The table of stylistic devices
Phonetic stylistic devices
Name of a stylistic
device
Alliteration
Assonance
Onomatopoeia
Paronomasia
Definition and classification
Repetition of similar consonant sounds at the beginning of
words or stressed syllables. Function: to impart a melodic
effect, to serve as a musical accompaniment.
Repeating of similar stressed vowel sounds in successive
words. Function: to give some aesthetic environment to
the idea.
Combination of speech sounds that imitates the real
sounds produced in nature, by things, by people, by
animals. Function: to demonstrate the acoustic picture.
Classification:
1. Direct (words imitating sounds)
2. Indirect (making the sound of the utterance an
echo of its sense)
Co-occurrence of paronyms (simil. in sound, diff. in
meaning)
3 manifestations by L. Minaeva:
 Pun
 Malopropism (misuse to sound clever)
 Folk etymology
Examples
1. Now or never
2. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper
1. Every effort employed
2. Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze… (W.
Wordworth “Daffodils”)
1. Birr, bang, clap, moo
2. And falling and crawling and sprawling (the
sound of the waterfall in R. Southey’s poem)
1. "Your children need your presence more than
your presents." (Jesse Jackson)
2. British Empire – Brutish Empire
3. Oh, I’m quite analyzed (inst. of paralyzed)
4. Legatees – leg-at-ease
Graphical stylistic devices
Name of a stylistic
device
Emphatic use of
punctuation
Definition and classification
Punctuation used to reflect emphatic intonation of the
speaker. Exclamatory, interrogative marks; dashes,
commas, suspension mark; full stops; inverted commas;
absence of punctuation.
Function: conveying the emotional colouring of the text,
Examples
1. Please – not that!
2. Emoticons - :)
Graphon
its atmosphere (f.e. hesitation)
Intentional violation of the accepted spelling of a word.
1. people – peepul
Function: to reflect its authentic pronunciation.
2. N-no!
1) temporary graphon (tender age, intoxication, ignorance 3. I open to a blank page and scrawl my now-familiar
of discussed topic, overemotional state)
plea of desperation: "I NEED YOUR HELP"
2) permanent graphon (social, territorial, educational
background and by speech defects)
1.
Change of spelling
a) Multiplicaaaaaation
b) H-y-p-h-e-n-a-t-i-o-n
c) S p a c e d l e t t e r s
d) D-doubling
2.
Change of print
a) Italics
b) Bold
c) CAPITALIZATION
New ways:
1) mix of alphabets
2) substitution by numbers
1) Zемфира
2) Cul8r
Stylistic morphology
Name of a stylistic
device
Expressivity of affixes
Synonymy of morphemes
Definition and classification

Prefixes: contrast, negation, absence of qual. (a-,
de-, mis, in-, un-)
 Suffixes:
1. Diminutive
2. Negative meaning
3. – ish (small degree, reluctance, irritation,
approximateness)
1. Gram. meaning of plurality
2. Distinction b/w literal and subliteral norms
3. Indication of a particular functional style
4. ‘Elegant variations’ (avoid repetition)
Examples
1. Lassie, oldie
2. Drunkard, weirdo.
3. Childish, at fourish
1.
2.
3.
4.
Oxen, boxes
John here? Or Dunno
Brethren - brother
Shakespeare’s plays - plays of Shakespeare
Grammatical transposition
Stylistic potential of parts
of speech
5.
6.
1.
2.
National variations of Eng
Emolinguistics (emotional impact)
From one part of speech to another
From one category into another (number,
person, case, gender)
3. From one class to another
1. Noun
a. Abstract noun naming individual
b. Substantivisation
c. Pl noun instead of sg
d. Sg noun instead of plural
e. Category of gender
f. Category of case
2. Article
a. Determination
b. Indetermination
c. Absence of articles
3. Pronoun
a. Personal pronoun (generalized meaning, plural of
majesty/modesty/humility)
b. Possessive pronoun (no possession in fact)
c. Demonstrative pronoun (not single out, but express
emotions)
d. Indefinite pronoun
4. Adjective
Nonstandard use of degree of comparison
5. Verb
a. Historical present (for events that happened in the
past)
b. “Ungrammatical” tense
c. Violation of subject-predicate agreement
6. Adverb
Transposition from one part of speech to another
5. At the corner (Br) – on the corner (Am)
6. I’ll – I will (negative meaning)
1. Listen, my sweet (substantivisation)
2. Reading books instead of working; earth –
she; love’s first snowdrop; governor –
governess
3. You lazy dog
1. a. The old oddity
b. Listen, my sweet
c. Reading books instead of working?
d. This is what the student is supposed to know.
e. Poet-poetess
f. law of my country-my country’s law
2. a. You are not the Andrew Manson I married
b. I will never marry a Malone or a Sykes (Ch.
