20 TYPES OF FIGURE OF SPEECH

When there is a comparison

made between two different things which share something in common.

E. G “The world is your oyster”

is a play on words, it uses a word

to give a different sense to the sentence and add a double meaning.

E.g. An egg for breakfast is not easy to beat.

is a statement which

contradicts itself.

E.g. Deep down Anna is really shallow.

a word which resembles the sound it is describing.

E.g.My watch ticks loudly.

is a statement which is made to be less important than what

is actually being conveyed.

E.g. I only have two million dollars.

is a phrase which compares

something to something else using the words like or as.

E.g. Her hair was as golden as the sun.

is a statement in which

only part of something is expressed to relate to the whole.

E. G He had just got some new wheels

is when a phrase is replaced

with another which has a similar meaning, used to describe something in an indirect manner.

E.g. I remain loyal to the crown.

is when an object which is not alive is given human qualities.

E.g. My car is a real beauty.

is when two words in phrase contradict one another.

E.g.The girl next door is pretty ugly.

is an understatement which

applies a negative to express the

meaning of the affirmative.

E.g. That dress is not too bad

is a term which uses an exaggeration to add a more dramatic meaning to the sentence.

E.g. My bag weighs a tonne.

is when two sentences are

balanced against one another but with the words reversed.

E.g. Work to live and do not live to work.

is a statement which conveys the

exact opposite meaning of what is literally being said.

E.g.

The fire station burnt to the ground

is the replacement of a phrase

which might be deemed offensive by one which implies the same meaning but does

not carry offence with it.

E.g. Instead of 'he died' you would say 'he passed away.'

is the similarity in sound between vowels in the middle of neighbouring words.

E.g. How now, brown cow.

is speaking to an object or item that is not alive as if it were in fact, alive.

E.g. Come on trousers, you have to fit me.

is applying a juxtaposition of ideas which are contrasting in a statement that is balanced.

E. G Man proposes and God deposes

is when there is a repetition of sound within a phrase or sentence.

E.g. She sells seashells on the seashore.

is when a word is repeated multiple times within a phrase.

E.g. He had one apple, one banana and one pear.

are figures of speech that move the meaning of the text from literal to figurative.

example :

“Chicago's worker bees buzz around the streets. “ or

“The tide swallowed the people”