Research on Figures of Speech

1.Simile - describes something by comparing it to something else with the words like or as.
ex. -They fought like cats and dogs.
-My luggages is heavy as a rock.

2.Metaphor - compares two things, usually by stating that one thing is another.
ex. -You are an open book.
-The exam was a piece of cake.

3.Personification - attributes human characteristics, emotion, and behavior to animals and

inanimate objects or ideas.
ex. -The clumsy turtle enjoys the sun.
-The stars danced in the midnight sky.

4.Hyperbole - is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech.

ex. -Her smile was a mile wide.
-I’m so confused my head is spinning.

5.Irony - complete opposite to what they mean.

ex. -I hate her so much.
-She’s so ugly, I can’t stand her.

6.Metonymy - replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else that is closely
related to it.
ex. -The pen is mightier than the sword.
-Can you give me a hand carrying this box up the stairs?

7.Synecdoche - when a part of something is used to refer to the whole.

ex. -All hands on deck.
-That’s a nice set of wheels you have.

8.Apostrophe - a direct address to the dead, to the absent, or to a personified object or idea.
ex. -Oh nature, thou art my goddess.
-Blow winds, blow!
9.Assonance - the repetition of identical or similar VOWEL SOUNDS.
ex. -Clap your hands
-Stamp, clap and jump.

10.Alliteration - the use of the same sound at the beginning of words that are near each
other.
ex. -Sarah’s Seven Siblings like to Sing.
-Peter piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.

11.Oxymoron - apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.

ex. -We’ll use plastic glasses at the picnic.
-The gossip is old news.

12.Climax - intensity of the thought or emotion gradually increases in each successive word
or phrase.
ex. -She dreamt of having a maid, a car, and a house.
-Lola has performed in the state gymnastics finals.

13.Anti-climax - opposite of Climax-a sudden descent from higher to lower.

ex. -Here thou, great Anna! Whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel
take-and
sometimes tea.
-And thou,Dalhousie, the great god of war, Lieutenant-Colonel to the Earl of Mar

14.Onomatopoeia - when words sound like the noise being described.

ex. -“Crunch” went the leaves.
-The cars smashed into each

15.Euphemism - a mild word/phrase used to replace one that is thought to be too harsh .
ex. -She passed away last year.
-I’m going to have to let you go.