Figures of Speech
By Lucy Liu
一、simile
It is a comparison between two distinctly
different things which are similar at least
in one aspect and the comparison is
indicated by the word as or like.
Eg: That man can’t be trusted. He’s as
slippery as an eel.
The old man’s hair is as white as snow.
1.1The components of simile
☆tenor or subject vehicle or reference
comparative word or indicator of
resemblance
Eg: My love is like a red red rose.
☆Tenor and vehicle are two things of
different categories..
Eg: John is as tall as his father.
John is as tall as a Maypole.
1.2The types of simile
1.21 like ---- a. to be + like
b. v. + like
eg: Living without an aim is like sailing
without a compass.
Records fell like ripe apples on a windy
day.
They will never be able to save money to
buy a new house--- they both spend money
like water.
1.22As ---preposition ---- as ….as….and
as….so …..
Eg: He arose joint by joint, as a carpenter’s
ruler opens, and beat the dust from his
clothes.
As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good
news from a far country.
As the lion is king of beasts , so is the eagle
king of birds.
My brain was as powerful as a dynamo, as
precise as a chemist’s scales, as
penetrating as a scalpel.
1.23 Subjunctive mood----as if , as though
Eg: My handwriting looks as if a swarm of ants,
escaping from an ink bottle , had walked over a
sheet of paper without wiping their legs.
A crowd of people pressed around him, touching his
body ,felt his legs , and bid for him as if he has
been a horse.
1.24What ------A is to B what X is to Y
What X is to Y , (that) A is to B.
Eg: Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the
body.
What salt is to food, that wit and humor are to
conversation and literature.
1.25May (might) as well ….as
Eg: You might as well expect the sun to rise in
the west as hope to move me.
He woke them both up getting to bed, but when
they tried to wake him up afterwards they
might as well have tried to wake the dead.
1.26 Than
Eg: A fool can no more see his own folly than he
can see his ears.
A student can no more obtain knowledge without
studying than a farmer can get harvest without
ploughing.
He had no more idea of money than a cow.
1.26And
Eg: A word and a stone let go cannot
be recalled.
Love and cough can not be hid.
Truth and roses have thorns about
them.
Kings and bears often worry their
keepers.
二、metaphor
It is the use of a word which originally
denotes one thing to refer to another with
a similar quality. It is also a comparison,
but the comparison is implied, not
expressed with the word as or like. It is
also called compressed simile .
eg: The soldier was as brave as a lion in the
battle.
The soldier was a lion in the battle.
2.1 nouns are used metaphorically.
2.11A is B
Eg: All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women
merely players.
√Money is a bottomless sea, in which honor , conscience ,
and truth may e drowned.
√Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without
getting a few drops on yourself.
Money is the lens in a camera.
2.12 “…of….”
Eg: A policeman waved me out of the snake of traffic and
flagged me to stop.
He had a dim memory of wandering through a labyrinth of
sordid houses, of being lost in a giant of somber streets,
and it was bright dawn when he found himself at last in
Piccadilly Circus.
a/the +N1 +of +N2
A sea of trouble
A rain of bullets
A shower of stones
A box of house
a +N1 +of +a +N2
a flower of a girl
a fox of a man
2.2 verbs are used metaphorically.
Eg: The boy wolfed down the food the moment he
grabbed it.
The case snowballed into one of the most famous
trials in U.S. history.
√Some books are to be tasted , others swallowed ,
and some few to be chewed and digested.
He often prefaced his remarks by “ I can’t help
thinking….”
2.3adjectives are used metaphorically.
Eg: The mountainous waves swallowed up the ship .
I’ve got one of my Sahara thirsts on tonight.
By this hour the volcanic fires of his nature had
burnt down , and having drunk no great quantity as
yet he was inclined to acquiesce（默许）.
2.4 adverbs are used metaphorically.
Eg：The charcoal fire-glowed and
dimmed rhythmically to the strokes
of the bellows.
Attention: A metaphor or a simile
has to be fresh to be effective.
