Rhetorical devices

Rhetorical devices1.simileHer eyes were jet black, and her hair was like a waterfall.2.metaphorShe turned down the offer in a storm of indignation./ I never anticipated that my case would snowball into one of the most famous trials in U.S history./ The ship ploughed the sea. /He swam bravely against the tide of popular applause./He went west by stagecoach and succumbed to the epidemic of gold and silver fever in Nevada’s Washoe region.3.anti-climaxHiroshima, a town known throughout the world for its --- oysters. / The duties of a soldier are to protect his country and peel potatoes./ 4.metonymyThere is an incessant struggle between the kimono and the miniskirt. / We all admire eloquent pen. / He never let his heart rule his head. / His pen would prove mightier than his pickax. / The pen is mightier than the sword. / I have never read Li Bai.5.antithesisSpeech is silver; silence is golden. / Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. / A friend exaggerates aman’s virtues, an enemy his crimes. / Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person. / a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever.6.synecdocheMoscow and Washington will hold talks on this question./ Have you any coppers? / Beijing stands for peaceful co-existence and noninterference into other countries’ internal affairs.7.personificationBitterness fed on the man who made the world laugh. (a. that produces by the use of adjectives: the blushing rose, the thirsty ground. b. that produced by the use of verbs: the kettle sings, the waves danced c.that produced by the use of nouns: the smiles of spring, the whisper of leaves)8.parallelismThe past, with its crimes, its follies, and its tragedies, flashes away 9.alliteration... the slow, sleepy, sluggish-brained sloth stayed at home /The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, the furrow followed free10.h yperboleThe trial that rocked the world / The wave ran mountain high. / His speech brought the house down. / The racist rulers drowned the blackpeople in a bloodbath. /All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. /America laughed with Mark Twain.11.o xymoron: a kind of antithesis that links together two sharplycontrasting termsThe love affairs he had brought him bittersweet memories./victorious defeat /cheerful pessimist / living deaths / freezing fires / glorious defeat12.e uphemismmen’s final release from earthly struggle/ pass away13.t ransferred epithet: the transference of an adjective to a noun to whichit is not wholly appropriatethrowing a reassuring arm round my shoulder / Even so, the risk of discovery was beginning to cause Pettit sleepless nights./ 14．onomatopoeia:The ticking of the clock was the only sound that greeted him, for not a soul remained./ The moan of doves in immemorial elms, And murmuring of innumerable bees.古老的榆木林中鸽子的呢喃，还有成群飞舞的蜜蜂的嗡嗡声。

15. alliterationWe felt strong, smug, secure. /A speckled hen swaggered down the main street of the “settlement” cackling foolishly. 一只羽毛斑驳的母鸡高视阔步地走过“居民点”的大街，傻里傻气地咯咯叫个不停。

16. rhetorical questionWas I not at the scene of the crime? /If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?17. ironyWe are marching backwards to the glorious age of the sixteenth century when bigots lighted faggots to burn the men who dared to bring any intelligence and enlightenment and culture to the human mind.18. sarcasmHe is here because ignorance and bigotry are rampant, and it is a mighty strong combination. /He said man had reasoning power. There is some doubt about that./19. ridiculeBryan, ageing and paunchy, was assisted in his prosecution by his son…. Bryan mopped his bald dome in silence. /The poor brute cowered in a corner with his hands over his eyes, afraid it might be true. /20. periodic sentence21. parodyor will the game be played according to the usual industrial rules: from each according to his ability, to each according to his investment. (parodying a Marxist saying: from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.) /Britannia rues the waves. (parodying a well-known line, “Britannia Rules the Waves”, of the famous Britishnavy song “Rule, Britannia”)22. punOne shop announced: Darwin Is Right --- Inside. /Seven days without water make one weak. (=week). / If we don’t hang together, we shall assuredly hang separately. /Oxymoron 矛盾修辞法Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms are combined to produce an epigrammic (警句的) effect. Oxymoron is a kind of paradox r antithesis that links together two sharply contrasting terms, as “cheerful pessimist”, “clever fool”, “eloquent silence”, “freezing fires”.I adj. +noun1. He called my conviction a glorious defeat.2. She is a clever fool.3. He is a cheerful pessimist.4. He spent those days in laborious idleness.5. He was puzzled at her cruel kindness.II. adv. + adj. (part.)1.“How you shot the goat and frightened the tiger to death,”said Miss Mebbin, with her disagreeably pleasant laugh.III. adj. +adj.1.Those bitter-sweet experiences can never be forgotten.2.He was a shabby-genteel man.IV. v. + complex object1.The power of money to make the stupid wise, the ugly beautiful, andin general, black white had been a satiric commonplace since antiquity.V. n. +of +n1. I couldn’t help feeling the despair of hope itself.Pun 双关语Pun is a figure of speech depending upon a similarity of sound and a disparity of meaning. In the English language, there are many a pair of group of words which, though entirely different in origin and meaning, are pronounced alike or spelt alike, or both. Such words are called homonyms, which may be classified into perfect homonyms (同形同音异义词)，homophones (同音异义词) and homographs (同形异义词) I. Perfect homonyms are words identified in sound and spelling but different in meaning:1.If we don’t hang together we’ll hang separately. 如果我们不通力合作，我们将被分别处死。