TOP 20

FIGURES OF
SPEECH

1) Alliteration

The repetition of an
initial consonant
sound.

2) Anaphora

The Repetition of the same word or

phrase at the beginning of successive
clauses or verses. (Contrast with
epiphora and epistrophe.)
Example I needed a drink, I needed a
lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I
needed a home in the country. What I had
was a coat, a hat and a gun.
By Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My
lovely,1940.

3)Antithesis

The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in

balanced phrases.
Example Love is an ideal thing,
marriage a real thing
By Goethe

4)Apostrophe

Breaking off discourse to

address some absent person or
thing, some abstract quality, an
inanimate object, or a
nonexistent character.

5) Assonance

Identity or similarity in sound

between internal vowel in
neighbouring words.
Example If I bleat when I speak
its because I just got.fleeced.
By Al Swearengen in Deadwood,
2004

6) Chiasmus

A verbal pattern in which the

second half of an expression is
balanced against the first but with
the parts reversed.
Example- Nice to see you, to see
you, nice!

7) Euphemism

The substitution of an
inoffensive term for one
considered offensively explict.
Example Paul Kersey : Youve
got a prime figure. You really
have, you know.
Thats a euphenism for fat.

8) Hyperbole

An extravagant statement; the

use of exaggerated terms for
the purpose of emphasis or
heightened effect.

Irony

The use of words to convey the opposite of their

literary meaning. A statement or stuation where
the meaning is contradicted by the appearance
or presentation of the idea.
Example
Women: I started riding these train in the forties. Those
days a man would give up his seat for a woman. Now
were liberated and we have to stand.
Elaine Its ironic.
Woman: Whats ironic?
Elaine This, that weve come all this way, we have
made all this progress, but you know weve lost the little
things, the niceties.

10) Litotes

A figure of speech consisting of

an understatement in which an
affirmative is expressed by
negating its opposite.

11) Metaphor

An implied comparison between two

unlike things that actually have
something important in common.
Example A man may break a word
with you sir, and words are but wind.
By William Shakespeare, from The
Comedy of Errors.

12) Metonymy

A figure of speech in which one

word or phrase is substituted for
another with which it is closely
associated; also, the rhetorical
strategy of describing something
indirectly by referring to things
around it.

13) Onomatopoeia

The use of words that imitate the sounds

associated with the objects or actions
they refer to.
Example Chug, chug, chug, puff, puff.
Ding-dong, ding-dong. The little rain
rumbled over the tracks.

14) Oxymoron

A figure of speech in which incongruous

or contradictory terms appear side by
side.
Examples act naturally, random order,
original copy, conspicuous absence,
found missing, alone together , criminal
justice, old news, peace force, even odds,
awful good, student teacher, deafening
silence, definite possibility, definite
maybe, terribly pleased, ill health, turn up
missing, jumbo shrimp, loose tights,
small crowd, and clearly misunderstood.

16) Personification
A figure of speech in which an inanimate
object or abstraction is endowed with
human qualities or abilities.
ExampleThe wind stood up and gave a shout. He
whistled on his fingers and kicked the
withered leaves about and thumped the
branches with his hand. And he said hed
kill and kill and kill, and so he will, so he
will. By James Stephen(The Wind).

15) Paradox

A statement that appears to contradict

itself.
Examples War is Peace., Freedom is
slavery. , Ignorance is strength.
By George Orwell, (1984)

17) Pun

A play on words, sometimes on different

senses of the same word and sometimes
on the similar sense or sound of different
words.
Example A vulture boards a plane,
carrying a two dead possums. The
attendant looks at him and says, Im
sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per
passenger.

18) Simile

A stated comparison ( usually formed

with like or as) between two
fundamentally dissimilar things that have
certain qualities in common.
Example Good coffee is like friendship:
rich and warm and strong.
(slogan of Pan-American coffee bureau)

19) Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is used

to represent the whole (for example,
ABCs for alphabet) or the whole for a
part( England won the World Cup in
1966.)
Example The sputtering economy
could make a difference if youre trying to
get a deal on a new set of wheels.

20) Understatement

A figure of speech in which a writer or a

speaker deliberately makes a situation
seem less important or serious than it is.
Example The graves a fine and a
private place, but none, I think, do there
embrace.
By Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress