Acknowledgement Introduction

I would like to express my deep gratitude to my parents for The compilation of figures of speech enables you to add
the moral and financial support they have given to me while colour and variety not just in your vocabulary but also in your
doing this project. written works. It’s main goal and objective was to input
I am also thankful to Christopher Davila for sharing helpful knowledge to the readers which they can use in their everyday
ideas in doing the layout of my project that indeed makes it lives. This book was made to give definition and examples in
more presentable. every figure of speech for you to be able to understand and
familiarize with it easily. Figures of speech are legitimate
I would like to offer my special thanks to Fatima Davila for departures from accepted grammatical forms in order to give
lending her laptop to me and for the advice on some details. emphasis to what has been written or spoken. It can be use
I am particularly grateful to Teacher Adelle for giving us making your feelings and thoughts expressed beautifully and
another opportunity to learn more about figures of speech having a fun yet educating and entertaining communication
with others.
through this project.

Lastly , I am very grateful to God because he guided me and

enlighten my mind of what should I do to finish this project.

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 Figures of Speech
Simile

A figure of speech is figurative language in the form of a

single word or phrase. It can be a special repetition,
arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or
a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two
meaning of the words. There are mainly five figures of things through the explicit use of connecting words (such
speech: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification and syn as like, as, so, than, or various verbs such asresemble).
ecdoche. Figures of speech often provide emphasis, freshness Although similes and metaphors are sometimes considered as
of expression, or clarity. However, clarity may also suffer from interchangeable, similes acknowledge the imperfections and
their use, as any figure of speech introduces an ambiguity limitations of the comparative relationship to a greater extent
between literal and figurative interpretation. A figure of than metaphors. Metaphors are subtler and so rhetorically
speech is sometimes called a rhetorical figure or a locution. stronger in that metaphors equate two things rather than
simply compare them. Similes also hedge/protect the author
against outrageous, incomplete, or unfair comparison.
Generally, metaphor is the stronger and more encompassing
of the two forms of rhetorical analogies.

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Examples of
SIMILE --------------------------------- METAPHOR
 My love is like a red, red rose.
 You were as brave as a lion.
 They fought like cats and dogs. A metaphor is a figure of speech that identifies one thing as
 He is as funny as a barrel of monkeys. being the same as some unrelated other thing, thus strongly
 This house is as clean as a whistle. implying the similarities between the two. It is therefore
 He is as strong as an ox. considered more rhetorically powerful than a simile. While a
 Your explanation is as clear as mud. simile compares two items, a metaphor directly equates them,
 Watching the show was like watching grass grow. and so does not apply any words of comparison, such as "like"
 That is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.
or "as." Metaphor is a type of analogy and is closely related to
 This contract is as solid as the ground we stand on.
other rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via
 That guy is as nutty as a fruitcake.
association, comparison or resemblance including
 Don’t just sit there like a bump on a log.
 That went over like a lead balloon.
allegory, hyperbole, and simile.
 They are as different as night and day.
 She is as thin as a toothpick.
 Last night, I slept like a log.
 This dress is perfect because it fits like a glove.
 They wore jeans, which made me stand out like a sore thumb.
 My love for you is a deep as the ocean.
 I am so thirsty, that my throat is as dry as a bone.

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Examples of PERSONIFICATION
METAPHOR ---------------------------

 Time is a thief.
 He has a heart of gold.
 His head was spinning with ideas.
Personification is a figure of speech where human qualities
 John is a real pig when he eats.
 Authority is a chair, it needs legs to stand up. are given to animals, objects or ideas.
 Her home was a prison.
 Life is a journey, purposes are destinations, means are In the arts, personification means representing a non-human
routes, difficulties are obstacles, counselors are guides, thing as if it were human. Personification gives
achievements are landmarks and choices are crossroads. human traits and qualities, such
 The new movie was very popular. People flocked to see it.
 Life has a tendency to come back and bite you. as emotions, desires, sensations, gestures and speech, often by
 It wasn't long before their relationship turned sour. way of a metaphor.
 Harry lost his job after a heated argument with his boss.
 The committee shot her ideas down one by one. Personification is much used in visual arts. Examples in
 America is a melting pot. writing are "the leaves waved in the wind", "the ocean heaved
 He swam in the sea of diamonds.
a sigh" or "the Sun smiled at us". In easy language
 You are my sunshine.
 A light in a sea of darkness personification is just giving an example of a living being for a
 He is my East and my West, my compass non living thing. "The wind shouted". Obviously the wind
 The policeman let him off with a yellow card. cannot shout, only people can. This is what is called
 He was dressed rather vulgarly in a loud checked suit.
 A lifetime is a day, death is sleep; a lifetime is a year, death personification.
is winter.