One that has been frequently
used over a long period of time
will become dull and stale, and
cease to function as a metaphor
or simile. “ the leg of a table” .
三、personification
It is to treat a thing or an idea as if it were human or had
human qualities. In poetry personification is very common.
Eg; Liquor talks mighty loud when it gets loose form the jar.
Slang is language that takes off its coat, spits on its hands,
and goes to work.
A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is
putting on its shoes.----Mark Twain
Mosquitoes were using my ankles for filling stations.
In November a cold , unseen stranger, whom the doctor
called Pneumonia , stalked about the colony , touching one
here and there with his icy fingers. Over on the east side
the ravager strode boldly , smiting his victims by scores.
四、Metonymy
It is substituting the name of one thing for that of another with
which it is closely associated. Such as the crown stand for a
king , and the White House for the American government , the
bottle for wine or alcohol , and the bar for the legal profession.
4.1 the typical feature for the common thing
eg: He wandered…. Slaying whatever of fur and feather came in his
way.
Have I in conquest stretch’d my arms so far
To be afeared to tell greybeards the truth?
--- ---William Shakespeare : Julius Caesar
Soapy stood still with his hands in his pockets and smiled at the
sight of brass buttons.
4.2 The tools for the doer or deed/ vice versa
Eg: The pen is mightier than the sword.
Sword and cross in hand , the European conqueror fell upon the
Americans.
4.3 The container for its content / vice versa
Eg: He has undoubtedly the best stable in the country.
Whenever my husband has a bad day at the office , he hits the
bottle.
By Jove , sir, I’ve pawned my own watch in order to get her
anything she fancied; and she—she’s been making a purse
for herself all the time , and grudged me a hundred pound
to get out of quod.
------William M. Thackeray: Vanity Fair
4.4The organ for the function ( of the body) / vice versa
Eg: The practiced ear can recognize a classic flavor.
She has the eye for the fair and the beautiful.
I have an opinion of you , sir , to which it is not easy to give
the mouth .
She was, to be sure, a girl who excited the emotions , but
I was not one to let my heart rule my head.
4.5 The person or animal for its feature
Eg: There is still much of the schoolboy in him.
The wolf and the pig mingled together in his
face.
He believed that Braynes whom he knew ---- a
bit of an old woman ---- was the young man’s
uncle by marriage.
There is a mixture of the tiger and the ape in
the character of a Frenchman .
4.6 The raw material for the finished products/ vice versa
Eg: The 25th Games in Barcelons saw 4 golds and 5
silvers in swimming fall into China’s pockets.
And as he pluck’d the cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Caesar followed……
---William Shakespeare : Julius Caesar
4.7
The writer for the works / vice versa
Eg: The captain….. had fallen in possession of a complete
Shakespeare.
Anton Rubinstein was renowned for his rendition of Tchaikovsky.
4.8 The concrete for the abstract / vice versa
Eg: The rather arresting spectacle of little old Japan adrift amid
beige concrete skyscrapers is the very symbol of the incessant
struggle between the kimono and the miniskirt.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return
unto the ground……
----- Holy Bible
See , from his hands, his head , his side , sorrow and love flow
mingled down .
It is a pity that there is more ignorance than knowledge in the
country.
All the wit and learning of the land assembled here .
There is a mixture of the tiger and the ape in the character of a
Frenchman .
五、 Synecdoche
When a part is substituted for the whole or the whole is substituted
for a part , synecdoche is applied.
Eg: The farm were short of hands during the harvest season.
Germany beat Argentina 2 to 1 in this exciting football match.
He spent all his uncle’s bread on wine and beer.
Attention: Metonymy and synecdoche are similar as both involve
substitution. Sometimes they can hardly be distinguished from
metaphor, which in a way is also substitution.
Eg: There is a mixture of the tiger and the ape in the character of a
Frenchman .
Frechman is the tiger and the ape.
