STYLISTICS

The aim of the course

Students’ understanding of stylistics as a branch of linguistic
knowledge which is closely related to other linguistic subjects;
students’ acquiring relevant skills of appropriately realizing and
interpreting linguistic stylistic devices, and developing skills of reading,
text analysis, as well as artistic taste and speaking competence.
 LECTURE 1
GENERAL PROBLEMS OF STYLE AND
STYLISTICS

1.The concept of style.

2. The notion of Stylistics.

3. Interaction of Linguistic Stylistics with other areas of linguistic

knowledge.

4. Expressive means and stylistic devices.

 Names of Linguists related to Stylistics
• A.N. Morokhovsky (Ukr.) • Seymour Chatman (US)
• V.A. Kukharenko (Ukr.) • Bennison Grey (US)
• L.P. Yefimov (Ukr.) • Barbara Herrnstein Smith (US)
• John M. Murry (Br.) • Werner Winter (Germ.)
• Samuel Wesley (Br.) • Peter Verdonk (Dutch)
• Geoffrey Leech (Br.)
 Методичні посібники
1. Мінцис Е.Є., Мінцис Ю.Б. Stylistics in Exercises (Part 1) /
Навчально-методичний посібник з стилістики англійської
мови для студентів 4-5 курсів англійського відділення
стаціонарнох та заочної форми навчання. – 2-е видання, із
змінами та доповненнями. Івано-Франківськ: Гостинець,
2007. (елекстронний ресурс бібліотеки ПНУ, platform d-learn)
2. Мінцис Е.Є., Мінцис Ю.Б. Stylistics in Exercises (Part 2) /
Навчально-методичний посібник з стилістики англійської
мови для студентів 4-5 курсів англійського відділення
стаціонарної та заочної форми навчання. Івано-Франківськ:
Гостинець, 2008. (елекстронний ресурс бібліотеки ПНУ,
platform d-learn)
 DEFINITIONS OF STYLE
John Middleton Murry
“Style is a quality of language which communicates precisely emotions and thoughts,
or a system of emotions and thoughts peculiar to the author.”
Samuel Wesley
“Style is the dress of thought.”
Jonathan Swift
“Style is proper words in proper places.”
John Mason Brown
“An author's style is his written voice; his spirit and mind caught in ink."
 DEFINITIONS OF STYLE
Bernard Shaw
“He who has nothing to assert, has no style and can have none; he who has something to
assert will go as far in power of style as its momentousness and his conviction will carry him."
Seymour Chatman
“Style is a product of individual choices and patterns of choices among linguistic
possibilities.”
Peter Verdonk
“Style in language is a distinctive linguistic expression.”
“Instrument of writing” :: “manner of writing”
K. Malmkjær
Style is “a consistent occurrence in the text of certain items and structures, or types of items
and structures among those offered by the language as a whole.”
Bennison Grey
“Does style exist at all?”
 The spheres of investigation the subject of style is related to
• The aesthetic function of language
• The expressive means and emotional colouring in language
• Synonymous ways of rendering the same idea
• Stylistic devices
• Functional styles of the standard language
• The interrelation between language and thought
• The individual style of an author
 On style (in a letter to a twelve-year-old boy)
I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words, and brief
sentences. That is the way to write English – it is the modern way and
the best way. Stick to it, and don’t let fluff and flowers and verbosity
creep in.
When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill
most of them – then the rest will be valuable.
They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when
they are wide apart.

(Mark Twain, a letter to D.W. Bowser, 20 March 1880)

The New York Times, December 25, 1939
 Senses of Style
• Evaluative

• Descriptive
Taxonomy of definitions of style
(after Werner Winter)

1. writer – text
2. text – reader
3. descriptions of the text itself
Views of style (Werner Winter)