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Examples of
PERSONIFICATION -------------------

 Justice is blind and, at times, deaf.

HYPERBOLE
 Money is the only friend that I can count on.
 The cactus saluted any visitor brave enough to travel the
scorched land.
 The world does not care to hear your sad stories.
Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical
 After freedom’s sweet kiss, she could never return to the
device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong
doldrums of the factory.
feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to
 The sorry engine wheezed its death cough. be taken literally.
 The buses can be impatient around here.
Hyperboles are exaggerations to create emphasis or effect. As
 The candle flame danced in the dark.
a literary device, hyperbole is often used in poetry, and is
 Thunder grumbled and raindrops reported for duty. frequently encountered in casual speech. An example of
 The moon turned over to face the day. hyperbole is: "The bag weighed a ton. Hyperbole makes the
 The brown grass was begging for water. point that the bag was very heavy, though it probably does not
 One unhappy icicle wasted away in the day. weigh a ton.

 The sunflowers nodded in the wind.

 The angry storm pounded the tin shelter.
 The silence crept into the classroom.
 The sun stretched its golden arms across the plains.
 The cigarettes stole his health and spent it on phlegm.
 The trees dropped their leaves and rested. 10
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Examples of
HYPERBOLE ------------------------ APOSTROPHE

 I am so hungry I could eat a horse.

 I have a million things to do.
 I had to walk 15 miles to school in the snow, uphill. Apostrophe is an exclamatory figure of speech. It occurs
 I had a ton of homework.
 If I can’t buy that new game, I will die. when a speaker breaks off from addressing the audience
 He is as skinny as a toothpick. (e.g. in a play) and directs speech to a third party such as
 This car goes faster than the speed of light.
 That new car costs a bazillion dollars. an opposing litigant or some other individual, sometimes
 We are so poor; we don’t have two cents to rub together. absent from the scene. Often the addressee is a personified
 That joke is so old, the last time I heard it I was riding on a
dinosaur. abstract quality or inanimate object. In dramatic works
 They ran like greased lightning. and poetry written in or translated into English, such a
 He's got tons of money.
 You could have knocked me over with a feather. figure of speech is often introduced by the vocative
 Her brain is the size of a pea. exclamation "O". Poets may apostrophize a beloved, the
 He is older than the hills.
Muse, God, love, time, or any other entity that can’t
 I am dying of shame.
respond in reality.
 I am trying to solve a million issues these days.
 He was thirsty enough to drink a river dry.
 He’s 900 years old.
 He’s got a truckload of money.

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Examples of
------------------------
APOSTROPHE

ONOMATOPOEIA
 "God deliver me from fools."
 "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory?"
 "O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, / That I am An onomatopoeia is a word that phonetically imitates,
meek and gentle with these butchers! / Thou art the ruins resembles or suggests the source of the sound that it
of the noblest man / That ever lived in the tide of times." describes. Onomatopoeia (as an uncountable noun)
 "O God, God," refers to the property of such words. Common
 "To what green altar, O mysterious priest, / Lead'st thou occurrences of onomatopoeias include animal noises such
that heifer lowing at the skies, / And all her silken flanks as "oink", "miaow" (or "meow"), "roar" or "chirp".
with garlands drest?" Onomatopoeias are not the same across all languages;
 "O eloquent, just, and mighty Death!" they conform to some extent to the
 "Roll on, thou dark and deep blue Ocean -- roll!" broader linguistic system they are part of; hence the sound
 "Thou glorious sun!" of a clock may be tick tock in English, dī dā in Mandarin,
 "Death, be not proud, though some have called thee / or katchin katchin in Japanese.
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so"
 "And you, Eumaeus...”
 "O My friends, there is no friend."
 "Ah Bartleby! Ah Humanity!"
 "O black night, nurse of the golden eyes!"
 "Then come, sweet death, and rid me of this grief."
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Examples of
ONOMATOPOEIA ------------------

