IDENTIFYING LANGUAGE FEATURES
Figures of Speech
Since ancient times, the figures of speech
have served three main purposes:
• to instruct and entertain people through the
play of language,
• to persuade people of the truth or value of the
message that a figure conveys, and
• to help people remember both the meaning of
the message and its figurative expression.
Figures of Speech
Using a particular device, or trick, with
language in order to make it more
interesting
• To analyze and appreciate the craft of
the writers
• To comment on passages on the exam
• To study literature
Figures of Speech
• Images/resemblance
• Sound
• Contradictions
• Others
Figures of Speech
IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Personification
IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE
Simile
This food tastes like garbage.
He’s as cool as a cucumber.
practice
as _____as a cucumber
to _____ like a fish
as _____ as a lamb
to _____ like a bird
as _____ as a bat
to _____ like a horse
as _____ as a doornail
to _____ like a chimney
IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE
Simile
I could hear Armanda’s voice above the
rest: her laughter was like that of an
overtired child. Sprinkled across the
water’s edge, the lanterns and candles
looked like Chistmas light.
IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE
Simile
I could hear Armanda’s voice above the rest: her laughter was
like that of an overtired child. Sprinkled across the water’s edge,
the lanterns and candles looked like Christmas light.
Her laughter was like that of an overtired child is a
simile.
Armanda is an old lady. Not a child, and the simile
suggests that Armanda has had such a wonderful time
that she felt like a little girl again.
IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE
Simile
I could hear Armanda’s voice above the rest: her laughter was
like that of an overtired child. Sprinkled across the water’s edge,
the lanterns and candles looked like Chistmas light.
The lanterns and candles looked like Chistmas light is
the second simile.
This is effective because it suggests how bright and
sparkling the lanterns were, and it adds to the party
atmosphere as Christmas is a time of celebration.
Simile and Metaphor
Simile
Richard fought as fiercely as a loin.
Metaphor
Richard was a lion in the fight.
Simile
The waves broke on the shore with noise like a
thunder.
Metaphor
The waves thundered on the shore.
IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE
Metaphor
IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE
Metaphor
The school was a prison for him.
The school shares certain characteristics
with prisons.
It is probable that the person referred to
as ‘him’ feels locked up in school, as
prisoners do in prison.
practice
Do the following analysis with a friend. Write down
your analysis in your notebook.
IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE
Metaphor
Analyze the metaphor in the following sentence.
Rice is nourished by water, earth and wind
and transforms into gold.
IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE
Metaphor
Rice is nourished by water, earth and wind
and transforms into gold.
Transforms into gold is a metaphor. Rice is a plant and
becomes a food, and people do not eat gold. However,
people value gold so the metaphor suggests that rice is
valuable because without food we die.
IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE
Personification
practice
IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE
Personification
It has two distinguishable forms:
1. when personality is ascribed to the inanimate:
"The mountains sing together,
the hills rejoice and clap their hands."
2. when some quality of life is attributed to the
inanimate:
a raging storm, an angry sea, a whistling wind, etc.
practice
Do the following analysis with a friend. Write down
your analysis in your notebook.
IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE
Personification
Analyze the personification in the following
text.
Rice demands the sweat of man. In return,
the earth gives birth to grain that is
valuable and precious for human life.
IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE
Personification
Rice demands the sweat of man. In return,
the earth gives birth to grain that is
valuable and precious for human life.
The earth gives birth is an example of personification as
giving birth is a human (or animal) activity, and the
earth cannot give birth. The writer wants to stress the
life-giving qualities of the cultivated earth and the rice
it produces.
Figures of Speech
• Images/resemblance
• Sound
• Contradictions
• Others
Figures of Speech
SOUND
• Onomatopoeia
• Alliteration
SOUND
Onomatopoeia
"Brrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinng! An alarm clock
clanged in the dark and silent room."
(Richard Wright, Native Son, 1940)
practice
Look at the following picture for one minute.
Write what you remember, the word and the picture,
in your notebook.
SOUND
Onomatopoeia
Analyze the onomatopoeia in the following
text.
There was a loud clatter as dustbins were
blown in the alleyway. Somewhere in the
distance, a dog was howling.
SOUND
Onomatopoeia
There was a loud clatter as dustbins were
blown in the alleyway. Somewhere in the
distance, a dog was howling.
‘Clatter’ is an example of onomatopoeia. It seems to
copy the loud and strident sounds of the metal hitting
the ground, the sound made by the dog ‘howling’ is
also onomatopoeia. It has two syllables and a long ow
sound; these add to the effect that noise made by the
dog is prolonged.
SOUND
Alliteration
She sells seashells down by the seashore.
"The soul selects her own society.“
(Emily Dickinson)
SOUND
Alliteration
In clichés:
sweet smell of success
a dime a dozen
bigger and better
jump for joy
the more the merrier
practice
In your notebook, write a sentence with alliteration.
Exchange your book with a friend, memorize your
friend’s sentence with alliteration. Present it to class.
practice
Do the following analysis with a friend. Write down
your analysis in your notebook.
SOUND
Alliteration
Analyze the alliteration in the following text.
In the little girl’s pocket, wrapped in a
crunched-up piece of pale paper, was a
rotting apple, brown and bruised.