六、Euphemism
6.1the disease ,handicapped ,death
*look off color
under the weather
not all there
long illness
social disease
emotionally
disturbed
*disabled ,
handicapped ,
inconvenienced
hard of hearing ,
auditory-impaired
sight-deprived ,
visually retarded
*
•
•
•
•
•
to die
go west
be at rest
be asleep in the Arms of
God
go the way of all flesh
join one’s ancestors
return to dust
breathe one’s last
pass away
run one’s race
be no longer with us
pay one’s debt to nature
• His time has come .
• His star has set .
• His number is up.
• He has met his end .
• He is resting in peace.
• He has gone west .
• He has gone/ gone to
heaven.
• He has breathe his last .
• He is sleeping with his
fathers .
• He has departed from life.
6.2About the body , pregnancy etc
• in the altogether
in a state of nature
in one’s birthday suit
• wash one’s hands
relieve oneself
get some fresh air
answer the call of
nature
• eating for two
swallow a watermelon
seed
learn all about diaper
folding
rehearsing lullabies
wear the apron high
6.3About the profession and social
problem
• shoetrician
garbologist
domestic engineer
aisle manager
chimney consultant
land architect
* crimes
• to steal : to hook ; to palm ;
to work the hole ; to walk
away with
• to rob: to clip ; to put the
arm on ; to break a jug
• to hit the pipe: to blow
snow ; to lie down ; to trip
out ; Lady Snow , joy
powder
•
to kill : to Ⅹ out ; to
disappear ; to die in a
necktie , to go cool.
6.4About the military and politics
• Air support
to pacify Adjustment of the front
eyes only
Energy release
DP
To knock doors
to misspeak
• Eg: 1) And , it being low water , he went out with the tide.
• 2) If you will allow me , I will call your carriage for you .
• 3) The boy used to take things without permission and has
just been out of the rehabilitation home in the country.
• 4) I’m afraid she can’t act that part ---- she is a little on
the plump side.
• 5) We had three main difficulties with regard to those
documents.
七、Hyperbole
Hyperbole is also called overstatement . In
overstatement the diction exaggeration
the subject.
Hyperbole is always divided into two parts :
Extended Hyperbole and Reduced
Hyperbole .
Eg: His eloquence would split rocks !
It is the last straw that breaks the
camel’s back.
7.1 with the numbers
eg: One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.
Splendid cheese they were , ripe and mellow , and with a two hundred
horse-power scent about them that might have warranted to carry
three miles , and knock a man over at two hindered yards .
------ J. K. Jerome
7.2 with the other words
eg: In its wake , budge cuts and food shortage have hit the new nation of
Russia--- and prices have shot out of this world.
It’s a crime to stay inside on such a beautiful day.
Falstaff : I was beaten myself into all the colors of rainbow……
-----Shakespeare : The Merry Wives of Winsor
Everyone bowed, including the Westerners. After three days in Japan ,
the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.
She has that everlasting rotation of tongue , that an echo must wait till
she dies before it can catch her last words.
It was the trial that rocked the world.
7.3With the subjunctive mood
Eg: Some movie stars wear their sunglasses even in
churches; they’re afraid God might recognize
them and ask for autograph.
And the fattest woman I have ever seen in my life
dozing in a straight-backed chair . It was as if a
sack of grain was supported by a matchbox.
7.4 With the comparative and superlative degree of
adjectives.
Eg: The most effective water power in the world ---- women’s tears.
She has more goodness in her little finger than he
has in his whole body.
7.5 With other figure of speech
Eg: Miss Bolo went straight home in a flood
of tears and sedan chair.
“ Poly, I love you . You are the whole world to
me , and the moon and the stars and the
constellation of outer space”.
A drop of ink may make a million think .
A lie can travel half way around the world
while the truth is putting on its shoes.
八、understatement
In understatement the words play down the magnitude or value of the
subject.
We can solve this problem.
This problem is not above us.
Eg: The place has been here since 1915 , and no hurricane has ever bothered it .
For large numbers of people the absence of work is harmful to their health.
This was the last straw. I was very young ; the prospect of working under a
woman constituted the ultimate indignity.