 It is not unusual for a dog to bark when visitors arrive. ALLITERATION

 Dad released a belch from the pit of his stomach.
 The bridge collapsed creating a tremendous boom.
 The large dog said, “Bow-wow!”
 Are you afraid of things that go bump in the night?
Alliteration is a stylistic literary device identified by the
 My brother can burp the alphabet.
repeated sound of the first consonant in a series of
 Both bees and buzzers buzz.
multiple words, or the repetition of the same sounds or of
 The bird’s chirp filled the empty night air.
the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in
 Her heels clacked on the hardwood floor.
stressed syllables of a phrase. "Alliteration" comes from
 The clanging pots and pans awoke the baby.
the Latin word “Latira”, meaning “letters of the alphabet”,
 The dishes fell to the floor with a clatter.
and the first known use of the word as a literary device
 Nothing annoys me more than rapidly clicking your pen.
occurred around 1624. Alliteration developed largely
 The horse’s hooves clip-clopped on the cobblestones.
through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the
 Those clucking chickens are driving me crazy!
repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according
 It is not unusual for a dog to bark when visitors arrive.
to the poem's meter, are stressed, as in James Thomson's
 Dad released a belch from the pit of his stomach.
verse "Come…dragging the lazy languid Line along".
 The bridge collapsed creating a tremendous boom.
Another example is, "Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled
 The large dog said, “Bow-wow!”
Peppers".
 Are you afraid of things that go bump in the night?
 My brother can burp the alphabet.
 Both bees and buzzers buzz.
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Examples of
ALLITERATION ----------------------

ASSONANCE
 A big bully beats a baby boy.
 Alice's aunt ate apples and acorns around august.
 Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
 Becky's beagle barked and bayed, becoming bothersome
for Billy. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds to create
 We felt dreary and dismal in the darkness of the night.
 Carries cat clawed her couch, creating chaos. internal rhyming within phrases or sentences, and together
 She shouted and shooed the sheep to the shelter. with alliteration and consonance serves as one of the building
 Dan's dog dove deep in the dam, drinking dirty water as he blocks of verse. Assonance is a rhyme, the identity of which
dove.
 She sees sheep sleeping. depends merely on the vowel sounds. Thus, an assonance is
 Show Shawn Sharon's shabby shoes. merely a syllabic resemblance.
 Fred's friends fried Fritos for Friday's food.
 Boil the butter and bring it by the bank. Assonance occurs more often in verse than in prose. It is used
 Garry's giraffe gobbled gooseberry's greedily, getting good in (mainly modern) English-language poetry, and is
at grabbing goodies.
particularly important in Old French, Spanish and the Celtic
 Hannah's home has heat hopefully.
 Kim comes to cut colorful kites. languages.
 Baby Bobby bed bounced better by bedtime before Billy
bounced.
 Isaac's ice cream is interesting and Isaac is imbibing it.
 Paula planted the petunias in the pot.
 Jesse's jaguar is jumping and jiggling jauntily.
 Quincy's quilters quit quilting quickly.

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Examples of
ASSONANCE ----------------------

 "It beats . . . as it sweeps . . . as it cleans!"

 "The gloves didn't fit. If it doesn't fit, you must acquit."
 "Let's go kick the tires and light fires big daddy." SYNECDOCHE
 "I feel the need, the need for speed."
 That dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea."
 "Hear the mellow wedding bells"
 "Try to light the fire"
A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a term for a part
 "The crumbling thunder of seas"
 "Strips of tinfoil winking like people" of something refers to the whole of something, or vice
 "I must confess that in my quest I felt depressed and versa. An example is referring to workers as hired hands.
restless."
 "He was soon borne away by the waves, and lost in
Synecdoche may also use larger groups to refer to smaller
darkness and distance."
groups or vice versa. It may also call a thing by the name of
 "He diagnosed Camilla's difficulty as indigestion, and
locked himself in his cabin." the material it is made of or it may refer to a thing in a
 "The spider skins lie on their sides, translucent and ragged, container or packing by the name of that container or packing.
their legs drying in knots."
 "Flash with a rash gimme my cash flickin' my ash
Runnin with my money, son, go out with a blast."
 "The law may not change the heart, but it can restrain the
heartless."

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Examples of
SYNECDOCHE ----------------------

METONYMY
 The word "society" is often used to refer to high society or
the social elite.
 The word "police" can be used to represent only one or a
few police officers. Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is
 The "pentagon" can refer to a few decision-making
generals. called not by its own name but rather by the name of
 "Capitol Hill" refers to both the U.S. Senate and the House something associated inmeaning with that thing or
of Representatives. concept.The words "metonymy" and "metonym" come from
 The ship was lost with all hands. (sailors)
 His parents bought him a new set of wheels. (new car) the Greek: μετωνυμία, metōnymía, "a change of name",
 He has many mouths to feed. (to look after many) from μετά, metá, "after, beyond" and -ωνυμία, -ōnymía, a suffix
 White hair. (elderly people) used to name figures of speech,
 9/11 tragedy.
 White-collar criminals. from ὄνῠμα, ónyma or ὄνομα, ónoma, "name".
 Lend me your ears.
 All hands on deck
 There sits my animal guarding the door to the hen house.
 Give us our daily bread.
 He hurled the barbed weapon at the whale. (Harpoon)
 The little lady in Cleveland couldn't pay her heating bill.
 It is sure hard to earn a dollar these days.