Bronte)
c. Post here yet?
3.
a. You/they/one never know/ We, Charles the Second
b. Take your precious Robert away from my house!
c. It was Robert Ackly, this guy, that roomed right
next to me (Salinger)
d. Some kind of expert you are!
4. You cannot be deader than the dead (Hemigway)
5. a. Mary Lennox is an orphan who is sent to live with
her uncle at gloomy Misselthwaite Manor.
b. She don’t/I hears
c. There is lots of cars in the car park.
d. Is it that funny?
6. Don’t be that silly!
Stylistic semasiology
Name of a stylistic
device
Epithet
Definition and classification
Based on interplay of emotive and logical meanings in
attributive word, phrase or sentence. Function: to
characterize the object and to give individual evaluation.
Classification:
Structural types of epithet:
1. Word-epithet
2. Compound (compound adjective)
3. Two-step (adverb + adjective)
4. Syntactical (2 words linked by preposition “of”)
5. Phrase-epithet
6. Sentence-epithet
Distributional patterns:
1. Single
2. A pair of epithets
3. A chain of epithets
Semantic classification:
1. Affective (= emotive proper)
2. Transferred (figurative)
Examples
1. Wild wind
2. Weather-beaten face
3. A marvelously radiant smile
4. A devil of a job
5. Oh-so-comfortable-car
6. Fool!
1. A dry look
2. A wonderful and happy summer
3. The wonderful, cruel, enchanting, bewildering,
fatal, great city;
1. Gorgeous, nasty, magnificent
2. A sleepless pillow, cold and starry Christmas eve
Paradigmatic semasiology
1. Figures of replacement
1.1 Figures of quantity
Name of a stylistic
device
Hyperbole
(overstatement)
Meiosis (understatement)
Definition and classification
Deliberate exaggeration of a feature essential to the object
or phenomenon. Function: emphasis.
Can be subdivided into:
1. Simple
2. developed
Implies saying less than one means. The size, the shape,
Examples
1. He walked miles of streets.
2. She lived in the narrowest house in New York. (J.
S. Foer)
1. The lottery winner was just a little excited.
Litotes
dimensions, characteristic features are intentionally
underestimated.
Functions: ironic emphasis, politeness, modesty.
(It is a specific structural type of meiosis): the
understatement is achieved with the negation of the
contrary. Function: create the effect of strong feeling, to
express the positive idea in a less categorical way.
1. 2 negative elements
 negative particles no/not/ less + negative affix
 no/not + preposition without
2. negation of the antonym of the idea to be
expressed
2. This looks like a good bite.
1. Not unlikely
2. Not without love
1. It was no easy task (=difficult)
2. Figures of quality
2.1 Transfer based on similarity (Metaphoric group)
Name of a stylistic
device
Metaphor
Definition and classification
Two different objects are simultaneously brought to mind
as a result of transference of some quality from one object
to another, is based upon analogy, visible similarity. It is a
hidden comparison.
According to the degree of unexpectedness:
1. trite/hackneyed
2. genuine (original)
Structural classification:
1. simple/elementary
2. sustained/extended
Cognitive approach:
1. military metaphoric model (sport events described
using war voc.)
2. morbial metaphoric model (social problems –
symptoms of disease)
3. theatrical metaphoric model (politicians – actors)
4. zoomorphic metaphoric model
Examples
1. A ray of hope, time flies
2. She is a flower
1. A footballer shoots low
2. The virus is spreading
4.You are such a pig!
Personification
A subtype of metaphor which consists in attributing
human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.
Apostrophe
Closely related to personification. Addressing someone
absent or smth non-human as if it were alive and present.