1. Departure
2. Addition
3. Connotation
 2. Definitions of Stylistics
Prof. Verdonk
“Stylistics is the analysis of distinctive expression in language and the
description of its purpose and effect.”
Alison Gibbons and Sara Whiteley
“Stylistics is the integrated study of language and literature. It has
arisen from a melting pot of influences: rhetoric, Formalism, structural
linguistics, Systemic Functional Linguistics, and the cognitive sciences.”
Prof. Simpson
It is a method of textual interpretation where form and function
interact to create (literary) effects.
 TYPES OF STYLISTICS
Structural Stylistics – is concerned with how and what types of meanings are constructed through
lexico-grammatical choices (patterns and structures) in a text in relation to context.
(Linda Pillière 2016)
Generative Stylistics – suggests that an author’s style could be substantially characterized by examining
the transformational rules employed in the generation of the author’s sentences.
(Ohmann 1964)
Functional Stylistics – deals with a system of resources for making meaning in context. Its interest is in
language in use, focuses on the interaction of text with context, and reflects semantic functions rather
than form.
(Benedict Lin 2016)
Cognitive Stylistics – The object of study of cognitive stylistics is readerly experience. According to those
working in the field, readerly experience is a product, on the one hand, of the words on the page, of the
text’s semantic, syntactic and sonic (or phonetic) features, which act as a stimulus to evoke complex
thoughts and emotions in the reader; and, on the other, of the reader’s cognitive faculties, which
inevitably intervene in, and shape, her or his experience of the text (and, indeed, of any object, aesthetic
or otherwise, in the world).
(Semino & Culperer 2002)
 TYPES OF STYLISTICS (cont.)
Discourse Stylistics – views literary texts as instances of naturally occurring language use in a social
context, where discourse analysis should reveal as much about the contexts as about the text. In
this way, the social, sociocultural and sociohistorical aspects of the texts can be identified and
analysed.
(Marina Lambrou 2016)
Corpus Stylistics employs methods from corpus linguistics to study literary texts. These methods
are computer-assisted and enable the retrieval and quantification of linguistic phenomena in
electronic texts.
(Michaela Mahlberg 2016)
New Historical Stylistics investigates how stylistic patterns have developed, changed or remained
stable. It also includes the synchronic investigation of particular historical (literary) texts from a
stylistic perspective.
(Beatrix Busse 2016)
Literary stylistics (or stylistics of the text) is a practice of analyzing the language of literature using
linguistic concepts and categories, with the goal of explaining how literary meanings are created
by specific language choices and patterning, the linguistic foregrounding, in the text.
(Michael Toolan 2019)
 TYPES OF STYLISTICS (cont.)
• Linguistic Stylistics is a branch of General Linguistics which studies stylistic
devices and expressive means and their expressive potential as well as
functional styles of the language, their aims and structure.
• The Aims of Stylistics
• - to analyse language habits with the main purpose of identifying, from the
general mass of linguistic features common to English as used on every
conceivable occasion, those features which are restricted to certain kinds of
social context;
• - to explain, where possible, why such features have been used, as opposed
to other alternatives;
• - and to classify these features into categories based upon a view of their
function in the social context.
(David Crystal & Derek Davy, 1997)
 3. Stylistics and Lexicology. Types of pragmatic
(connotative) meaning
• Emotional
• Assessive/evaluative
• Expressive
• Stylistic
 Stylistics and Lexicology

Lousy
1) Emotional – disgust,
disapproval;
2) Evaluative – negative
assessment;
3) Expressive – ugly,
disgusting;
4) Stylistic – colloquial.
To rush
1) Emotional – 0;
2) Evaluative – 0;
3) Expressive – the intensity
of the process (cf. run)
4) Stylistic – 0.
 Stylistics and Lexicology
Examples for analysis
“I was so startled and frightened that I jumped like a
wounded rabbit.”
(Rudolfo Anaya “Bless me, Ultima!”)

“ Right now I really trust these lawyers. Where did you

find these clowns?” (John Grisham “The Appeal”)
 Stylistics and Phonetics
Phonetic Devices
• Alliteration
• Assonance
• Onomatopoeia
 TYPES OF ONOMATOPOEIA

1. Direct onomatopoeia is contained in words that imitate natural

sounds:
e.g. ding-dong, cuckoo, bang.

2. Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds the aim of which

is to make the sound of the utterance an echo of its sense:
e.g. And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain.
Examples of phonetic devices

<…> slip-slap of the slippers (D. Cussak)

Sounds were muted in the modern building: in low key, voices
buzzed, papers rustles, coinage jingled, calculators clicked.
(A. Hailey)
With the rushing of great rivers,
With their frequent repetition
And their wild reverberations
As of thunders in the mountains.
(H. Longfellow)
 What phonetic devices can be found in the following
examples?
• There was no sound except the sucking of the water at the piles,
the clop-clop of the rowing-boat and a faint sighing in the
branches.
• At each shop the sisters stopped and stared at the windows filled
with once familiar, faintly remembered goods.
(S. Sheldon)
• The four women watched as he walked to the corner and turned
out of sight. (S. Sheldon)
• Horns tooted and grunted on the boulevard. A big red interurban
car grumbled past. A traffic light gonged. (R. Chandler)
 Alliteration in everyday life (R. Lederer)

• Google • Bon Bons

• Power Point Presentation • Peter Pen
• Bed and breakfast • Sex and the City
• Range Rover • Sports Centre
• Ted Talks • Donald Duck
• BlackBerry • Woody Woodpecker
• Pride and Prejudice • Beauty and the Beast
• [The] Great Gatsby • Dirty Dancing
• King Kong
 Stylistics and Pragmatics

Pragmatics is concerned with the various relationships

between language and the contexts in which it is used,
and it ranges from detailed theoretical treatments of
the differences between literal and intended meaning
to broader empirical studies of language use in various
social situations.
 Expressive means
• Expressive means • Repetition
are those phonetic means, • Parallelism
morphological forms, means • Archaisms
of word-building, lexical,
phraseological and syntactical • Neologisms
forms which function in the • Alliteration
language for logical or • Proverbs
emotional intensification of • Affixation
the utterance
 Stylistic devices
• Stylistic devices
are conscious and intentional • Metaphor
literary use of some language
• Simile
forms for further
intensification of the emotional • Hyperbole
and logical emphasis contained • Epithet
in the respective expressive
• Irony
means. They are based on the
figurative or transferred • Oxymoron
meaning. • etc.
 Questions based on Lecture 1
1. Do all scholars have identical attitude to the importance style?
2. Name the two main senses in which style is used.
3. Why is it next to impossible to give a unified definition of style?
4. Which scholar came up with a taxonomy of style?
5. What functional styles do you know?
6. What kinds of Stylistics do you remember?
7. In what respect do Stylistics and Lexicology overlap?
8. Name the phonetic devices which play a certain role in the text?
9. What is the main difference between expressive means and stylistic
devices?
 Test on Lecture 1

• 1. Alliteration is
a)repetition of the same vowel in several successive words; b) repetition
of the same consonant in several successive words; c) sound-imitating
words
• 2. “Sister Laura barked a greeting.” The italicized word has
a) an emotive and expressive meanings; b) only an expressive meaning;
c) only an emotive meaning
 Test on Lecture 1 (cont.)