Understatement can be divided into two parts:
8.1 Litotes(曲言法) ( in the negative form)---- no small , no little , no lack of ;
no joke ,cannot….too ; not without etc.
A book may be compared to your neighbor ; if it be good, it cannot last
too long; if bad , you cannot get rid of it too early.
In India , not a year passes without a number of people falling victims
to the ferocity of the tiger.
No one was more willing to do a favor for friend or neighbor than he.
8.2 Meiosis (弱陈)----rather, hardly, scarcely, kind of , something of .
Eg: There is also poverty , convincingly etched in the statistics , and
etched too, in the lives of people like Hortensia Cabrera, mother
of 14, widow.
“Money,” she says with quiet understatement ,” is kind of tight. But I
manage.”
During last year’s Central Park Bicycle Race, five of the racers were
attacked and had their bikes stolen while the race was in
progress. This is something of a handicap in a bicycle race.
There was a slight disturbance in the city yesterday, all the shops
were shut.
His speech leaves much to be desired.
= His speech is far from satisfactory.
九、Transferred epithet
A figure of speech in which the epithet is transferred from the
appropriate noun to modify another to which it does not really
belong .For example: when one says that he has had a busy day ,
one is using such a figure of speech. For it is the person , not the
day , that is busy.
Eg: I spoke to them in hesitant French .
People listened with open-mouthed astonishment while the shocking
new sank in.
Summoning the waiter, he stabbed an accusing finger at the soup bowl
and cried “ Le Monche!”
Darrow had whispered throwing a reassuring arm round my shoulder
as we were waiting for the court to open .
---------the trial that rocked the world
a surprised silence
a pitiful white smile
a dizzy height
a sleepless bed
十、alliteration
It refers to the appearance of the same initials consonant sound in
two or more words , such as proud as a peacock.; however ,
there is no alliteration in “physical pain”.
10.1 sayings
Eg: Money makes the mare go.
A fair face may hide a foul heart.
Dumb dogs are dangerous.
Tit for tat
With might and main
Neither fish , flesh ,nor fowl
Safe and sound
10.2 advertisements
Vitamins for Vim and Vigor
Cut costs without cutting corners
Sea ,sun, sand, seclusion----and Spain.
Sensuously Smooth . Mysteriously mellow. Gloriously Golden. Who
can resist the magic of Camus XO Cognac?
10.3 Poem
And the snake in hiding feels the sunlight’s finger
The snake , the fang of summer , beauty’s double meaning,
Shifts his slow coils and feels his springtime hunger.
10.4 Prose
Next to health , heart , home , happiness for mobile
American depends upon the automobile.
The world believes in the wonder worker , not in the words
of wisdom.
10.5 The title of the books and magazine
Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
The Winds of War
Jazzy in Jeams , Sassy in Sweater
Starlight on Skyline , Galaxy of Glamour
10.6 The tongue twister
A big black bug bit a big black bear and
made the big black bear bleed blood.
10.7
Fixed phrases
Knick-knack
Jingle-jangle
Dilly-dally
Shilly-shally
Fuddy-duddy
Hurry-scurry
Humpty-dumpty
十一、 Irony
It is the use of words which are clearly opposite to what is meant, in
order to achieve a special effect.. It refers to the ridiculous
errors or faults by seeming to approve them, or defend virtues
by seeming to condemn them.
Eg: 1) He is as slender in the middle as a cow in the waist.
2) What a noble illustration of the tender laws of his favored
country!--- They let the paupers go to sleep.
3)
His designs were strictly honorable , as the saying is ; that is ,
to rob a lady of her fortune by way of marriage .
4)
This hard-working boy seldom reads more than an hour per week.
5) A bronco often becomes so attached to his master that he will
lay down his life if necessary ---his master’s life , I mean.
十二、onomatopoeia
• It is the use of imitative and naturally suggestive
words for rhetorical effect.
Eg: 1) The clock ticked louder and louder in the quiet
room.