 If I had some wheels I would put on a new thread and ask

for Jenny's hand in marriage.

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Examples of
METONYMY ----------------------

 England decides to keep check on immigration.

 The suits were at meeting.


ANTI-CLIMAX
The pen is mightier than the sword.

 The Oval Office was busy in work.

 Let me give you a hand.

 We must wait to hear from the crown until we make any
further decisions.
 The White House will be announcing the decision around Anti-climax is a rhetorical device which can be defined as a
noon today. disappointing situation or a sudden transition in discourse
 If we do not fill out the forms properly, the suits will be
after us shortly. from an important idea to a ludicrous or trivial one. It is when
 She's planning to serve the dish early in the evening. at a specific point, expectations are raised, everything is built-
 The cup is quite tasty. up and then suddenly something boring or disappointing
 The Pentagon will be revealing the decision later on in the
morning. happens; this is an anti-climax. Besides that, the order of
 The restaurant has been acting quite rude lately. statements gradually descends in anti-climax.
 Learn how to use your eyes properly!
 The library has been very helpful to the students this
morning.
 That individual is quite the silver fox.
 Can you please give me a hand carrying this box up the
stairs?
 The United States will be delivering the new product to us
very soon.
 Saint Thomas will be coming to the soup kitchen to help
out next Sunday after Mass.
 The Yankees have been throwing the ball really well, and
they have been hitting better than they have been in the
past few seasons.

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  The plane that Joanna was planning to board from
Examples of
Singapore crashed. Almost everyone got injured and their
ANTI-CLIMAX ----------------------
baggage got misplaced.
 The fire burnt Peter's house down and he lost his cell
phone.
 She is a great writer, a mother and a good humorist.
 Yesterday I had good sleep but I have to meet my brother
 He lost his family, his car and his cell phone.
today.
 "Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on
 The enemies had conquered about three fourth of the
weekends.”
Empire and the Emperor realized he didn't have his
 He lost his wife, his child, his household goods, and his
breakfast.
dog at one fell swoop.
 "He has seen the ravages of war, he has known natural
 "Jones was having his first date with Miss Smith and was
catastrophes, he has been to singles bars."
utterly captivated by her. She was beautiful and intelligent
 Tension builds in a horror movie as a young girl
as well, and as dinner proceeded, he was further impressed
approaches a closed door. There is a scratching sound
by her faultless taste."
coming from behind the door. When she opens it, a cat
 "In moments of crisis I size up the situation in a flash, set
comes out.
my teeth, contract my muscles, take a firm grip on myself
 You are riding a roller coaster, and it begins to climb a
and without a tremor, always do the wrong thing."
steep hill slowly. The roller coaster reaches the top of the
 "I would have found it anticlimactic that after expecting to
hill, and you brace yourself to begin a steep drop down the
assemble a weapon of ultimate power you found a
hill. But, the track evens out and you go straight instead of
revelation you could have acquired from a fortune cookie."
down.
 "For [Immanuel] Kant, the incongruity in a joke was
 A firefighter enters a burning house because he hears
between the 'something' of the setup and the anticlimactic
what sounds like a child crying. When he reaches the
'nothing' of the punch line; the ludicrous effect arises 'from
sound, all he finds is a cat, meowing loudly. When he
the sudden transformation of a strained expectation into
emerges from the house, the entire family is standing there
nothing."
safe and sound.
 "He has seen the ravages of war, he has known natural
catastrophes, he has been to singles bars."

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 Examples of
CLIMAX --------------------------------

 "There are three things that will endure: faith,

hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
 "I think we've reached a point of great decision,
not just for our nation, not only for all humanity,
but for life upon the earth."

CLIMAX  "...Lost, vaded, broken, dead within an hour."