• 3. Expressive meaning
a) renders the assessment of the speaker and evokes assessive
reactions of the recipient of information; b) shows the emotional state
of the speaker, his frame of mind; c) emphasizes some attribute or
feature of the object
• 4. The subject of style is connected with
a) interrelation between Stylistics and Lexicology; b) synonymous types
of expressive meaning; c) functional styles of the standard language
Lecture 2. Stylistic differentiation of English vocabulary

1. Standard vocabulary.
2. Non-standard vocabulary.
 1. Standard vocabulary

Neutral Bookish Standard

colloquial

General Bookish :: Special Bookish

Terms
Archaisms
Barbarisms
Neologisms
 TERMS
Air Traffic Control, because of the loss of runway three zero, had
instituted flow control procedures, limiting the volume of incoming
traffic from adjoining air route centers… Despite this, twenty incoming
flights were orbiting, some nearing low fuel limits. (A.Hailey)

Judge Harkin didn’t appear until almost nine-thirty, and when he

stepped to the bench he noted, without surprise, that his courtroom
was packed. He’d just finished a heated argument with Rohr and Cable,
the latter of whom wanted a mistrial because another juror had been
removed. There were insufficient grounds for a mistrial. Harkin had
done his homework. He’d even found an old case allowing eleven
jurors to decide a civil case. Nine votes had been required, but the
jury’s verdict had been upheld by the Supreme Court. (J.Grisham)
 Archaisms
• Obsolete words
Anon – at once; to dolve – to dig; to freck – to move swiftly; to
brabble – to quarrel about trifles
• Archaic words/forms/archaisms proper
Hither – here; thee, thou – you; betwixt – between; cometh –
comes
• Historical words/ historisms
Archer; baldric – a belt for a sword; buskins – thick-soled
boots; atrologer
 Barbarisms
• Barbarisms proper
chic (stylish); chagrin (vexation), bon mot (a clever witty saying); en
passant (in passing), beau monde (high society), apropos (by the way),
belle - lettres (fiction), a propos (by the way, incidentally), ad
infinitum (to infinity), cum laude (with distinction - to denote a special merit
of diplomas), coup d’etat (sudden defeat of a government through illegal
force by a small group, often a military one)
• Foreign words/loans
• Foreignisms
He turned to the policeman who stood at the door, a picturesque
figure in his white jacket and lava-lava, the loin cloth of the
Samoan. (S. Maugham)
 Neologisms

Affixation - gangdom, musicdom, supermanship, stay-up-all-

nighters; “Some people are do-it-some-other-timers, some
others are do-it-nowers.” (O.Nash);
Conversion - “…everybody who’s soldiered a long time.”
(E.Hemingway);
“I can’t believe you made me say that. What kind of worthless
tosser uses words like “clubbing”? It’s like “pubbing”. Are you
coming pubbing on Saturday? No, I’m afraid I can’t. I’m going
clubbing. After which I’m doner-kebabbing and the cabbing
home.” (M.Gayle)
Сompounding - workaholic, shopaholic, wordaholic, kissmate,
autumnatic
Shortening - hosp, aft, temp, ad, etc.
I escorted Flora to her door. “Isn’t it comfy?” she said.
(I. Shaw)
She lived on a steady diet of coffee and tranqs. (S. Grafton)
 Examples of Neologisms

• chortle («a blend of chuckle and snort» coined by Lewis Carroll),

• jabberwocky (derived on the basis of the name of the fabulous
monster in Lewis Carroll’s poem, it denotes «incoherent or
nonsensical expression»),
• blimpish («like Colonel Blimp» known for his conservatism and
brutality coined by Low, a cartoonist),
• runcible (a nonce-word of Edward Lear’s, whose phrase runcible
spoon has been applied to a pickle-fork with broad prongs and one
sharp, curved prong)
 Neologisms from classics
Sir Thomas More – utopia (1516)
William Tyndale – scapegoat (1530)
Sir Thomas Elyot – irritate (1531)
Jonathan Swift – yahoo (1726)
Finley Peter Dunne – southpaw (1891)
Mark Twain – gossip column (1893)
George Bernard Shaw – superman (1903)
Karel Capek – robot (1921)
@ - “each at the price of” - at sign/ at

• In Sweden – elephant’s ear

• In France – small snail
• In the Netherlands – monkey tail
• In Finland – cat tail
• In Germany – spider monkey
• in Norway – cinnamon cake
• In Israel - Shtrudel
 Standard colloquial (after David Crystal)
• 1) colloquial words proper – synonyms to neutral words
(chap – fellow; chunk – lump; a drifter – a person without a
steady job; tummy – a stomach)
• 2) phonetic variants of neutral words (feller/fellar – fellow;
gaffer – grandfather; baccy – tobacco)
• 3) diminutives of neutral words (granny, daddy, piggy, horsey,
cutie)
• 4) colloquial meanings of polysemantic words (a hedgehog)
• 5) interjections
 2. Non-standard vocabulary