A short reference to specific places, persons, characters,
events known to the recipient. Function: helps to enhance
the subject, to economize linguistic means.
Sources:
- The Bible
- The Greek mythology
- Literary sources
- History, geography, culture
Based on interaction of logical and nominal meanings of a
word. Two basic types:
1. The use of a proper name instead of a common noun (a
variety of allusion):
a) metaphoric (name of a fam.pers. for quality)
b) metonymic
2. The use of a common noun with the function of a proper
name (speaking name)
Allusion
Antonomasia
1. If you can dream and not make dreams your
master (Kipling)
2. The face of London
1. My love, why have you left me alone?
1.
2.
3.
4.
King Solomon
See an Aphrodite in the mirror!
A new Cinderella is born.
The dollar is sinking like the Titanic
1. Is he smart? – Why, the man is an Einstein! (very
intelligent)
2. He bought 5 Cézannes (painting by Cézannes)
1. Cruella, Mr. Cellophane
2. When I eventually met Mr. Right I had no idea
that his first name was Always. (Rita Rudner)
2.2 Transfer based on contiguity (Metonymic group)
Name of a stylistic
device
Metonymy
Definition and classification
Examples
Referring to a concept by its feature, quality, and
1. Will you have another cup?/ Let me give you a hand
characteristic. What is named is closely connected with the 2. Definitely, the moustache and I had nothing in
subject implied, but it may not be an actual part of it.
common (= that man with moustache)
Based on real connection.
1.
Genuine
2.
Trite
Types of relations:
1. A concrete thing for an abstract notion
1. The sword (= the war)
2. A container instead of thing contained
2. The hall applauded (= the spectators)
3. The relation of proximity
3. Hollywood (American film industry)
4. The material instead of thing made of it
5. The tool instead of the action
6. Result instead of reason
7. Characteristic feature instead of person
8. Name of the inventor instead of the object invented
9. Weight for amount
10. Smth that man possesses instead of himself
Synecdoche
Periphrasis
Circumlocution
Euphemism
The most primitive part of metonymy, which is based on
the relations between the part and the whole.
Types:
1. the part stands for the whole
2. the whole stands for the part
3. the class for the individual
4. the individual stands for the class
It is a descriptive phrase or sentence substituting a oneword denomination of an object, phenomenon.
2 types of periphrasis:
1. Dictionary/traditional/trite
2. Stylistic (original):
a) logical
b) figurative (pres.by metaphor and metonymy)
Function: convey a purely individual perception of the
object.
Too round-about way of speaking about common things,
using more words than necessary. Fault of style.
It implies the social practice of replacing an unpleasant or
tabooed word or expression by a conventionally more
acceptable one.
Galperin’s spheres of application: religious, moral,
medical. Others: ethnic identity, sizism, physical defects,
gender, professions.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
The maid was cleaning silver (= spoons, forks)
The sword is the worst argument (= the attack)
Don’t ask Joy unless you want a new set of teeth
Blue suit grinned
I’m fond of Dickens (= his books)
A few hundred pounds for 20-dollars bills ought
to solve that problem nicely
10. She married money
1.
Who’s behind the wheel? (= car)
2.
Get in here this minute or I’ll spank your body (=
rear end)
3.
There sits my animal (= dog)
4.
It is sure hard to earn a dollar these days (=
money)
1. Daughters of Eve (women), City of Light (Paris)
2. An instrument of destruction (= pistols)
3. Improvements of truths (= lies)
In view of the fact that (= because)
1. you-know-where (hell)
2. armed conflict (war)
2.3 Transfer based on contrast
Name of a stylistic
Definition and classification
Examples
device
Irony
Antiphrasis
Astheism
Discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. It is
based on simultaneous realization of 2 logical meanings:
contextual meaning of a word is opposite to its dictionary
meaning.
Praise stands for blame
- Verbal irony
According to Skrebnev there are 2 types of ironic
utterances:
1. Phrases with only ironical message.
2. Phrases that can be understood literally or ironically.
 Sustained irony (created by a number of
statements throughout the text)
One-word irony
1.
A fine friend you are!/Guess today's my lucky
day/ "I just don't deserve you!" (Beauty and the Beast)
2.
But, of course, we know, he is a rich man, a
millionare!
