Explain all 20 Figures of speech.
Answers
✦ The types of Figures of Speech are:
1. Simile: When a comparison is made between two unlike objects having at least one aspect in common, it is known as a simile. Words such as 'like', 'as', and 'so' are used to make comparisons.
Example: He fought like a lion and won the battle.
2. Metaphor: Here, an implicit comparison is made between two unlike objects without the use of words 'like', 'so' or 'as'. Every metaphor is, thus. an implied simile.
Example: Children are the most beautiful flowers in a garden.
3. Personification: Often writers attribute human qualities, functions, or actions to inanimate objects as if they were human beings. Such a figure of speech is Personification.
Example: The waves beside them danced.
4. Epigram: An epigram is a brief pointed statement often showing an apparent contradiction.
Example: The child is the father of man.
5. Antithesis: When two words or two ideas, which are opposite in meaning are placed together in a sentence for the sake of emphasis, it forms an Antithesis. (The mere presence of two opposite words does not form an antithesis.)
Example: God made the country, man made the town.
Two opposite ideas of 'God creation of the natural surroundings' and 'man developing or modernizing it into a town' are placed together in the same sentence for effect.
6. Oxymoron: This is a rhetorical device in which there seems to be a contradiction between two words placed next to each other; one word is opposite in meaning to the word it qualifies or modifies. Oxymorons add flavor to the language.
Example: The original copies of the mark sheet must be attached to the form.
7. Euphemism: When a harsh, unpleasant, or strong idea is conveyed in mild terms, it is known as a euphemism.
Example: My neighbour was relieved of his wallet while boarding a crowded train.
8. Irony: Words are used to express the opposite of what is stated.
Example: A good friend you are to give out all my secrets.
What is meant by 'good friend' is that the person is addressed is 'not a friend at all' as he has given out all the speaker's secrets.
9. Exclamation: In this figure of speech there is an emotional expression of ideas or feeling through the choicest words.
Example: What a piece of work is man !
10. Interrogation: An idea or a fact is emphasized by using a question, which does not require an answer, instead of a statement.
Example: Who can but evade the sting of death?
11. Climax: A set of related ideas or statements is expressed in the order of increasing importance and intensity and the ending is the most impressive idea.
Example: The spectators smiled, giggled, and finally burst into laughter.
The expression of the joy of the spectators is arranged in the order of its increasing intensity, finally resulting in the most impressive one.
12. Anticlimax: It is the opposite iff climax and signifies a sudden, and at times an absurd descent from the higher to the lower.
Example: A lie is a sin, an abominable act, and useful help in times of trouble.
13. Hyperbole: Sometimes, for emphasis, an idea is exaggerated which is known as Hyperbole.
Example: Ten thousand saw I at a glance.
14. Tautology: Here words or expressions of similar meaning are used mainly for emphasis, sometimes for eloquence.
Example: Pure, unadulterated sunflower oil is available here.
15. Transferred epithet: Here, the adjective is shifted from its original place (the word that it qualifies) and is placed before another word to which it does not really belong.
Example: The old woman passed three sleepless nights before her husband arrived.
16. Repetition: A word or a phrase or a line that is significant is repeated in order to raise the effect.
Example: Rain, rain, go away.
17. Inversion: The normal order of the words is suitably rearranged for the purpose of emphasis or rhyme.
Example: Rest in the bottom lay
18. Alliteration: Here, there is a pleasant repetition of sound characterized by a letter or by a syllable.
Example: Edna's enigmatic smile enchanted the inmates of the entire elevator.
The sound denoted by the letter 'e' is repeated, thus producing a pleasant effect to the ear.
19. Pun: Pun is a play on words having similarity of sound but carrying a different meaning both of which are applicable in the context of the statement.
Example: Life depends on the liver.
The words 'liver' has two meanings, namely:
- The organ of the body
- The person living his life
Both the meaning fit into the sentence. Hence, it is a pun.
20. Onomatopoeia: Words denoting sound are used to dramatize the effect.
Example: The lion's mighty roar was heard amidst the rustling of leaves.
The words 'roar' and 'rustling' convey a sense of sound.
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Answer:
here are some figures of speech