• Slang
• Jargonisms
• Vulgarisms
• Dialectal words
 THE CHIEF USE OF SLANG
(according to Eric Partridge)
• For the fun of it • For ease of social interaction
• As an exercise in wit or • To induce intimacy
ingenuity • To show that one belongs
• To be different • To exclude others
• To be picturesque • To be secret
• To escape from clichés • To add concreteness to
• To enrich the language speech
• To reduce seriousness • To be colloquial
• To be arresting
Four paths slang may travel down (according to David Burke)
1. Out with the old, in with the new.
Talk to the hand! (I’m ignoring you); I’m down with it (I understand)
2. Slang words updated.
To be ticked off = to be ticked (to be upset); to be wiped out = to be
wiped (to be tired)
3. New meanings to current slang.
To be broke = to be ugly, to be fat = to be great
4. Slang words reused.
Cool (terrific), big-time (extremely)
(American Language Review, March/April 2010).
 Slang
A pretty girl – cookie, tomato, Jane, sugar, bunny, duckie, etc.
Jargonisms
It was driving Roscani crazy. Every one of them risked going to
jail. Yet none of them had even begun to crack. Who, or what,
were they protecting? (A. Folsom)
- I don’t know who blew the whistle on the paper pusher in
accounting, but he was called on the carpet by the bigwigs
for leaving work early. If he doesn’t pull it together soon, he
will get canned and cush jobs like his don’t grow on trees.
(English Teaching Forum, October 2000, p. 38)
• Dialectal words
• Snack – forenoon drinking, lunch, sandwich(es), ten-o’clock, coffee-
time, breaks, etc. (Linguistic Atlas of England)

• Dragonfly – darning needle, mosquito hawk, snake-feeder, snake

doctor, snake waiter, etc. (World Geography of Eastern US)
 Test on Lecture 2
• 1. “She soldiered on bravely.” The italicized word is a
a) slang word; b) jargonism; c) neologism
• 2. The slang of one generation
a) can be standard English of the next; b) can’t be standard English of the next; c)
is always standard English of the next
• 3. Neutral words are used in
a) both standard and non-standard language; b) only standard language; c) only
non-standard language
• 4. Special bookish words comprise
a) terms, neologisms, jargonisms; b) terms, barbarisms, neologisms; c) terms,
archaisms, professionalisms
• 5. Standard colloquial vocabulary adds … to the text
a) formality and familiarity; b) informality and unfamiliarity; c) adds familiarity and
informality
 Test on Lecture 2
• 6. General bookish words
a) make the narration more lofty; b) carry out a logical function; c) add
colloquial character to the text
• 7. Archaisms make the text more
a) high-flown; b) informative; c) logical
• 8. “Mrs. Sunbury never went to bed – she retired.” The italicized word is a)
neutral; b) slang; c) general bookish
• 9. Jargonisms are
a) words ousted from the modern language; b) rough and abusive words; c) a
secret code to conceal the meaning
• 10. Terms in scientific texts
a) carry out a logical function; b) make the text more emotional; c) provide a
true-to-life background of the literary work
 Lecture 3
1. Types of meaning.
2. Stylistic devices based on the interaction of dictionary and
contextual meanings (metaphor, personification,
metonymy, synecdoche, irony).
3. Stylistic devices based on the interaction of logical and
nominal meanings (antonomasia).
4. Stylistic devices based on the interaction of logical and
emotive meanings (epithet, hyperbole, oxymoron).
 Types of meaning
1. Logical meaning
• Primary and secondary
• Direct and indirect/figurative/transferred
• Dictionary and contextual

2. Emotive meaning

3. Nominal meaning
 2. Stylistic devices based on the interaction of dictionary and
contextual meanings.
Types of metaphors
Semantic:
- trite/hackneyed/dead
- stylistic

Structural
- simple
- sustained/prolonged
 Types of metaphors according to P. Newman

• dead,
• cliche,
• stock,
• adapted,
• recent
• original
 Types of metaphors (after George Lakoff and Mark
Johnson’s “cognitive linguistic view of metaphor”)
1. Orientational metaphor:
• I’m feeling up.
• That boosted our spirits.
• My spirits sank.
• I’m feeling down
2. Ontological metaphor
• The sea has no generosity.
• I saw the duplicity of the sea's most tender mood.
• The might of the sea appears indeed lovable, like the nature of a strong
man.
 Ways of expressing metaphors

• Nouns “this surgeon is a butcher”

• Verbs “a talent may blossom”
• Adjectives “a car may be stubborn”
• Idiomatic phrases “to wash dirty linen in public”
 Examples of Metaphors

• The President began scratching the back of his neck,

something he always did when wrestling with a difficult
decision. (J. Grisham)

• The café was half full, with the same academic types buried
in their morning papers, lost in their own worlds. (J. Grisham)
 Sustained/prolonged metaphor

A poor man is a rat in a maze. His choices are made for him by
a power beyond himself. He becomes a machine whose fuel is
hunger. His satisfactions are pitifully restricted. Of course
there is also the exceptional rat who breaks out of the maze,
driven most often by an exceptional and uncommon hunger.
Or by accident. Or luck. Like you and me. (I. Shaw)
 Personification
• She didn’t want to tell him that their marriage was limping
along for years. (D. Steel)
• His feet were killing him but he would never think of
declining. (J. Grisham)
• Homes stand shoulder to shoulder like painted toy soldiers:
chests pushed out, stomachs tucked in, proud and protective
of all within. (C. Ahern)
• Lowell’s eyes always betrayed him because he was never
deceitful. (J. Grisham)
 Forms of metonymies

• the result for the cause: Grey hair should be respected (old age)
• the cause for the result: This author lives by his pen only (his writings
are the source of his earnings);
• the symbol for the thing signified: The crown had to yield to the
demand of the people (the King, monarchy);
• the characteristic feature for its bearer: Through the sunlit solitude of
the square … this bonnet and this dress floated northwards
(A.Bennet). A hat passed by (a man);
• the instrument for the action: “Give every man thine ear, and few thy
voices” (W.Shakespeare); “As the sword is the worst argument that
can be used” (Byron) (fighting)
 Forms of metonymies
• the container for the thing contained or on the contrary: The wood
sings (birds in the wood); the kettle boils (the water in the kettle);
• the name of the thing for its owner: The ham sandwich is waiting for
his check;
• an abstract noun for a concrete one or on the contrary: Labour
demonstrated in the street (workers);
• material for the thing made of it: He paid in gold (gold coins);
• the name of the creator for his creation: the complete Chesterton
(stories by Chesterton) .
 Metonymy
• It was cool and sunny, and the sidewalk bustled with lunch
traffic. The shoulders and heads moved quickly by.
(J. Grisham)
• Coal thrived on hatred. He had the President’s ear, - and that
was all that mattered. (J. Grisham)
• He didn’t want to spoil Paris for them. (D. Steel)
Synecdoche
• The long nose knows about its way through the crowd.
• When a monarch needs new lands, he sends a soldier to war.
 Types of irony
• Verbal irony

• Sustained irony
 Irony
• “Beg your pardon,” said Hetly, as sweetly as her acid tones
permitted. (O’Henry)
• We hastily found glasses and gave the toast, with the
enthusiasm and the expressions of men honouring a suicide
pact. (Richard Gordon)
• “Who cut your hair?” Edward Scissorhands? I managed to beep
myself from asking. (D. Frank)
• For the past five years, James Cameron and his wife Peggy had
divided the chores: Peggy did the cleaning and cooking for the
two dozen boarders, and James did the drinking. (S. Sheldon)
 Irony
• Oh, I love London Society! I think it has immensely improved.
It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and brilliant
lunatics. (O. Wilde)

• Mother gasped and put her hand to her heart, or where one’s
heart would be if one had one … (D. Frank)

• All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy.

No man does. That is his. (O. Wilde)
 Forms of antonomasia
• - the name of some famous personality for a characteristic feature,
e.g. He is the napoleon of crime (a genius of a criminal);
• - the name of the place where some event happened for the very
event, e.g. Pearl Harbour – the symbol of bitter defeat;
• - the name of some establishment to denote its policy, e.g. the White
House, the Pentagon, the Kremlin, Wall Street;
• - geographical names used as common nouns to denote things
originating from there, e.g. boston, china, champaign;
• - names of things or processes after their inventors, e.g. diesel,
mackintosh, sandwich, pasterization.
 Antonomasia
• Your Mrs. What’s-her-name sounds firmly British
(B. Nickols)
• Adrian shook hands with his roommate, George
Somebody from Richmond, Virginia. (D. Frank)
• She certainly was one feisty little Chihuahua,
wasn’t she? (D. Frank)
• It seemed I had the Clint Eastwood of Charleston
County for a chauffeur, which suited me fine,
although I should have requested a cardiologist.
(D. Frank)
 Antonomasia

The rest of the party had been something of a blur, although

not because of drink. I never drank much. But the names had
been flung at me in such quick succession, Senator So-and-So,
Congressman This, Congressman That, His Excellency, The
Ambassador of What Country, Mr. Blank, … Mrs. Whoever …
(I. Shaw)
 Types of epithets
• Fixed (Merry Christmas)
• Homeric (swift-footed Achilles, rosy-fingered
dawn)
• Semantic groups:
- Affective/emotive proper (gorgeous,
magnificent)
- Figurative/transferred (a sleepless pillow, a
ghost-like face)
 Epithets are expressed by:
• adjectives, qualitative adverbs (an anxious
look, to answer bitterly/harshly)
• nouns (You, ostrich!)
• postpositive attributes (Richard the Lion
Heart, Henry the Blue Beard)
 Structural types of epithets
• Single

• Pair (a tired old town)

• Chain/string (You’re a scolding, unjust, abusive,

aggravating, bad old creature! (J. Jerome)

• Two-step (a pompously majestic female)