1. Come here, Tiny.
2. It’s a cool 90 degrees in the shade.
1. Clever bastard!
A much rare case of verbal irony; curse, rude, accusing
words are used approvingly. Blame stands for praise
Syntagmatic semasiology
1. Figures of co-occurrence
1.1 Figures of identity
Name of a stylistic
device
Simile
Definition and classification
An imaginative explicit comparison of 2 unlike objects
belonging to 2 different classes but possessing some
feature in common. (not a logical comparison)
Elements:
- A pair of objects
- A connective
a) Conjunction (like, as if,…)
b) Affix (-wise, -like)
c) Verbs and verbal phrases (to seem, to resemble)
(=a disguised simile (V. Kuharenko)
Types:
Examples
1. As strong as a horse, as steady as time
2. She seemed nothing more than a doll
Synonymous replacement
1. trite/hackneyed (clichés)
2. genuine simile
Function: to avoid repetition
a boy, a kid, a child
1.2 Figures of contrast
Name of a stylistic
device
Oxymoron
Antithesis
Definition and classification
Сombination of 2 words in which their meanings clash
being opposite in sense. It is a paradox reduced to 2
words.
Structural types of oxymoron:
1. adjective + noun
2. adverb + adjective
3. verb + adverb
An active confrontation of ideas, notions, and qualities in
the parts of one sentence or in different sentences used to
demonstrate the contradictory nature of the referent.
Classification (V. Kuharenko):
1. Morphological
2. Lexical proper (exp.by antonyms)
3. Developed
Examples
1. sad joy
2. horribly beautiful
3. to cry silently
1. overworked and underpaid
2. One small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind.
3. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it
was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…
1.3 Figures of inequality
Name of a stylistic
device
Pun
Definition and classification
Play upon words based on the interaction of 2 well-known
meanings of a word or phrase (free and phraseological, 2
meanings of homonyms, 2 meanings of polysemantic
word, etc).
2 types of pun (Skrebnev):
1. calembour – linguistic word is not repeated, there is
only 1 utterance which has 2 meanings;
2. quibble – 2 contiguous utterances in which 2 completely
Examples
1. Is life worth living? – It depends on the liver.
(calembour)
2. Do you serve crabs here? – We serve anyone.
(quibble)
Zeugma
Semantically false chain
Decomposition of
phraseological units
different meanings of the same unit are actualized.
Semantic essence of pun can be based on various linguistic
phenomena:
1. polysemy
2. homonymy
3. paronymy
4. spoonerism (transposition of initial letters)
5. folk/false/children’s etymology
It is a figure of speech in which a single word, usually a
verb or an adjective, is syntactically related to 2 words
(different subjects or objects), but has a different sense in
relation to each.
A chain of homogeneous members semantically
disconnected which belong to non-related semantic fields
but is linked to the same kernel (more than 2 components)
Figurative meaning of the set unit is lost, each component
of the combination acquires its literal meaning, which
provides humorous effect.
Types of decomposition:
QUANTITATIVE
1. clipping – omitting an element of a phraseological unit
2. extension – adding other components
3. contamination – combining 2 or more phraseological
expressions and blending them into one new phrase
QUALITATIVE
4. substitution – replacement of a key word by a
contextually more appropriate word
a.
by a contextually more appropriate word
b.
by a paronyms
c.
by a homonym
d.
by an antonym
e.
by a synonym
5. misplacement of key-words – change in the original
word order
6. double actualization – the set phrase is used in its
conventional form and simultaneously possesses not only
transferred meaning but also the literal meaning.
1. He took his hat and his leave
2. Time and her aunt moved slowly
1. My grandfather was English, military and longnosed.
1.
Sheep or wolf?
2.
It was raining cats and dogs, and two kittens and
a puppy landed on my window-sill.
3.
He never spared the rod or spoiled the broth
(spare the rod and spoil the child, too many cooks spoil
the broth.
4.
Examples
a.
He came. He sang. He conquered.
b.
Bride and prejudice.
c.
Sew much more
d.
Eyes wide shut.
e.
Guilded Age
5.
Gain without pain (no pain, no gain)
6.
Cat got your tongue.
Stylistic syntax
1. Figures based on compression
Name of a stylistic
device
Ellipsis
Absence of auxiliary
elements
Apokoinu construction
Aposiopesis
Asyndeton
Nominative sentences
(one-member)
Definition and classification
Examples
The omission of the obligatory parts of a sentence.
Elliptical sentence - a sentence with either the subject or
the predicate or both major sentence components left out.
So-called ‘operators’ are omitted.
1. Were they interesting books? – Don’t know. Haven’t
read them.
The omission of the relative pronoun between the main
and the subordinate clauses.
A sudden intentional break in the narration or dialogue.
The speaker leaves the sentence unfinished.
Absence of conjunctions. It is a connection between parts
of sentence/sentences without any formal sign.
Comprises only one principal part expressed by a noun or
a noun equivalent.
1. I’m the first one saw her.
1. Lucky you!; You deaf?
1. Don’t you do this, or…
2. Well, I lay if I get hold of you I’ll— (M. Twain)
1. He came. He saw. He conquered.
Nonsense!
Help!
2. Figures based on redundancy
Name of a stylistic
device
Morphological repetition
Lexical repetition
Syntactical repetition
Definition and classification
Repetition of one and the same morpheme providing a
specific stylistic effect:
a) root repetition (adds to the semantic significance of a
particular word);
b) affix repetition
Repetition of identical units with no fixed structure:
a) Polysyndeton (excessive use of conjunctions and
prepositions).
b) Pleonasm (lexical tautology) (repetition of the same
idea in different words)
a) Syntactical tautology (prolepsis) implies recurrence of
Examples
1. Murmuring voices, murmuring faces.
2. The everyday practice of boiling, scrubbing, buffing
and wiping.
1. They looked conspicuous and cheap and charming.
2. We heard it with our own ears, I myself personally.
1. My maid Mary, she minds her business.
Lexico-syntactical
repetition
the noun subject in the form of the corresponding
personal pronoun
b) Anticipatory use of the personal pronoun (structurally
opposed to prolepsis)
c) Parallelism (implies identity of structures of 2 or more
successive clauses or sentences)
- complete ( identical structures of two or more successive
clauses or sentences)
- partial (the repeated sentence pattern may vary)
- reversed (chiasmus)
Function: contributes to the rhythmic and melodic
unification of sentences, to emphasize)
a) Anaphora (repetition of the same word (group of
words) at the beginning of the successive clauses, phrases,
sentences)
It is combined with parallelism and gradation
b) Epiphora (repetition of the same word (group of words)
in the end of clauses, sentences, phrases)
c) Symploce (mix of anaphora and epiphora)
d) Framing (recurrence of one and the same unit at the
beginning and at the end of sentence or paragraph)
e) Anadiplosis/catch-repetition (repetition of the last
word of one phrase/clause at the beginning of the next one
f) Chain-repetition (sequence of catch-repetitions), often
combined with gradation
g) Chiasmus (Reversed parallelism. Consists of 2
sentences, the second repeating the structure of the first in
reversed manner)
2. Oh, it’s a fine life, the life of the gutter.
3. She was singing. He was dancing. (complete)
4. She was dancing. She was happy. (partial)
1.
She stroked her cat very slowly, very smoothly,
very tenderly.
2.
Try it. Feel it. Believe it.
3. Much of what I say might sound bitter, but it’s the
truth. Much of what I say might sound like it’s stirring
up trouble, but it’s the truth. Much of what I say might
sound like it is hate, but it’s the truth.
4.
We will do it, I tell you; we will do it.
5.
Discipline is necessary to maintain order, order
is necessary to prevent anarchy.
6.
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might
make her know, knowledge might pity win, and pity
grace obtain.
7.
I love my love, my love loves me.
3. Figures based on redistribution
Name of a stylistic
device
Inversion
Definition and classification
Examples
Upsetting of the logical order of words displaying sentence 1. Talent Mr. Micawber has.
components, shifting certain sentence component to the
2. Very calmly I tried to trike the match
front position of the sentence.
3. A good generous player it was
Detachment
Parcellation
Anacoluthon
Retardation
Enumeration
Suspense
Gradation (= climax)
Types of stylistic inversion:
1. Partial (secondary sentence components are placed in
the initial position before subject + predicate structure)
- direct object
- adverbial modifier
- predicative
2. Complete (predicate or predicative with link-verb is
placed before the subject)
3. Secondary (Kuharenko) (direct word-order in Yes/Noquestions)
Seemingly independent part of the sentence that carries
some additional information (construction is separated
from the rest of the sentence by means of dashes, brackets,
commas). Function: present additional important
information, give details)
Dividing the structurally complete sentence into separate
parts by means of intonation and graphically by full stops.
Syntactical construction which implies beginning a
sentence in one way and continuing with a different gram.
structure
Inability to express the idea logically and coherently,
characterized by abundance of emotional pauses
graphically marked by dashes and suspension marks, by
the use of time-fillers, by shifts of one subject matter to
another.
Homogeneous parts of the utterance are made
semantically heterogeneous; it involves a clash of
concepts, of different layers of vocabulary, of logical
semantic centers. Function: serves to create dynamic
rhythmical environment, tension.
Withdrawing the most important information or idea till
the end of the sentence, passage or text.
Function: to keep a reader in a state of uncertainty and
expectation.
Arrangement of units of meanings with increase in their
emotional tension and significance.
Types of gradation:
4. Very pleasant was their day
5. You know him?
1. He wasn’t much of a business man – too
emotional.
1. I need to beg you for money. Daily.
1. And I have to say – Oh, never mind.
1. Er – I – er am seeking your daughter’s hand.
2. Sorry, sorry, sorry, mate, I’m the problem, I think
I’m the problem, such a problem. ... (movie
“Shine”)
1. The open spaces, the hot sun, the sense of
freedom.
1.
I know that I had been a sanguine, brilliant, careless,
exacting, handsome, romping child – though equally
dependent and friendless – Mrs. Reed would have endured
my presence more complacently.
1. A storm is coming. A hurricane. A deluge.
2. Little by little, bit by bit, and day by day, and year by
year... (Ch. Dickens)
Back-gradation
Anti-climax (= bathos)
1. Logical (based on relative importance of concepts
expressed) (can be sunjective)
2. Emotional (based on emotional tension produced by
words with emotive meaning)
3. Quantitative (increase in the volume of corresponding
concepts)
arrangements of words, clauses, sentences so that
importance is gradually decreasing
Sudden transposition in discourse from a serious, lofty or
elevated idea to a trivial, commonplace idea.
3. I was mad, crazy, insane.
4. I do not regret, I do not call, I do not cry (S. A. Esenin)
5. Hours, days, weeks pass by.
6. I let a day slip by without seeing her, then three, a
whole week once.
1. Not a word, Sam, not a syllable!
1. This was appalling – and soon forgotten.
4. Figures based on transposition
Name of a stylistic
device
Rhetorical questions
Quasi-affirmative
sentences
Quasi-negative sentences
Represented speech
(несобственно-прямая
речь)
Definition and classification
Reshaping the grammatical meaning of the interrogative
sentence. The question is no longer a question expecting
an answer, but a statement expressed in the form of
interrogative sentence.
Rhetorical question containing a negative predicate but
presupposing a positive answer:
1. Negative YES/NO- questions
2. Negative wh-questions
Rhetorical question with affirmative predicate, but it
implies negative idea:
1. YES/NO-question
2. Wh-question
3. Who-question
Mixture of author’s words and words of the character.
Combination of lexical and syntactical peculiarities of colloquial
speech allowing the writer to lead the reader to the inner workings.
1. Uttered (serves to show the mental reproduction of a
once uttered remark)
2. Unuttered (serves to show the character’s thinking)
Questions-in-the-narrative Questions asked by literary character in his inner
representative speech.
Examples
1. When did I lie to you?
2. Who wouldn’t tell them everything? (A. Huxsley)
1. Don’t I remember?
2. Isn’t that too bad? (That is too bad)
3. Why would I not understand?
1. Did I say a word about the money?
2. When did I lie to you?
3. What use is he there and what’s the good of their
banks? (Jerome)
4. Who are you to judge me?
1.
Could he bring a reference from where he now
was? He could. (Th. Dreiser)
3.
"Over and over he was asking himself: would she
receive him? would she recognize him? what should he
say to her?"
1. Did I even notice this?