SOUND
Alliteration
In the little girl’s pocket, wrapped in a
crunched-up piece of pale paper, was a
rotting apple, brown and bruised.
‘Pale paper’ is an example of alliteration in the
representation of the letter ‘p’. As this is a abruptly
stopped sound (called plosive) it is appropriate that it
should be used in alliteration as something rigid and
crunchy is being described. The second example is
‘brown and bruised’. Again, hard sounds are used, and
this is appropriate as something unpleasant and
therefore harsh to the senses is being described.
Figures of Speech
• Images/resemblance
• Sound
• Contradictions
• Others
Figures of Speech
CONTRADICTION
• Contrast/antithesis
• Oxymoron
Speech is silver,
but Silence is gold.
CONTRADICTION
Contrast/antithesis
‘I want to move with all deliberate haste.’
Barrack Obama
Too black for heaven,
and yet too white for hell.
practice
With a partner, think a situation when you can use this .
CONTRADICTION
Contrast/antithesis
Analyze the contrast/antithesis in the following
sentence.
It was the best of times, it was the worst
of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was
the age of foolishness … it was the spring
of hope, it was the winter of despair.
Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities
CONTRADICTION
Contrast/antithesis
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it
was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness …
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair
The ideas of ‘best’ and ‘worst’ are contrasted as are the
ideas of ‘wisdom’ and ‘foolishness’. There is a double
contrast in the third item, between ‘spring’ and ‘winter’
and ‘hope’ and ‘despair’. The writer is being
contradictory and rather mysterious as if the period
being described is problematic. The effect is to engage
attention and make the readers want to read more.
CONTRADICTION
Oxymoron
"A joke is a very serious thing.“
Winston Churchill
CONTRADICTION
Oxymoron
Random order
Genuine imitation
Clearly confused
Terribly good
Constant change
Numb sensation
Growing small
Recent history
Typically unusual
Act naturally
practice
CONTRADICTION
Oxymoron
Analyze the oxymoron in the following sentence.
… the star turn in the schoolroom was a
massive sandy-haired Highland Major whose
subject was ‘the spirit of the beyond’ (a
weapon). He spoke with homicidal eloquence,
keeping his talk alive with genial and welljudged jokes.
Siegfried Sassoon Memoirs of an Infantry Officer
CONTRADICTION
Oxymoron
… the star turn in the schoolroom was a massive sandy-haired
Highland Major whose subject was ‘the spirit of the beyond’
(a weapon). He spoke with homicidal eloquence, keeping his
talk alive with genial and well-judged jokes.
Whose subject was ‘the spirit of the beyond’ shows the
major is comfortable with killing people in war and possibly
derives satisfaction from it, therefore it is appropriate to
describe him as ‘homicidal’. Because he knows his subject
well enough to be lecturing on it, he is also ‘eloquent’. We
can see the lecturer enjoys both killing and talking about it;
his love for killing makes him want to pass on his enthusiasm
to others
Figures of Speech
• Images/resemblance
• Sound
• Contradictions
• Others
Figures of Speech
OTHERS
• Irony
• Rhetorical question
• Repetition
• Pun
• Euphemism
• Hyperbole
Irony
Irony
Verbal Irony
Dramatic Irony
Situational Irony
Irony
Verbal Irony
"But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he
was going to start a band of robbers, and I might
join if I would go back to the widow and be
respectable" ~ Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by
Mark Twain.
These lines convey verbal irony as band of robbers are
in general, not respectable! So, it is ironic that Huck has
to return to the widow to join the group.
Irony
Dramatic Irony
In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, dramatic
irony is reflected when Romeo kills himself after
he finds Juliet sleeping under the influence of
drugs and assuming that she is dead.
The irony is that upon awakening Juliet finds
Romeo dead and kills herself.
Irony
Situational Irony
"Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink."
In this case, there is salty sea water everywhere in
abundance but there is hardly any water to drink, that
is required for basic survival.
Irony
Situational Irony
The firehouse burned down.
Even the police station was robbed.
The teacher failed her test!
practice
With a partner, analyze the following irony,
and write a similar ironic situation.
Irony
Analyze the irony in the following sentence.
The boss threw my report across the room
at me. ‘I can see you spent hours on that
piece of work,’ she snarled.
Irony
The boss threw my report across the room at
me. ‘I can see you spent hours on that piece of
work,’ she snarled.
It is clear that the boss’s actions and tone of the voice
that she does not think that the employee spent very
long on the work at all and that it is in fact a poor
effort. The boss uses the expression ‘spent hours’
ironically to be indirectly critical of the employee.
Figures of Speech
OTHERS
• Irony
• Rhetorical question
• Repetition
• Pun
• Euphemism
• Hyperbole
IDIOM
practice
With a partner, analyze the following idioms.
IDIOM
Analyze the idiom in the following sentence.
I’m over the moon to have Miss Smith as
my Maths teacher.
IDIOM
I’m over the moon to have Miss Smith as my
Maths teacher.
Over the moon expresses the writer’s happiness about
the teacher. The moon does not have any literal place
in what she says. The writer is using an informal, and
rather overused, idiomatic expression which is
peculiar to English.
P
R
O J
E C T
Figures of Speech
• Images/resemblance
• Sound
• Contradictions
• Others
FIGURES OF SPEECH
IDENTIFY
AND COMMENT