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Lexical Stylistic Devices

Allegory: an extended metaphor - the whole poem or story is representative of another idea. An allegory is intended to teach a moral or lesson. Allusion: a brief reference to a person, event or thing religious or historical. Alliteration: repetition of the same sound beginning several words in sequence. (The possessive instinct never stands still.) Anaphora: repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines. (Better for him, better for me) Antonomasia : speaking names (Miss Sharp. Scrooge McDuck. Sponge Bob.) Assonance: repetition of the same sound in words close to each other. Cacophony: harsh joining of sounds. Catachresis: a harsh metaphor involving the use of a word beyond its strict sphere. Detachment: stylistic device based on singling out a secondary member of sentence with the help of punctuation (intonation). (I have to beg you for money. Daily.) Epithet: expresses a characteristic of an object, both existing & imaginary. (the sleepless pillow, the tobacco-stained smile, a ghost-like face) Humour: a smart joke or idea Hyperbole: exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical effect. (I was so embarrassed, I could have died. I would give the whole world to know.) Irony: expression of smth. which is contrary to the intended meaning; words say 1 thing but mean another. (He smiled the sweet smile of an alligator.) Metaphor: implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; word is used not in its literal sense, but in 1 analogous to it. (New kid in our class is really a squirrel.) Metonymy: substitution of 1 word for another which it suggests. (To earn one's bread, to l i v e by the pen.) Onomatopoeia: use of words to imitate natural sounds; accommodation of sound to sense. ("hiss", "bowwow", "murmur", "bump", "grumble", "sizzle") Oxymoron: apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another. (adoring hatred, awfully nice, sweet sorrow) Paronomasia: use of similar sounding words; often etymological word-play. Personification: attribution of personality to an impersonal thing. (The long arm of the law will catch h i m in the end.) Pleonasm: use of superfluous or redundant words, often enriching the thought. Pun: stylistic device based on the interaction of 2 well-known meanings of a word or phrase. (Did you hit a woman with a child? - No, I hit her with a brick.) Sarcasm: type of irony in which a person appears to be praising something but is actually insulting it. Its purpose is to injure or hurt. (As I fell down the stairs headfirst, I heard her say, 'Look at that coordination) Simile: explicit comparison between 2 things using 'like' or 'as'. (My love is like a red rose. Sly as a fox, busy as a bee.) Synecdoche: understanding 1 thing with another; the use of a part for the whole, or the whole for the part. (All hands on deck. The hall applauded. ) Understatement (meiosis): opposite of hyperbole. Its a kind of irony that deliberately represents smth. as being much less than it really is. (Id probably manage to survive on a salary of 2 000000 $ per year) Zeugma: 2 different words linked to a verb or an adjective which is strictly appropriate to only 1 of them. (I like to have a tea with you and with cookies)

Syntactical Stylistic Devices


Anadiplosis: ("doubling back") rhetorical repetition of 1 or several words; specifically, repetition of a word that ends 1 clause at the beginning of the next. Anticlimax: when tension grows, but in the end we have an unexpected result. Antithesis: opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction. (In marriage is up keep a woman is often downfall for a man. Youth is lovely - Age is lonely.) Apokoinu constraction: omition the conjunctions between parts of the sentence.(I saw the man (who) read a book) Use to characterize person/ thing itself Aposiopesis: a form of ellipse by which a speaker comes to an abrupt halt, seemingly overcome by passion (fear, excitement) or modesty. (Id say to---) State of a person, smth. that person cant say aloud. Asyndeton: lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words. (I went to him, he invited me (because)) Fast change of decorations. Chiasmus: 2 corresponding pairs arranged not in parallels (a-b-a-b) but in inverted order (a-b-b-a). ( Mary loves John, John loves Mary) Climax: arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of ascending power. Last emphatic word in 1 phrase or clause is repeated as the 1st emphatic word of the next. (He worked hard, read a lot, made tests & then won the Noble Prize) Ellipsis: a sentence in which one of the main character omitted. (My father a doctor. Are you hungry?-Hungry?) Make dialogue more natural. Inversion: direct word order is changed either completely so that the predicate (predicative) precedes the subject, or partially so that the object precedes the subject-predicate pair. We differentiate between a partial & a complete inversion. (Your mother is at home?) Attract attention, intensify state of characters. Litotes: the way of expressing double negation. (Not so impossible. Not too bad) Paradox: an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but that may yet have some truth in it. Parallelism (Gradation): when the construction of the sentence is repeated. Polysyndeton: repetition of conjunctions in a series of coordinate words, phrases, or clauses. (The heaviest rain, & snow, & hail) Introduce another chain, monotonous. Rhetorical Question: a question which stays unanswered. Attract attention. Repetition: repeating of lines, words, or phrases for emphasis Catch repetition: a->b, b->c, c->d (a smile would come the smile changed into a laugh a roar & a roar) Represented speech: inner speech of the character Suspense: when the author delays the completion of his thoughts. ( If ifif if you would be my husband)

What do you think of the role the traditional plays have in our life and what does the successful performance of that role depend on? Should the old customs and traditions be observed or should it be held in absolutely new manner?

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