Lesson 6: Figure of Speech

• Antithesis is a phrase that contains two contrasting ideas to express opposing ideas vividly
• Example: "To err is human, to forgive is divine" from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
• Euphemism is replacing a word or phrase with another to make it sound less offensive
• Used to alter a sentence to lessen its harshness without removing the meaning
• Example: Using "passed away" instead of "died"
• Metonymy is a figure of speech where a word is replaced with another closely related word
• Example: Referring to the king as "the crown"
• Hyperbole is an exaggerated statement or claim not meant to be taken literally
• Irony is when words are used in a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning
• Litotes is a figure of speech that uses understatement to emphasize a point by denying its opposite
• Oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms
• Paradox is a statement that may seem contradictory but can be true
• Synecdoche is a figure of speech where a part is used to represent the whole or vice versa
• Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in neighboring words
• Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in neighboring words
• Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it represents
• Apostrophe is a figure of speech where the speaker addresses an absent or imaginary person
• Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses
• Chiasmus is a figure of speech where the order of terms in the first half of a parallel clause is reversed in the second
• Metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things without using "like" or "as"
• Personification is giving human characteristics to non-human things
• Alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, apostrophe, anaphora, chiasmus are all figures of speech
• Identify the Figure of Speech:

  • Simile and Metaphor involve comparisons
• Figures of Speech Examples:

  • "Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest" is a metaphor
  • "O grave! Where is thy victory?" is apostrophe
  • "The rocks kerplunk as they fall into the lake" is onomatopoeia
  • "Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers" is alliteration
  • "I am so hungry, I could eat a horse!" is hyperbole
  • "Life, I cannot understand you!" is personification