2) Suddenly he heard the tick tack of the high heels
in the corridor.
3) The window rattled in the wind .
The train rattled on.
He rattled the newspaper nervously.
The old taxi rattled down the street.
A wild goose dashed away with a rattle of wings .
1)imitate the sound of human beings
aha
sh
boo
wow
ahem
hurrah
giggle
clap
2) imitate the sound of animals
Apes gibber.
Asses bray( hechaw).
Bees hum ( huzz, drone)
Bulls bellow .
Cows moo.
Cocks crow ( cock-a-doodle-doo)
Hens cackle.
ouch
•
Chicken cheep.
Cats mew ( purr)
•
Dogs bow-bow.
Doves coo.
•
Ducks quack.
Elephants trumpet.
•
Frogs croak.
Geese gaggle.
•
Horses neigh.
Magpies chatter.
•
Mice squeak.
Pigs squeal ( grunt )
•
Lions roar.
Tigers growl.
•
Snakes hiss.
Wolves howl.
3) Imitate the sound of nature .
•
Murmur
patter
swish
•
Toot
tinkle
ka-dok
Eg: 1) The angry husband shut the door with a bang .
2) My heart is banging in my ears.
3) The drunken driver drove bang into the store window.
4) “ Bang! Bang!” shouted the boys in imitation of gunfire.
十三、contrast parallelism
& antithesis
1）It refers to the opposition or unlikeness
in the things compared , exhibition of
differences.
2）It refers to the parallel structure.
3） It refers to the placing of a sentence or
one of its parts against another to which it
is opposed. It is considered as the
combination of contrast and parallelism.
1)Contrast
Eg: 1) He is a big frog in a small pond.
2) He found himself a little frog in a big pond.
3) A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in
fair weather and ask for it back again when it begins to rain.
4) To be , or not to be : that is the question ; whether ‘tis
nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune , or to take arms against a sea of
troubles by opposing end them……..
•
William Shakespeare :
Hamlet
•
5) A mother takes twenty years to make a man of her
boy , and another woman makes a fool of him in twenty
minutes.
Parallelism
Eg: 1) We can gain knowledge by reading , by reflection , by
observation or by practice.
2) Their sunburned faces were dark , and their sunwhipped
eyes were light.
3) Their powers of conversation were considerable .They could
describe an entertainment with accuracy , relate an
anecdote with humor , and laugh at their acquaintance
with spirit. ----- J .Austen : Pride and Prejudice
4) Studies serve for delight , for ornament , and for ability.
5) An Englishman thinks seated ; a Frenchman , standing ; an
American , pacing ; an Irishman , afterward.
6) We shall fight him by land, we shall fight him by sea , we
shall fight him in the air.
-------W.S .Churchill
Antithesis
Eg: 1) Speech is silver , silence is gold.
2) Not that I loved Caesar less , but that I loved Rome more.
3) One hundred years later , the Negro lives on a lonely island of
poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.
4) Money is a good servant but a bad master.
5) Short accounts make long friends.
6) Ask not what your country can do for you ---- ask what you can do
for your country.
-------- John F . Kennedy
7) A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities ; an
optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.
I take thee to my wedded wife , to have and to hold from this day
forward , for better or worse , for richer or poorer , in sickness
and in health , to love and cherish , till death do we part ,
according to God’s holy ordiance , and thereto I plight thee my
troth.
我愿遵照上帝圣仪，娶汝为妻。从今起，无论境遇顺遂或乖逆，富贵或
贫困，身体康泰或身罹疾病，愿长相厮守，相爱相惜，至死不渝，谨誓。
十四、Pun
The humorous use of a word or a combination of
words so as to emphasize different meanings or
applications or the use of words that are alike or
nearly alike in sound but different in meaning.
A: Homonym
Eg:1) An ambassador is an honest man who lies
abroad for the good of his country.
2) ----what do lawyer do when they die ?
---- Lie still.
3) Bridge is a game of cards which a good deal
depends a good deal.
4) Try our sweet corn , and you’ll smile from ear
to ear .
B：Homophone
Eg:1) On the first day of this week he
became very weak.
---- Seven days make one week / weak .
2) On Sunday they pray for you and on
Monday they prey on you.
3) Tick , Tock , Tick, …..Talk
C: Homograph
Eg: 1) There were a row of young fellow in
the street , and a row among them , too.
2) Finding tears on her coat , she burst into
tears .
• Two ghosts walking into a bar and asked the
bartender : “ Do you serve spirits?”
• A: “My business is looking up.” Said the
astronomer.
• B: “Mine is going up in smoke.” Complained the
cigar maker.
• C: “Mine is all write.” chuckled the author.
• D: “Mine is just sew ,sew.” Remarked the tailor
• E: “Mine is growing.” The farmer boasted.
• F: “Ours is pretty light.” Snapped the electric
light man.
• G: “Mine is picking up.” Smiled the cheerful rag
picker.
• H: “Mine is looking better.” Opined the optician.
十五、parody
Succession of words whose meaning must be learned as a
whole , an expression whose meaning cannot be derived from
its constituent elements .
Eg: 1) Modern journalism justifies its own existence by the
great Darwinian principle of the Survival of the vulgarest.
2) Where there is a will , there is a lawsuit.
3) A friend in need is a friend to be avoided.
4) Don’t put off till tomorrow what can be enjoyed today.
5) “ I was brought up rich.”
“ Yeah,” I said , “ You were born with a Cadillac in your mouth.”
6) One nonlinguistic explanation of failure at school is that you
can take a child to Euclid but you can’t make him think .
7) All roads lead to socialism ------ Bonald Shaw
十六、repetition
A: immediate repetition
eg: 1) Would you please please please please
please please please stop talking.
2) Scrooge went to bed again, and thought , and
thought , and thought it over and over again.
B: intermittent repetition
(1) Anaphora
Eg: 1) The man of wisdom is never in two minds ; the
man of benevolence never worries, the man of
courage is never afraid.
•
2)Old wood best to burn , Old wine to drink , old
friends to trust , and old authors to read.
-----Francis Bacon
(2) Epistrophe
Eg: 1) Reading makes a full man , meditation a profound man.
2) Seeing much , suffering much ,and studying much , are the
tree pillars of learning.
(3) Anaphora + Epistrophe
Eg: 1) Broke oath on oath , committed wrong on wrong.
2) With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,confusion worse
confounded.
3) Nothing can come of nothing.
(4) Antistrophe
Eg: 1) For the sky and the sea , and the sea and the sky
Lay a load on my weary eye.
2) When the going gets tough , the tough gets going .
3) The soldier faces the powder while the beauty powders the
face.
十六 oxymoron &paradox
Paradox: Consisting of a statement which on the face of it
seems self-contra dictionary , absurd , but on further
thinking , may prove to be true , well-founded.
Eg:1) One has to be cruel to be kind .
2) More haste , less speed.
3) In fact , it appears that the teachers of English teach
English so poorly largely because they teach grammar so
well .
4) They laughed and shouted drinking greedily of drinks they
could not taste .
Oxymoron: A figure of speech which combines incongruous and
apparently contradictory words and meaning for a special
effect .
1) adj + n.
proud humility
painful pleasure
a thunderous silence
a cheerful pessimist
tearful joy
2) adj. + adj.
bitter-sweet memories
poor rich guys
a miserable , merry
Christmas
3)adv. + adj.
falsely true
a wisely stupid idea
4)v . + adv.
shine darkly
die merrily
hasten slowly
5)n . + n.
a love-hate relationship
a life-and-death struggle
eg: 1) The mother is
undergoing the
deliciously aching
joyful pain , and
changelessly changing
the painful joy of
7)–ed + n .
childbirth.
long-lived death
2) Dudley Field
a vanquished victor
Malone called my
8)---of –
“conviction a
the feather of lead
victorious defeat.”
mis-shapen chaos of
well-seeming
forms
6)adv. + -ing