 Structural types of epithets (cont.)
• Phrase (He nodded his head in a horse-trying-
to-get-rid-of-a-fly-on-his-nose kind of way. (C.
Ahern); Catherine stood up straight and gave
him her warmest I’ll-be-a-great-secretary
smile. (S. Sheldon)
• Inverted (His name was Mungo McSween,
and he was a huge bear of a man. (S. Sheldon)
 Define the type of the epithet
• She had a disaster of a night. (A. Kane)
• Sophie had come to see her father as a cold, hard,
unfeeling, ruthless man, which was precisely what he
was. (D. Steel)
• He was in his tell-it-like-it-is mode. (A. Kane)
• You’re a has-been, passed-over, middle-aged woman.
(M. Binchy)
• She was greeted by a small dumpling of a woman. (S.
Sheldon)
 Hyperbole
• Then the Big Ben beside her bed tore her out of sleep with
its ruthless howl. (S. King)
• Trying to set up what she had here, halfway across the
country, would take a million dollars and a million years. (D.
Stewardson)
• The agent’s jaw was practically touching his desk. (A. Kane)
• The kitchen looked as if a bomb had hit it. (M. Binchy)
• Had he not enjoyed enough skirts to fill a department store?
(D. Frank)
• The sheets were so thin you could read a book through
them. (D. Frank)
 Hyperbole

These three words (Dombey and Son) conveyed the one idea of Mr.
Dombey’s life. The earth was made for Dombey and Son to trade in,
and the sun and moon were made to give them light. Rivers and seas
were formed to float their ships …, stars and planets circled in their
orbits. (Ch. Dickens)
 Test on Lecture 3
• 1. The interrelation between dictionary and contextual meanings is called
a) emotive meaning; b) nominal meaning; c) transference of meaning
• 2. Metaphor is a stylistic device based on
a) some unexisting or supposed likeness between objects; b) some existing
or supposed likeness between objects; c) interaction between dictionary and
nominal meanings
• 3. Epithets can be expressed by
a) adjectives and pronouns; b) nouns, pronouns and adjectives; c) adjectives,
adverbs and nouns
• 4. Hyperbole is a
a) deliberate overstatement; b) deliberate understatement; c) reference to
some known fact
 Test on Lecture 3
• 5“The brisk voice belonged to one of the white caps.” Find out the type of
stylistic device
a) metonymy; b) metaphor; c) oxymoron
• 6. “Maurice was an actor about a million years ago.” The sentence contains a
a) metonymy; b) metaphor; c) hyperbole
• 7. Structurally we distinguish … metaphors
a) simple and sustained; b) sustained and prolonged; c) prolonged and trite
• 8. Synechdoche is based on the relationship between
a) the container and the thing contained; b) an abstract noun for the concrete one;
c) singular and plural
• 9. “Speaking names” belong to
• a) metonymy; b) antonomasia; c) synechdoche
 Meiosis
• It isn’t very serious. I have this tiny little
tumor on the brain. (J.D. Salinger)
• It cost me a pretty penny, I can tell you.
• Annie Telford’s too fond of a drop of the
hard stuff to put the rent money aside, the
rest of us do. (K. Flynn)
 Oxymoron

It takes a heap of sense to write good

nonsense.
(Mark Twain)
 Oxymoron
• When he finally emerged from the theatre, Nino
was waiting, inconspicuously visible (E. Seagal)
• She found herself thinking more and more about
the ugly-attractive man with the strangely
compelling voice. (S. Sheldon)
• He was being brutally honest. (A. Christie)
• Let’s figure out what to do about this lovely
fiasco. (D. Frank)
 Oxymoron
• W. Shakespeare – sweet • James Thomson –
sorrow expressive silence
• E. Hemingway – scalding • John Milton – darkness
coolness visible
• Lord Tennyson – falsely • G. Chaucer – hateful good
true
• Lord Byron – melancholy
merriment
 Various structural types of oxymora

1. Single-Word & Compound-Word Oxymorons

• Bittersweet
• Sophomore
• Frenemy (friend + enemy)
• Love-hate
 2. Adjective + Noun
• Controlled chaos • Living dead • Random order
• Crash landing • Loud whisper • Same difference
• Cruel kindness • Loving hate • Silent scream
• Deafening silence • Old news • Sweet misery
• Definite possibility • Open secret • Sweet sorrow
• Deliberate mistake • Organized chaos • Terrible beauty
• Even odds • Original copy • True lies
• Exact estimate • Peaceful war • True myth
• Fine mess • Pretty ugly • Unbiased opinion
• Foolish wisdom • Civil war • Virtuous lie
• Friendly fire • Inside out • Wakeful sleep
• Friendly foe • Growing small • Walking dead
• Hateful love • Working vacation
• Heavy lightness • Light heavyweight
• Honest thief • Perfect imperfections
 3. Adverb + Adjective/Adverb

• Alone together • Strangely familiar

• Awfully good • Strangely normal
• Definitely undecided • Terribly good
• Falsely true • Truly false
• Painfully beautiful
• Perfectly imperfect
• Seriously funny
 4. Miscellaneous

• Act naturally
• Agree to disagree
• Kill with kindness
• Make haste slowly
• Describe as undescribable
 Lecture 3 (cont. )
1. Stylistic devices based on the interrelation of
primary and derivative logical meanings (zeugma,
pun).
2. Stylistic devices which give additional characteristics
to the objects described (simile, periphrasis,
euphemism).
3. The use of phraseological units (proverbs, sayings,
epigrams).
4. Allusion, its types and functions.
5. Stylistic use of synonyms.
Stylistic devices based on the interrelation of primary and
derivative logical meanings. Zeugma
•Later on he took me aside for a whiskey and a father-
and-son talk. (D. Frank)
•As commanded, I put on a tie and a smile and came
downstairs, committed to being nice for a while. ( D.
Frank)
•Richard was already at his desk with a tall cup of
coffee, The Wall Street Journal, and evidently very
little to do. (J. Grisham)
 PUN
1) Homographs
2) Homophones
3) One word is expressed, another is implied
4) Play upon verb-adverb combinations
5) Play upon literal and figurative meanings
6) Play upon grammatical and phonetic structures
 Examples of puns

