Figures of Speech Based on Contrast Examples

Figures of Speech Based on Contrast Examples - Figures of Speech based on contrast can be divided into seven. They are Antithesis, Epigram, Paradox, Oxymoron, Irony, Euphemism, and Litotes.

Antithesis

Antithesis is a figure in which a striking opposition of contrast of words or feelings is made in the same sentence.

Examples of Antithesis:

-Man proposes, God disposes.

-Men must work and women must weep.

Epigram

Epigram is a brief pointed saying often in poetical from, frequently introducing antithetical ideas which excite surprise and arrrest attention.

Examples of Epigram:

-Familiraty breeds contempt.

-A gift is never little.

Paradox

Paradox is a figure of speech in which a truth is conveyed under the form of an apparent absurdity of contradiction.

Exampes of Paradox:

-The child is father of the man.

-More haste, less speed.

Oxymoron

Oxymoron is a figure by which two contradictory qualities are predicted at once of the same thing. (An adjective is added to a word of quite a contrary meaning)

Examples of Oxymoron:

-She accepted it as the kind cruelty of the surgeon’s knife.

-He is an honorable villain.

Irony

Irony is the use of words, the natural meaning of which is just the opposite of what is intended to be expressed.

Examples of Irony:

-What a fine friend to forsake others in trouble.

-i fear I wrong the honourable men whose actions have put me into trouble.

Euphemism

Euphemism is a figure by means of which we speak in pleasing or favourable terms of an unpleasant or bad thing.

Examples of Euphemism:

-He has gone to an unreturned land.

-He was a gentleman of the roads.

Litotes

Litotes is the use of a negative to express a strong affirmative of the opposite kind.

Examples of Litotes:

-He was not all unhappy.

-She is not the ugly duckling of her family.

Figures of Speech Based on Construction or Arrangement of Words

Figures of Speech Based on Construction or Arrangement of Words - Figures of Speech Based on Construction or Arrangement of Words is divided into seven. They are Interrogation, Exclamation, Climax, Anti-Climax, Hyperbole, Transferred Epithet, and Tautology.

Interrogation

Interrogation is a statement thrown into the form of a question for rhetorical effect.

Examples of Interrogation:

-Can flattery soothe the duil cold ear of Death?

-Can two walk together except they be agreed.

Exclamation

Exclamation is a figure in which the exclamatory form is used to draw greater attention to a point than a mere bald statement of it could do.

Examples of Exclamation:

-What a piece of work is man!

-How are the mighty fallen!

Climax

Climax is afigure in which the scenes rises by successive steps to what is more and more important and impressive.

Examples of Climax:

-I came, I saw, I conquered.

-She growls,she hisses, she stings.

Anti-Climax

Anti-Climax is a figure that significances a descent from the higher to the lower.

Examples of Anti-Climax:

-The soldiers fought for glory and a shilling a day.

-For thy sake, my love, I would do anything but die.

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is a greatly eaggerated statement (used mainly for effect but not intended to be taken literally).

Eamples of Hyperbole:

-He would draw the stage with tears.

-I was bored to death by his ceaseless chatter.

Transferred Epithet

Transferred Epithet is a figure in which an epithet belongs to some other words closely connected with it.

Examples of Transferred Epithet:

-He passed a sleepless night.

-he tossed from side to side on his restless pillow.

Tautology

Tautology is the use of unnecessary words to express the same idea.

Examples of Tautology:

-The one sole survivor of the wreck was an American.

-he dwelt in a onely isolation.

Figures of Speech Based on Association or Substitution

Figures of Speech Based on Association or Substitution can be divided into Metonymy and Synedoche.

Metonymy

Metonymy is a figure in which a thing is spoken of not by its own name, but by the name of some conspicious accompaniment.

Examples of Metonymy:

-Please addresses the chair.

-From the cradle to the grave, life is a struggle.

Metonymy, in fact, means ‘a chance of name’ and thus it has the following varieties:

a. The sign for the person or thing symbolized

-You must addresses the chair.

-From the craddle to the grave, life is a struggle.

-The case was heard by the full bench.

-He contrived to lower the prestige of the crown.

b. The instrument for the agent

-The pen is mightier than the sword.

-The smooth tongue wins favour.

-Sceptre and crown must tumble down.

-He set up parliaments by the stroke of his pen.

c. The container for the thing contained

-The conquerers smote the city.

-My purse is exhausted.

-The whole city went out to see the victorious general.

-She was fond of dress and had an extensive wardrobe.

d. An effect for a cause or a cause for an effect

-Swiftly flies the feathered death.

-We rested beneath the shade.

-The bright death quivered at the captive’s throat.

-May a favourable speed ruffle the mirrored mast of the ship.

e. The author for his works

-We have read Milton.

-He has never read Homer.

-Let us study Shakespheare.

-We are having a test on Dickens.

f. The name of a feeling or passion for its objects

-He is our pride.

-Chemistry is my aversion.

-You are the hope of my family.

-He is the delight of the village.

Synecdoche

Synedoche is a figure by which one noun is changed for another of a similar meaning.

Examples of Synecdoche:

-All hands to the well.

-Give us our daily bread.

In other words, Synecdoche means the understanding of one thing by means of another:

a. Part for the whole

-All hands to the pump.

-Give us this day our daily bread.

-Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

-No useless coffin enclosed his breast.

b. Whole for the part

-Give the message to every creature.

-The lavish moisture of the melting year. (summer)

-Thine the full harvest of the golden year. (autumn)

-The vessel anchored in the harbour.

c. An individual substituted for a class.

-He is the Newton of the century.

-Helen of troy was the venus of the greek world.

-Wake the purple year. (spring)

-A Solomon is coming to judgement.

d. Concrete for Abstract

-There is a mixture of the tiger and the ape in the character of that man.

-Seeing him sorrowing, all the mother rose in her heart.

-His breast with all sage, the hero and the patriot burned.

-I do the most that friendship can; I hate the viceroy, love the man

e. Abstract for Concrete

-All the rank and fashion came out to see the sight.

-The authorities put an end to the tumult.

-Youth is thoughtless.

-Her ladyship is out of town.

f. Material for the thing made

-The marble speaks.

-God and silver have I none.

-He was buried under this stone.

-He gave the man a few coppers to get rid of him.

Figures of Speech Based on Similarity or Likeness

Figures of Speech Based on Similarity or Likeness can be divided into Simile, Metaphor, Personification, and Apostrophe.

Simile

Similie is a figure in which a comparison is made between two objects of different kinds which are alike at least in one point.

Examples of Simile:

-She is as strong as a lion.

-Elsa is like a lovely rose.

Metaphor

Metaphor is a figure in which there is comparison of one thing with another without the words like or as.

Examples of Metaphor:

-She is the lion of the battle.

-Ministers are the pillars of state.

Personification

Personification is a figure in which objects without life are spoken of as having the qualities of a human being.

Examples of Personification:

-The earth thirsts for rain, when it rains it smiles with plenty.

-Let not Ambition mock their useful toil.

Apostrophe

Apostrophe is a figure by which the speaker addresses some inanimate thing or some abstract idea as if it were a living person or some absent person as if he were present.

Examples of Apostrophe:

-Come back to me, dear Cleopatra, in the pride of thy beauty.

-O Death, the poor man’s friend and the best.