 He is simple, erect, severe, austere and sublime.
 What a piece of work man! How noble in reason,
how infinite in faculties! In action, how like an
In rhetoric, a climax is a figure of speech in which words, angel!
phrases, or clauses are arranged in order of increasing  In apprehension, how like a God!
importance. Climax, a Greek term meaning “ladder”, is that
 "I think we've reached a point of great decision,
particular point in a narrative at which the conflict or tension not just for our nation, not only for all humanity,
hits the highest point. but for life upon the earth."
 "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these
three; but the greatest of these is charity."
 He sacrificed his business, his home, and his
honor for political gain.
 Since concord was lost, friendship was lost;
fidelity was lost; liberty was lost—all was lost.
 Let man acknowledge his obligations to himself ,
his family , and his God.

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 Examples of
EUPHEMISM ----------------------

EUPHEMISM  You are becoming a little thin on top (bald).

 Our teacher is in the family way (pregnant).

 He is always tired and emotional (drunk).

Euphemism is a generally innocuous word or  We do not hire mentally challenged (stupid) people.
expression used in place of one that may be found  He is a special child (disabled or retarded).
offensive or suggest something unpleasant. Some
euphemisms are intended to amuse; while others use  He lived in a correction facility for 3 years.
bland, inoffensive, and often misleading terms for
 You started having character lines when your 12.
things the user wishes to dissimulate or downplay.
Euphemisms are used for dissimulation, to refer  Luzy was very unmotivated to do her project .
to taboo topics (such as disability, sex, excretion, and
death) in a polite way, and to mask profanity. The  She often use her eye glasses because she is visually
opposite of euphemism roughly equates challenged.
to dysphemism.
 People don’t fart , they ‘pass wind.

 Politicians don’t commit crimes , they make mistakes.

 Married men don’t commit adultery , they cheat.

 This is the relocation center for the typhoon victims.

 “Excuse me can I go to the restroom ? “

 She colored up whenshe saw her crush.

 The disincentive for your mistake is to live in the jail for 2

months.

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 Examples of
IRONY -----------------------------------

IRONY  One of the identical twins says to the other, "You're ugly!"
 I saw a fish drowning.
 Many things can be preserved in alcohol. Dignity is not
one of them.
 Never argue with a fool. People might not know the
difference.
 Marriage is the leading cause of divorce
Irony in its broadest sense, is a rhetorical device, literary
technique, or event characterized by an incongruity, or  I have been down so long, it looks like up to me.

contrast, between what the expectations of a situation are and  A marriage counselor filed for divorce
what is really the case, with a third element, that defines that  A teacher failed a test
what is really the case is ironic because of the situation that  An anti technology website
led to it. Irony may be divided into categories such
 A fire station burns down
as: verbal, dramatic, and situational.
 A traffic cop got his license suspended due to unpaid
tickets
 A pilot with a fear of heights
 Robbery at a police station
 A post on Facebook about how useless it now is
 Being thirsty in the sea
 A fertility counselor struggles to get pregnant
 A hungry cook
 A shoemaker without shoes

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 Examples of
ALLUSION ------------------------------

 “I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio’s.”

 “When she lost her job, she acted like a Scrooge, and
ALLUSION refused to buy anything that wasn’t necessary.”
 “I thought the software would be useful, but it was a
Trojan Horse.”
 “He was a real Romeo with the ladies.”
Allusion is a figure of speech, in which one refers covertly or  “Chocolate was her Achilles’ heel.”
indirectly to an object or circumstance from an external  “He was a Good Samaritan yesterday when he helped the
context. It is left to the audience to make the lady start her car.”
connection; where the connection is detailed in depth by the  “She turned the other cheek after she was cheated out of a
author, an allusion is often called a reference. In the arts, a promotion.”
literary allusion puts the alluded text in a new context under  “This place is like a Garden of Eden.”
which it assumes new meanings and denotations. It is not  “You are a Solomon when it comes to making decisions.”
possible to predetermine the nature of all the new meanings  “When the volcano erupted, the nearby forest was
and intertexual patterns that an allusion will swallowed up in dust and ash like Jonah.”
generate. Literary allusion is closely related  “It is raining so hard, I hope it doesn’t rain for 40 days and
to parody and pastiche, which are also "text-linking" literary 40 nights.”
devices.  “Don’t act like a Romeo in front of her.”
 The rise in poverty will unlock the Pandora’s box of crimes.
 “This place is like a Garden of Eden.”
 “Hey! Guess who the new Newton of our school is?”
 “Stop acting like my ex-husband please.”
 "The killer wore a mark of Cain as he stalked his brother"
 "She was breathtakingly beautiful, but he knew that she
was forbidden fruit."

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 Examples of
ANTONOMASIA ----------------

 You must pray to heaven's guardian for relief.

