Rhetorical Devices

Rhetorical Devices

Simile Hyperbole Metaphor Antithesis Metonymy Pun Synecdoche Irony Alliteration Rhetorical question Anti-climax Oxymoron Parallelism Euphemism

• Simile

• It is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements having at least one quality or characteristic in common. To make the comparison, words like as, as...as, as if and like are used to transfer the quality we associate with one to the other.

• I wandered lonely as a cloud.

• The pen is to a writer what the gun is to a fighter. • The diamond is as blue as the great sea. • The ruby shall be redder than a red rose.

• Metaphor

• It is like a simile, also makes a comparison between two unlike elements, but unlike a simile, this comparison is implied rather

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than stated. • The world is a stage.

• Beauty without virtue is a rose without fragrance.

• Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. • Snow clothes the ground.

• The lecturer looked down at the sea of faces beneath him.

• Metonymy

• The substitution of the name of one thing for that of another with which it is closely associated. • Gray hairs should be respected. • I have never read Li Bai. • He is too fond of bottle.

• I was not one to let my heart rule my head.

• 借喻不直接说出所要说的事物,而使用另一个与之相关的事物名称。指两种不同事物并不相似，但又密不可分，因而常用其中一种事物名称代替另一种。就是借用甲来表示乙，但前提条件是甲必须与乙关系密切和本质上有相似之处。

• Synecdoche

• It involves the substitution of the part for the whole, or the whole for the part.

• The poor man had six mouths to feed.

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• What a lovely creature!

• The wolf and the pig mingled together in his face.

• 提喻用部分代替全体,或用全体代替部分,或特殊代替一般一般代替特殊. 又称举隅法，举隅指举一反三之意，具有“牵一发而动全身”之功能。主要特点是局部代表全体，或以全体喻指部分，或以抽象代具体，或以具体代抽象。

• Metonymy & synecdoche

• metonymy与synecdoche的共同点是它们都可以用人体的各个部位进行借代；它们的不同点在于：metonymy是利用人体部位指代其功能或特点，而synecdoche则是利用人体的部位指代整体。试比较：

• 例1：Her heart ruled her head. 她的感情控制了理智。emotions, good sense

• （该句用“心”指代“感情”，用“头”指代“理智”。虽然“心”和“头”都是人体的部位，但说话者并没有用它们来借代“人”这个整体，而是指代根据其特点联想所产生的东西，故该句所采用的修辞手法是metonymy。）

• 例2：No eye saw him, but a second later every ear heard a gunshot. man

• 没有人看见他。可是，一秒钟以后每个人都听到一声枪响。（“眼睛”和“耳朵”都是人体的部位，在此用来借代其整体“人”。故该句所采用的修辞手法是synecdoche。）

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• 例3：We are all ears. 我们洗耳恭听。listening attentively • （“耳朵”是人体部位，在此用来指代其“听”的功能，故该句所采用的修辞手法是metonymy。）

• 例4：Two heads are better than one. 两个脑袋总比一个脑袋强。people

• （“头”是人体部位，在此指代整体“人”，故该句所采用的修辞手法是synecdoche。）

• 例5：He has an old head on young shoulders. 他年轻而有见识。experiencesyoung man

• （head是人体部位，前面加了形容词old后，产生一种联想意义，即“有见识的”；shoulders也是人体部位，前面加了形容词young后，产生一种象征意义，即“年轻人”。该句没有用人体部位指代整体，而是用人体部位指代其特点，故该句所采用的修辞手法是metonymy。）

• 例6：Never show your face again. 千万不要再露面。body • （“脸”是人体部位，在此指代整个“人”，故该句所采用的修辞手法是synecdoche。）

• Alliteration

• Alliteration: The use in a phrase or sentence of words beginning with the same letter of sound. Alliteration should be used only when the writer makes a strong emotional response to his subject.

• a) We felt strong, smug, secure. (Bailey: The American Pageant)

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• b) Colonel Mueller neither forgives nor forgets. (Sheldon: The other side of Midnight)

• c) They pay in taxes needed in part to finance Medicare and Medicaid. (Time, May 28, 1979)

• d) Millions depend for their bread and butter on FBI’s smile or its scowl. (Cook: The FBI Nobody Knows)

• Anti-climax

• The sudden appearance of an absurd or trivial idea following one or more significant or elevated ideas. Anticlimax is usually comic in effect.

• The duties of a soldier are to protect his country and peel potatoes. • Hiroshima is a town known throughout the world for its---oysters.

• Parallelism

• A balance of two or more grammatically and semantically similarwords, phrases, or clauses. The application of parallelism in sentence construction improves writing style and readability — to give the sentence rhythm, balance and force. • Generally, there are five ways to achieve parallelism. • A. Express similar ideas in similar grammatical forms • B. Arrange parallel elements in climactic order

• C. Use parallel forms with coordinating conjunctions并列连词 • D. Use parallel forms with correlative conjunctions关联连词

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• E. Repeat certain words to begin parallel elements

• Faith sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.

• Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be.

• No one can be perfectly free till all are free; no one can be perfectly moral till all are moral; no one can be perfectly happy till all are happy.

• Hyperbole

Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used to emphasize a point, to create humor, or to achieve some similar effects. • 1. She was scared to death.

• 2. I’d give the world to see the Great Wall.

• 3. I told you a thousand times that you shouldn’t behave like that. • 4. Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay. • 5. Her beauty made the bright world dim.

• Antithesis

• Antithesis: the setting of contrasting phrases opposite each other for emphasis. In true antithesis the opposition between the elements is manifested through parallel grammatical structure. • a) The quest for righteousness is Oriental, the quest for knowledge, Occidental.

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• b) Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person. • c) A friend exaggerates a man’s virtues, an enemy his crimes. • d) The convention bought time; it could not bring settlement. • e) Its failure became a part of history but its successes held the clue to a better international order.

• Pun

• Pun: a play on words based on similarity of sound and sharp difference in meaning.

• a) One shop announced: Darwin Is Right—Inside. • b) Seven days without water make one weak.(= week)

• c) If we don’t hang together, we shall assuredly hang separately. • d) Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.

• Irony

• Irony: The expression of actual intent in works that carry the opposite meaning. It is an effective literary device because it gives the impression of great restraint.

• a) …until we are marching backwards to the glorious age of the sixteenth century (Lesson 4).

• b) He was my friend, faithful and just to me: But Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honorable man.

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(Shakespeare: Julius Caesar)

(Antony here is saying just the opposite. He means that Brutus is not honorable, he is a murderer.) • c) as welcome as a storm

• d) “Oh, you haven’t? Well, of course, I know that gentlemen like you carry only large note.”

• Rhetorical Question

• A question neither requiring nor intended to produce a reply but asked for emphasis. • O wind

• If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? • Was I not at the scene of the crime?

• Oxymoron

Oxymoron (derived from the Ancient Greek “oxusmōros”) is a figure of speech that combines two contrasting, contradictory or incongruous terms.

E.g. Malone called my conviction a \"victorious defeat\".

bitter sweet memories sweet bitterness

cruel kindness falsely true proud humility orderly chaos

a damned saint an honourable villain

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cheerful pessimist the wisest fool living deaths freezing fire

• Euphemism

• It is the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive(无冒犯) expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant. For instance, we refer to \"die\" as \" pass away\". • .. a motley band of Confederate guerrillas whodiligently avoided contact with the enemy.

• … a crush sense of despair on man’s final release from earthly struggles 1. He is a bit off his head.

2. He was now living at government’s expense. 3. He is a bit slow for his age. 4.He passed away for a few years.

• Sarcasm

• Sarcasm: a cutting remark, a verbal sneer. Sarcasm pretends to disguise its meaning, but does not intend to be misunderstood. • a) “Oh, you’re really a great friend, aren’t you?”(addressed to one who won’t lend the speaker 5 Yuan)

• b) he is very generous indeed.(referring to one who won’t lend the speaker his dictionary)

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• c) There is some doubt about that.

• d) “…还有几位‘大师’们捧着几张古画和新画，在欧洲各国一路的挂过去，叫做‘发扬国光’。听说…活人代替了古董，我敢说，也可以算得显出一点进步了。”（《拿来主义》）

• e) Laws are like cobwebs, which catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.

• Satire

• Satire: It generally refers to a piece of literary work – prose, poetry or drama – and generally not to a single sentence. It uses ridicule to expose and to judge behavior or ideas that the satirist finds foolish, or wicked, or both; Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a piece of satire.

• Ridicule

• Ridicule: Words or actions intended to evoke contemptuous laughter at or feelings toward a person or thing. Instance of being made fun of.

• a) Bryan, ageing and paunchy, was assisted in his prosecution by his son … Tom Stewart.

• b) Bryan mopped his bald dome in silence.

• Transferred epithet

• Transferred epithet: the transference of an adjective to a noun to which it is not wholly appropriate.

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• a) Even so, the risk of discovery was beginning to cause Pettit sleepless nights.

• b) throwing a reassuring arm round my shoulder • c) He passed many an anxious hour in the train.

• Personification

• Personification is a figure of speech which attributes human qualities and abilities to inanimate objects, animals, abstract ideas, etc. e.g.

• 1. Youth is wild, and age is tame. — William Shakespeare • 2. Dusk came stealthily.

• 3. I watched the moonlight dancing on the ripples of the lake. • 4. The ancient mansion spoke to me of bygone days.

• Assonance

• Assonance: the use of the same, or related, vowel sounds in successive words. • a) a deep green stream • b) I arise from dreams of thee • In the first sweet sleep of night • (Shelley: The Indian Serenade) • c) the rain in Spain falls on the plain • (My Fair Lady)