• Scientists say it may be possible to live on Mars… Well, I tried

it for a month, gained 60 pounds, and the doctor said I was
border-line diabetic.
• Did you know alligators can grow up to 15 feet? – But most
have 4.
• -Me: Our neighbor died.
-Wife: Who, Ray?
-Me: I don’t think cheering is appropriate now.
• Two antennas got married. The wedding was okay but the
reception was awesome.
• So I met Bruce Lee’s vegetarian brother. Brocko Lee.
• -Me: I’m addicted to collecting magazines.
-Therapist: It sounds like you have a lot of issues.
• I accidentally put my checkbook through the wash. Is
that money laundering?
• My wife brought home a box of nice fresh peaches for
us to enjoy. My family devoured the whole box before I
got home. I was peachless.
• What do you call a bee that comes from America? A US
bee.
• I ate so many frog legs last night I thought I was going to
croak.
 Pun

• Q: What did the pencil say to the paper?

A: I can’t take my “i”s off you.
• Q: Why did the elephant hate to play cards in the jungle?
A: Because there were too many cheetahs.
• What do you call a woman who knows where her husband is
every night? – A widow.
• A man went into a bank and said to the cashier: “ Will you check
my balance?” So she pushed him.
• A termite walked into a bar and asked: “Is the bar tender here?”
• Two hamburgers walked into a bar. The bartender said: “Sorry,
we don’t serve food.”
 Pun
• A giant panda walked into a restaurant. He ordered
some food, ate it, then pulled a gun and blew the
brains out of the waiter. Alerted by the shots, the
manager appeared just as the panda was making his
way to the door. “Hey, you!” yelled the manager. “You
just shot my waiter! Where do you think you’re
going?” The beast replied calmly: “I’m a panda. Look it
up in the dictionary.” When the panda had gone, the
manager thumbed through the dictionary. Sure
enough, under panda it said: “Furry mammal, lives in
China. Eats shoots, and leaves.”
 Trite similes
As wet as a fish – as dry as a bone;
As live as a bird – as dead as a stone;
As plump as a partridge – as crafty as a rat;
As strong as a horse – as weak as a cat;
As hard as flint – as soft as a mole;
As white as a lily – as black as coal;
As heavy as lead – as light as a feather;
As steady as time – as uncertain as weather;
As cool as a cucumber – as warm as toast;
As flat as a flounder – as round as a ball. (O. Nash)
 The foundation of the simile is not clear
• Dennis was like a swarm of gnats at dusk.
• Stepping into a major trial is like plunging with a
weighted belt into a dark and weedy pond.
• This car is as useless as a mule.
• You’re like a black widow spider.
 Simile (with an explanation)
• Dennis was like a swarm of gnats at dusk, annoying and
confident that he would eventually get at you. (D. Frank)
• Stepping into a major trial is like plunging with a weighted
belt into a dark and weedy pond. You manage to scramble up
for air, but the rest of the world doesn’t matter. And you
always think you’re drowning (J. Grisham)
• This car is as useless as a mule. It splutters like an old woman
and has no energy. (S. Sheldon)
• You’re like a black widow spider. You don’t want anyone else
to have any fun because you are not. (Ch. Manby)
 Extended/epic simile

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,

Brief as the lightning in the collied night…
(W. Shakespeare)
 Periphrasis
• Figurative
The hospital was crowded
with the surgically
interesting products of the
fighting in Africa. (I. Shaw)
• Logical
Mr. Du Pout was dressed in
the conventional disguise
with which Brooks Brothers
cover the shame of Ame-
rican millionaires. (M. St.)
• Trite
the cap and gown = student
body
a gentleman of the long
robe = a lawyer
the fair sex = women
one’s better half = one’s
wife
to tie the knot = to marry
 Examples of Paraphrases