 Excuse me Tarzan, could you please come down from that
tree.
 "When I eventually met Mr. Right I had no idea that his

ANTONOMASIA 
first name was Always."
The answer for this question can be given only by Mr.
Know-it-all.
 He proved a Judas to the cause.
In rhetoric, antonomasia is a substitution of  Easy, you coward!
any epithet or phrase for a proper name, such as "the  Nice drive, tiger!
little corporal" for Napoleon I. The reverse process is  "...Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your
also sometimes called antonomasia. The word derives
master?" - (2 Kings 9:31b)
from the Greek ἀντονομασία, antonomasia, itself from
the verb ἀντονομάζειν, antonomazein, meaning "to  "The land will be blessed and 'showers of blessing' will
name differently" Antonomasia is a particular form fall." - a line from the Bible
of metonymy.  Harry is the Casanova of my life
 He was a horse in the running competition
 "I told you we could count on Mr. Old-Time Rock and
Roll!" - Murray referring to Arthur in Velvet Goldmine
 Do not act like Mr. Bean.
 There is much of Cicero in this letter.
 John was the blaster master of the final match of his
school.
 She was a white witch in the play.
 Cambridge is England's Silicon Valley.
 "The fatal Cleopatra for which he lost the world and was
content to lose it."
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 Examples of
OXYMORON ----------------------------

 "I can resist anything, except temptation."

 "Simplicity is not a simple thing."

OXYMORON
"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San
Francisco."
 "To lead the people, walk behind them."
 "Hegel was right when he said that we learn from
history that man can never learn anything from
history"
 "Always and never are two words you should always
An oxymoron (plural oxymora or oxymorons) is a figure of remember never to use."
speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be  "The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep."
contradictory. Oxymora appear in a variety of contexts,  "Always be sincere, even when you don't mean it."
 "If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest
including inadvertent errors (such as "ground pilot") and man alive."
literary oxymorons crafted to reveal a paradox.  'No light, but rather darkness rather visible'
 'I like a smuggler. He is the only honest thief'
 This is another fine mess you have got us into.
 There is a real love hate relationship developing
between the two of them.
 Suddenly the room filled with a deafening silence.
 The comedian was seriously funny.
 You are clearly confused by the situation you have
found yourself in.
 Her singing was enough to raise the living dead.
 Do you have the original copies that we requested?
 This is a genuine imitation Rolex watch.
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 Examples of
ANTITHESIS ---------------------------

 Unlike short-sighted, egocentric humans, God "sees

with equal eye" the fall of a hero and a sparrow, the
destruction of an atom or a solar system - Alexander
ANTITHESIS 
Pope.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.
 Many are called, but few are chosen.
 Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and
knowledge without integrity is dangerous and
dreadful. - Samuel Johnson
Antithesis (Greek for "setting opposite", from ἀντί "against"  Hee for God only, shee for God in him. - by John
Milton.
+ θέσις "position") is used in writing or speech either as a
 Man proposes, God disposes.
proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously  Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing. - Goethe
mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced  We must learn to live together as brothers or perish
together as fools. - MartinLuther King, Jr.
together for contrasting effect.
 Money is the root of all evils: poverty is the fruit of all
Antithesis can be defined as “a figure of speech involving a goodness.
 The strong master gives his judgment and goes home;
seeming contradiction of ideas, words, clauses, or sentences the weak servant collects his key and goes to jail.
within a balanced grammatical structure. Parallelism of  Too black for heaven, and yet too white for hell. - by
expression serves to emphasize opposition of ideas” John Dryden
 To err is human, to forgive, divine." by Alexander Pope
 Many are called, but few are chosen.
 One small step for a man, one giant leap for all
mankind.
 Speech is silver, but Silence is Gold.
 You're easy on the eyes, Hard on the heart.
 Brutus: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved
Rome more. - Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.
 Patience is bitter, but it has a sweet fruit.
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 Examples of
LITOTES ----------------------------
LITOTES

