figures of speech by eguriase s. m. okaka

FIGURE OF SPEECH

BY

EGURIASE S. M. OKAKA

1.      Simile: Simile is the out right comparison of two dissimilar things are liken to each other either for clearness and ease of explanation or for other poetical purpose effects. Simile often use words like. Like or as for comparison. Example: How like winter hath my absence been?

2.      Metaphor: In metaphor we transfer the quality of one thing to the other. Metaphor is a compressed smile. Example:  “My absence hath been winter.”

3.      Personification: Personification is the art of giving life to a lifeless object. This could be an inanimate objects an abstract one given a human quality. Example: “Let the flood clap their hands.”

4.      Irony: Here the speaker say the exact opposite of what he intends to express. Example: “verily ye are the people and wisdom shall die with you.”

5.      Antithesis: This is used to arrest attention by drawing a sharp contrast between two equal or opposing ideals. Example “Speech is silver, silence is gold.”

6.      Apostrophe: this is when a lifeless object or some abstract is directly addressed. Example: “Jerusalem, my happy home, when shall I came to thee.”

7.      Paradox:  Paradox is a short witty saying which at first sight seems senseless, absorb and self-contradictory. Example: “The child is the father of the man.”

8.      Oxymoron: This is placing side by side two seemingly contradictory words. Example: “To some the use of GSM is a necessary evil.”

9.      Synecdoche: This is using a part to represent a whole or a whole thing by a part. Example: “I need more hands to finish the work as planned. (hands presents people)

10.  Metonymy: This is the representation of one thing by something closely associated with it. Example: The pen is mightier than the sword (Pen stands for a writer and sword represents a soldier)

11.  Antonomasia: This is a special form of which the name of a place or event is used to represent some quality they symbolize. Example: “Soyinka has been acknowledged as the Shakespears of his time.” .

12.  Hyperbole: This is also known as over-statement. It is a deliberate use of exaggerations either for examples or humour. Example: “I am so hungry that I can eat up a mountain of pounded yam.”

13.  Litotes: It is the deliberate used of understatement for the sake of effect. Example: I am a citizen of no mean City.”

14.  Euphemism: This is a way of expressing an unpleasant expression in a pleasant way. Example: “The sick man pass away last night.”

15.  Transferred epithet: It is the transfer of an epithet from the term to which it rightly belongs to another term which it does not belong. Example: “I have had a busy day.”

16.  Syllepsis: Syllepsis is the use of one word in the different senses usually one is used literally and the other is used figuratively in the same context. Example: “That beautiful girl stole away my heart and then my money.”

17.  Zeugma: This is the art of bring two objects under a verb or adjective. Example:”He goes to the house, to court and eat.”

18.  Innuendo: It is the emphasis of one’s meaning by suggestive words or by a pointed omission of the essential. Example: He has a very high sense of discipline and self-control with matters not concerned with alcohol.”

19.  Rhetorical question: It is a question asked for literally effect in ones writing or speech. Example: “who shall put forth on the unfathomable sea.”

20.  Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or stressed syllables Example:”When I do count the clock that tells the time.”

21.  Assonance: This is the repetition of vowels sounds. Example: “Our echoes roll from soul to soul.”

22.   Onomatopoeia: This is the use of sound to suggest meaning of words whose sound is heard. Example: The murmuring of innumerable bees.          

By

Eguriase S. M. Okaka

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