• The little boy with sobs plainly audible and with great globules
of water running down his cheeks <…> (M. Twain)
•Mr. Mac had served with the Rifle Brigade in the War, rising to
the dizzy heights of captain by 1918, and had travelled to
Egypt, Mesopotamia and many other foreign places during his
time in uniform. (K. Flynn)
• A long-haired relic from the seventies was adjusting a
microphone, no doubt prepping for a screeching denunciation
of American misdeeds somewhere. (J. Grisham)
• As usual, there was no love lost between the new man in the
Oval Office and his predecessor. (J. Grisham)
 Euphemisms
• <…> Pictures in brass frames of relatives long gone to glory.
(D. Frank)
• <…> The entire Western world knew he had a fondness for,
well, girls with a generous nature. (D. Frank)
• Too early for supper, it was about half filled with tourists and
locals seeking an afternoon hydration experience. (D. Frank)
• Had he become so independent on Joanie that he would
have gone to his dust without ever asking Sela to tell him
where I was? (D. Frank)
• Two days after the bombing, the Kramer twins were laid to
rest in a small cemetery. (J. Grisham)
 Proverbs and sayings
• Holmes was not prone to friendship, but he was
tolerant of the big Scotchman, and smiles at the sight
of him. “You’re an early bird, Mr. Mac,” said he. “I wish
you luck with your worm.” (C. Doyle)
• Horne Fisher came down next morning in a late and
leisurely fashion, as was his reprehensible habit; he
had evidently no appetite for catching worm. (G.
Chesterton)
• Poirot said with a sigh, “Alas, the proverb is true. When
you are courting, two is company, is it not, three is
none?” (A. Christie)
 Proverbs in the context
• Two were at the train station looking for the needle in the
haystack. Two were at Malpensa airport, twenty-seven miles
from downtown <…> Krater got closest to the needle. (J.
Grisham)
• “I don’t know why she’s so mean and unhappy, Mommy. You
and Daddy are always nice to her and have done so much for
her.” Mommy sat back a moment and thought. Then a smile of
wisdom flashed in her eyes. “Momma Longchamp used to say
some cows are just born to give sour milk, no matter how
sweet the grass they feed on is.” (D. Steel)
• “If these walls could speak,” I murmured. Poirot shook his head.
“They would have to have also eyes and ears. But do not be too
sure that these dead things are always dumb. To me they speak
sometimes, they have their message!” (A. Christie)
 Epigrams
• An actor is a guy who, if you aren’t talking about him, isn’t
listening. (Marlon Brando)
• Life is full of compensations. (S. Maugham)
• Advertising is the art of making whole lies out of half truths.
(Edgar A. Shoaff)
• The only thing one can do with good advice is to pass it on. It
is never of any use to oneself. (Oscar Wilde)
• Architecture is the art of how to waste space. (Philip
Johnson)
• Wrinkles are hereditary. Parents get them from their
children. (Doris Day)
 Epigrams
• A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around
for a coffin. (H.L. Mencken)
• God heals, and the doctor takes the fee. (Benjamin Franklin)
• He who can does. He who cannot, teaches. (George B. Shaw)
• Familiarity breeds contempt – and children. (Mark Twain)
• Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you. (Joey Adams)
• Keep your eyes open before marriage and half shut
afterwards. (Benjamin Franklin)
• Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize
it. (Mark Twain)
 Allusion, its types and functions.
Types of allusions

• Historical – a reference to a historical event or period.

• Mythological – a reference to a mythological figure or story.

• Literary – a reference to a literary text or figure.

• Religious – a reference to a religious text, story, or figure.

• Pop cultural – an association of a specific happening with a given

community or culture
 Allusions in context
• All she knew of him was that he reminded her of the
White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, always seeming
late, late, late for a very important date but managing to
get to every appointment just in the nick of time. (C.
Ahern)
• Sally was as beautiful as the legendary Nefertiti in her
black wig with a blunt fringe that drew his attention to
her expertly outlined eyes. (Ch. Manby)
• Yaslin jerked her head in the direction of a young buck
strutting across the restaurant courtyard as though he
were crossing the red carpet at Cannes. (Ch. Manby)
 Allusions in context
• He inspected the eggs. “Why, these are almost as valuable as
Faberge-eggs.” “These are the best new-laid,” said Dad with a
puzzled frown. “Where do these Faberjay eggs come from?”
(B. Hopkins)
• “We’re at the gate of the Garden of Eden and I can see the
snake. No apples so far. I’m seeing him tomorrow. (D. Frank)
• Daddy might be an old bear and Jamie might be wretched, but
they were still my family and I hoped the Prodigal Son story
would hold true for me. (D. Frank)
 Allusions in context
• <...> Besides, everybody had a weak spot, and any man could
be forgiven if their Achilles heel just happened to be her. (C.
Ahern)
• I just didn’t know how to open the Pandora’s box. I mean, too
many years had passed. (D. Frank)
• “To speak or not to speak,” as your so great Shakespeare says,
“that is the question.” I did not trouble to correct the
quotation. (A.Christie)
• “No,” he said wistfully, “I suppose not. It’s time to dress. To
dress – to dine, and if to dine, to sleep, to dream. And then
what dreams might come.” (J. Galsworthy)
 5. Stylistic use of synonyms

Types of synonyms
• Absolute
• Ideographic
• Stylistic
• Contextual
 Stylistic use of synonyms

• Give it up, part of me screamed. Walk away from it. Put it in the past.
(M.H. Clark)
• They were about pardons – desperate please from thieves and
embezzlers and liars <…> (J. Grisham)
• How could a broke, disbarred, disgraced former lawyer/lobbyist
convince a lame-duck president a last-minute pardon? (J. Grisham)
• The money according to the snitch, was intended for Morgan’s use <…>
The informant was unable to identify whose money had left Grand
Caymann. (J. Grisham)
• He’d been discovered, found, unmasked, called by his real name on Via
Fondazza. (J. Grisham)
• When he crawled under the covers, he was mentally drained and
physically exhausted. (J. Grisham)
 Stylistic use of synonyms
• She approached Buzz and the attractive but rather faded-looking
woman who stood with him. A dim bulb. A washed-out watercolour.
(M. Binchy)
• There are some things that it isn’t a matter of handling, or coping with
or sorting out like business deals.
(M. Binchy)
• She’d had her life ripped apart, her security shredded, her heart
broken.
(D. Macomber)
• All Gabriella could see in herself were the faults, the failings, the
mistakes she made.
(S. Sheldon)