In rhetoric, litotes is a figure of speech wherein  They aren't the happiest couple around.
 He's not the ugliest fellow around!
understatement is used to emphasize a point by stating a  She's not the brightest girl in the class.
negative to further affirm a positive, often  The food is not bad.
 It is no ordinary city.
incorporating double negatives for effect. For example, "She's  That sword was not useless to the warrior now.
not bad looking" could be used to express that someone is  He was not unfamiliar with the works of Dickens.
 She is not as young as she was.
gorgeous. Or it could convey that she's not particularly ugly,  You are not wrong.
but also isn't particularly attractive. The degree of emphasis  Einstein is not a bad mathematician.
 Heat waves are not rare in the summer.
depends on the context in which it is used. For instance, the  It won't be easy to find crocodiles in the dark.
commonly used phrase "not bad" could indicate that  He is not unlike his dad.
 That's no small accomplishment.
something was either average or excellent. Along the same  He is not the kindest person I've met.
lines, litotes can be used to diminish the harshness of an  That is no ordinary boy.
 He is not unaware of what you said behind his back.
observation; "He isn't the cleanest person I know" could be  This is no minor matter.
used as a means of indicating that someone is a messy person.  The weather is not unpleasant at all.
 She's no doll.
 That was no small issue.

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 Examples of
RHETORICAL QUESTION -----------

RETORICAL
QUESTION  "If your friend jumped off the bridge would you do it
too?"
 "You don't think I'm that stupid, do you?"
 "Are you kids still awake?"
 "Who let the dogs out?"
A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of  "What is so rare as a day in June?"
 "How did that idiot ever get elected?"
a question that is asked in order to make a point, rather than  "What business is it of yours?"
to elicit an answer. Though classically stated as a proper  "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?
 "You're not really going to wear that, are you?"
question, such a rhetorical device may be posed declaratively  "Are you stupid?"
by implying a question, and therefore may not always require  "You don't expect me to go along with that crazy
scheme, do you?"
a question mark when written. Though a rhetorical question  "How much longer must our people endure this
does not require a direct answer, in many cases it may be injustice?"
 "Can you do anything right?"
intended to start a discussion or at least draw an  "Is the sky blue?"
acknowledgement that the listener understands the intended  "Is the Pope Catholic?"
 "Does a bear shit in the woods?"
message.  "Yeah, why not?"
 "What the hell?"
 "The butler did it, or did he?"
 "It is near not a good place to visit. Is it?"
 "You are ashamed, aren't you?

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 Examples of
PARALLELISM -------------------------

 I have always sought but seldom obtained a parking

space near the door.
 Peter felt that he had made an excellent deal and that
he had bought a masterpiece.
PARALLELISM 

He enjoys playing tennis and working out.
They don't mind waiting and talking while you get
ready.
 Quickly and happily, he walked around the corner to
buy the book.
 Tom and Patrick will probably arrive in less than an
hour and in time for the meeting.
In grammar, parallelism, also known as parallel  They want more time off in the summer and on
structure or parallel construction, is a balance within one or weekends.
 The pilot walked down the aisle, through the door,
more sentences of similar phrases or clauses that have the and into the cockpit, singing "Up, Up, and Away."
same grammatical structure. The application of parallelism  He left the engine on, idling erratically and heating
rapidly.
improves writing style and readability, and is thought to make  To think accurately and to write precisely are
interrelated goals.
sentences easier to process.
 Our neighbors have moved and have sold their house.
 My brother walks or rides his bike to work.
 The class is not only fun but also helpful.
 Since it was easy to use and because it was cheap, it
sold very well.
 Alice is not only strong but also fast.
 The children love their teacher and the teachers love
their children.
 Sam drives quickly and aggressively.
 They work carefully and effectively.

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 Examples of
REPETITION ---------------------------

REPETITION  ‘You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of
the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the
people all of the time.’
 "Swallow, my sister, O sister swallow,
Repetition is the simple repeating of a word, within a sentence
 "I want her to live. I want her to breathe. I want her
or a poetical line , with no particular placement of the words,
to aerobicize."
in order to secure emphasis. This is such a common literary
 It's a mad, mad, mad world.
device that it is almost never even noted as a figure of speech.
 Vanity of vanities: you are vain, he is vain, all is
vanity.
 Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition! King John
 We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end.
 We laughed, we loved, we sang
 "A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
 Spam , spam , spam , lovely spam!
 Oh Romeo , Romeo, my Romeo !
 "I am Sam, Sam I am."
 "The land of my fathers. My fathers can have it."

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 HENDIADYS Examples of
HENDIADYS ---------------------------

Hendiadys (/hɛnˈdaɪ.ədɨs/; a Latinized form of

the Greek phrase ἓν διὰ δυοῖν, hèn dià duoîn, "one through  The heat and sun of midday (vs. the hot midday
two") is a figure of speech used for emphasis — "The sun.)
substitution of a conjunction for a subordination". The basic  Sound and fury, signifying nothing (vs. furious
idea is to use two words linked by the conjunction "and" sound, signifying nothing).
instead of the one modifying the other.  The man and the strength and the joy of it all. (vs.
English names for hendiadys include two for one and figure 'the joyful, strong man).
of twinnes.  Come up and see me sometime (vs. Come up to see me).
 He came despite the rain and weather.
 Now you’ve made me good and mad.

