Figures of Speech

Figurative Language – also called

figures of speech, stylistic devices, or
rhetorical devices because they
create pictures or figures in the mind
of the readers.
Find all the figures of speech that you can
still remember.
A R A L L I T E R A T I ON I A S
N K U H A E C N ANO S S A L L E
T DD E U P H E M I S MK T I L L
I CA F G L O S F DG T T D T UO
T E R I O E I S X F RGH J O S B
H AN A P H O R A F O I OA T I R
E Y D T G H F J O R H H R D E O E
S L O S F R H J U T P J UO S N P
I CH I A S M U S G E HM L NWY
S DG Y U E H P O R T S O P A Y H
1. Alliteration

- the repetition of initial sounds in a

neighboring words.
Seven sisters slept soundly on the
sand.
1. Alliteration

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter
Piper picked?
1. Alliteration

I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if

you wish the wish the witch wishes, I won't wish
the wish you wish to wish.
1. Alliteration

If blue bugs bleed blue blood, and black bugs

bleed black blood, do blue-black bugs bleed
blue-black blood?
2. Allusion

-is a figure of speech whereby the

author refers to a subject matter such
as a place, event, or literary work by
way of a passing reference.
2. Allusion

Example: It’s no wonder everyone refers

to Mary as another Mother Teresa in the
making; she loves to help and care after
people everywhere- from the streets to
her own friends.
3. Anaphora

– is a stylistic device that consists of

repeating a sequence of words at
the beginning of neighboring clauses
to give them emphasis.
3. Anaphora

Example: You are lovely, you are

gorgeous, you are pretty, you are
glorious, you are, you are, you just
are!
4. Antithesis
- is a figure of speech that refers to the
juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting
ideas. It involves the bringing out of
contrast in the ideas by an obvious
contrast in the words, clauses, or
sentences within a parallel grammatical
structure.
4. Antithesis

Example: When Neil Armstrong walked

on the moon it might have been one
small step for a man but it was one
giant leap for mankind.
5. Apostrophe

- is a figure of speech in which a

speaker or writer breaks off and
directs speech to an imaginary
person, inanimate object, or abstract
quality or idea.
5. Apostrophe

Example: Oh, moon! You have

seen everything!
6. Assonance

- is a figure of speech that refers to

the repetition of vowel sounds to
create internal rhyming within
phrases or sentences.
6. Assonance

Example: A certain purple curtain,

captain.
7. Chiasmus

– is a figure of speech in which

words, grammatical constructions,
or concepts are repeated in
reverse order, in the same or a
modified form.
7. Chiasmus

Example: People must live to work,

not just work to live.
8. Euphemism

– is the figure of speech used to

express a mild, indirect, or vague
term to substitute for a harsh, blunt
or offensive term.
8. Euphemism

Examples: saying “passed away” for died

“ vertically challenged” for short/ small
“ in between jobs” means unemployed
9. Hyperbole

-is a figure of speech that uses

exaggerations to create emphasis or
effect; it is not meant to be taken
literally.
9. Hyperbole

Example: I told you a million times

to clean your room!
10. Irony

-there is a contradiction of
expectation between what is said
and what is really meant.
10. Irony

THERE ARE 3 TYPES OF

IRONY: VERBAL, DRAMATIC,
AND SITUATIONAL
10. Irony

VERBAL IRONY - is a contrast

between what is said and what is
meant.
Example: The explanation is as clear
as mud.
10. Irony

DRAMATIC IRONY - when the audience

or the reader knows more about the
events than the characters themselves.
Example: Shakespeare’s Romeo and
Juliet
10. Irony

SITUATIONAL IRONY- refers to the

contrast between the actual result of a
situation and what was intended or
expected to happen.
10. Irony

The wife sells her most prized possession –

her hair – to get a Christmas present for
her husband. On the other hand, the
husband sells his most dear possession –
the gold watch – to get a Christmas
present for his wife.
11. Litotes

-an affirmative is expressed by

negating its opposite.
Examples: Your apartment is not
unclean.
12. Metaphor

– an implied comparison between

two dissimilar things that have
something in common.
Example: You are the sun of my life.
13.
- Metonymy

- a figure of speech in which a

thing or concept is not called by
its own name, but by the name of
something intimately associated
with it.
13. Metonymy

Example: Let me give you a hand.

14. Onomatopoeia

The use of words that imitate the

sounds associated with the objects or
actions they refer to.
Example: The clap of thunder went
bang and scared my poor dog.
15. Oxymoron

– a figure of speech which uses

two contradictory words in a
sentences.
Examples: original copies
pretty ugly
16. Paradox

A statement that appears to

contradict itself.
Example: The child is the father of
the man.
17. Personification

-a figure of speech in which the

human characteristics are being
attributed to inanimate objects.
Example: The trees danced as the
wind blew cold breeze.
18. Pun

- play of words.
Example: A bicycle can’t stand on its
own because it’s two-tired.
19. Simile
1
-comparing two unlike things.
–often introduced the words “like” or
“as”.
Example: He’s as handsome as his
father.
20. Synecdoche

– part of something that represents a

whole.
Examples: ten brilliant minds – ten
intelligent people
21. Understatement

- a figure of speech used by the

writer or speaker to make a
situation less important or serious
than it actually is.
Example: Typhoon Yolanda injured at
least hundreds of residents.
22. Allegory

- is a figure of speech in which

abstract ideas and principles are
described in terms of characters,
figures, and events.
22. Allegory

Example: “Animal Farm” by

George Orwell. It uses animals on
a farm to describe the overthrow
of the last Russian ruler.