oái)
– We could hear the enemy guns booming
(away) in the distance.
– He felt a tap on his shoulder.
Exercise 8 (pp 48 – 57)

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The End

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