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 Examples of
ANADIPLOSIS -------------------

 "Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task."

 "For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,.........'
 'The years to come seemed waste of breath, waste of breath
ANADIPLOSIS the years behind
 'The land of my fathers. My fathers can have it.'
 'He retained his virtues amidst all his - misfortunes --
misfortunes which no prudence could foresee or prevent.'
 "The mountains look on Marathon - And Marathon looks
Anadiplosis (/ænədɨˈploʊsɨs/ an-ə-di-ploh-
on the sea...'
sis; Greek: ἀναδίπλωσις, anadíplōsis, "a doubling, folding up")
 “The mountains look on Marathon – And Marathon looks
is the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause. The
on the sea…”
word is used at the end of a sentence and then used again at
 “The general who became a slave. The slave who became a
the beginning of the next sentence.
gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking
story!”
 "Sense is beaten into people by unhappiness, and that
takes time, andtime disfigures you."
 "When I give I give myself."
 "The land of my fathers. My fathers can have it."
 "I am Sam, Sam I am."
 "Only the brave deserve the fair and the fair deserve
Jaeger."
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 Examples of
PUN --------------------------------------

PUN
 A pyrotechnician should know how fireworks.
 The math teacher was an exponent of his own powers.
 I work as a baker because I knead the dough.
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play that
 A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for
suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple littering.
 Our social studies teacher says that her globe means the
meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an world to her.
intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities  The principle part of a horse is the mane, of course.
 Do hotel managers get board with their jobs?
can arise from the intentional use  I met a man who loves eating couches. I think he has a
of homophonic, homographic, metonymic, suite tooth.
 Dieting is a matter of life and breadth.
or metaphorical language. A pun differs from  Without geometry, life is pointless.
a malapropism in that a malapropism uses an incorrect  Since her kind gift of a lemon cake, I rate her as one of
Madeirafriends.
expression that alludes to another (usually correct)  The best way to communicate with a fish is to drop them a
expression, but a pun uses a correct expression that alludes to line.
 I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it
another (sometimes correct but more often absurdly
humorous) expression. hit me.
 Did you hear about the Frenchman who jumped off the
Eiffel Tower wearing a parachute and landed in the river?
The police didn't arrest him because he was clearly in
Seine
 The star asked the sun why the moon was always up so
late. Sun responded that it was just a phase.
 Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One
hat said to the other, 'You stay here; I'll go on a-head'.

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 Table of Contents Example ............................................................................................28

Introduction ...................................................................................... 1 Euphemism .......................................................................................29

Acknowledgement ........................................................................... 2 Example ............................................................................................30

Figures of Speech................................................................................3 Irony ..................................................................................................31

Simile ............................................................................................... 4 Example .............................................................................................32

Example ........................................................................................... 5 Allusion ..............................................................................................33

Metaphor .......................................................................................... 6 Example .............................................................................................34

Example ........................................................................................... 7 Antonomasia ......................................................................................35

Personification ................................................................................. 8 Example .............................................................................................36

Example ........................................................................................... 9 Oxymoron ..........................................................................................37

Hyperbole ......................................................................................... 10 Example .............................................................................................38

Example ........................................................................................... 11 Antithesis ...........................................................................................39

Apostrophe ....................................................................................... 12 Example .............................................................................................40

Example ............................................................................................ 13 Litotes .................................................................................................41

Onomatopoeia .................................................................................. 14 Example .............................................................................................42

Example ............................................................................................ 15 Rhetorical Question ...........................................................................43

Alliteration .........................................................................................16 Example .............................................................................................44

Example ............................................................................................17 Parallelism .........................................................................................45

Assonance ........................................................................................18 Example .............................................................................................46

Example ............................................................................................19 Repetition ...........................................................................................47

Synecdoche ......................................................................................20 Example .............................................................................................48

Example ............................................................................................21 Hendiadys ..........................................................................................49

Metonymy .........................................................................................22 Example .............................................................................................50

Example ............................................................................................23 Anadyplosia .......................................................................................51

Anti-climax ........................................................................................24 Example ............................................................................................52

Example ............................................................................................25 Pun .....................................................................................................53

Climax ...............................................................................................27 Example .............................................................................................54