logical figures of speech
figure of speech英语作文
Title: The Magic of Figures of Speech inEnglish EssaysIn the intricate tapestry of language, figures of speech stand out as vibrant threads, enhancing the expressiveness and depth of written communication. Their strategic employment not only elevates the literary value of a piece but also captures the reader's imagination, transporting them to a world of rich imagery and profound meanings. This essay explores the diverse figures of speech in English essays, their functions, and their impact on the overall narrative.The first figure of speech we encounter is simile, which compares two unlike things using the words "like" or "as." Similes create vivid mental pictures, allowing readers to visualize abstract ideas or complex emotions. For instance, comparing a lover's eyes to "stars in the night sky" not only evokes the beauty and brightness of the stars but also conveys the intensity and depth of thelover's gaze.Metaphor, another powerful figure of speech, goes beyond simple comparison and treats one thing as another.It establishes a direct equivalence between two seemingly unrelated concepts, often resulting in surprising andthought-provoking insights. Consider the metaphor of lifeas a journey; it encourages us to view life's challengesand successes as milestones on a path, leading to personal growth and understanding.Personification赋予无生命的事物或抽象概念以人的特性或行为，使之具有生命力和情感色彩。
Figures of speech
Type Three: what
Two Patterns: A is to B what C is to D. What C is to D, A is to B.
Type Three: what
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. The pen is to a writer what the gun is to a fighter. 作家的笔犹如战士的枪。 .
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another. The basic figure in poetry. A comparison is usually implicit; whereas in simile it is explicit. ( A Dictionary of Literary Terms)
Type Four: than
w A home without love is no more than a body without a soul. w He had no more idea of money than a cow
Type Five: and
w Love and cough can not be hid. 爱情像咳嗽一样是掩盖不了的。 w Truth and roses have thorns about them. w Kings and bears often worry their keepers. w A word and stone let go cannot be recalled. 说出去的话就像抛出去的石子，是收不 回的。
My Understanding of
My Understanding of “English Rhetoric”“English Rhetoric” is the work of Zhang Xiuguo, this book can be divided into three parts.The first part is including the chapter 1,chapter2 and chapter 3.Chapter 1 discusses the definition of rhetoric and its relationship with oratory. Chapter 2 is the brief introduction of rhetoric.Chapter 4 and chapter 5 is the part two,it discuss the choice of word and sentence.Part three is including chapter 6 to 11,it is focus on English figures of speech .It is said that the “art of rhetoric” originated in Syracuse.The study of rhetoric goes back to ancient Greece, when speakers began to practice the art of persuasion in courts of law. The ancients realized that presentation is as important, or perhaps more important, as facts.Rhetoric is the study and practice of effective communication.,and it is the art of persuasion. Oratory is the foundation of rhetoric and is a special kind of public speaking.Oratory had been practiced long before the ancient rhetoricians developed a theory and a vocabulary for rhetoric.Rhetoric involves choice of words, sentence patterns, figures of speech, organization of paragraphs and composition. This process can be broken into three basic levels,they are:words and phrases,sentence variety,organizing paragraphs into a complete text. The choice of word including using suitable words, denotation and connotation, general words and specific words, abstract words and concrete words ,short words and long words.First,the English vocabulary has gone up every year,we should choose the right words that are exact, fresh, vivid, and appropriate to communicate our ideas precisely and effectively.Second,denotation and connotation.Denotation is the specific, direct, and literal meaning of a word, as described in a dictionary definition. It is also called denotative meaning or explicit meaning.Connotation is the associative or suggestive meaning of a word. It often implies attitudes, emotions, ect. of the speaker or writer, and is also called implicit meaning.Connotation including positive and negative connotations,historical and social connotations,personal and general connotations.There is something must be emphasized ,The connotations of a word are constantly changing,both denotation and connotation are important aspects of the meaning of a word,we can find thedenotation of a word in the dictionary but we can acquire connotation only through extensive reading and attentive listening, by observing how it is actually used in speech and writing. Third ,the general words and specific words,general words refer to a group or class; specific words refer to a member of that class.The specific words tend to give color and tang, tend to appeal to the imagination. General words often used for the sake of diplomacy. Good writing or speaking has both general and specific information. Fourth,the abstract words and concrete words.It is refer to s a concrete word has an object as its referent, while an abstract word , a concept. For example, peach, pear, apple and apricot are concrete words. Sweetness, fuzziness and softness are abstract words because they refer to certain qualities or certain concepts or ideas.Abstract words and general words usually do not overlap. But this is not the case with concrete words and specific words. Words that refer to particular objects and particular actions are usually both concrete or specific.Fifth,the short words and long words.From a stylistic point of view, words that are often used may be divided into three types: formal, common, and colloquial words. Long words often refer to the formal words and some common words, while short words often refer to colloquial words and some common words. Next is the choice of sentences,the sentence varieties is deal with different sentence patterns and varied sentence lengths.The four different classification standard of sentence is grammar, function, rhetoric and length.The sentence variety aim at avoiding monotony in one’s speech or writing,variety of writing or speech is a joy. Without variety, any text can be dull and uninteresting.Figures of speech refer to all kinds of striking or unusual configurations of words or phrases, involving the variation of any unit of the language system—graphic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic , and monly used figures of speech are listed in the textbook and they are grouped into four categories: phonetic, syntactic, semantic and logical.Phonetic figures of speech is including alliteration,assonance,consonance,onomatopoeia.Syntactic figures of speech is including repetition(Immediate repetition,Intermittent repetition),anaphora, epiphora, simploce, anadiplosis ,parallelism ,antithesis, climax ,anticlimax,syllepsis, zeugma ,chiasmus, asyndeton,polysyndeton,rhetorical question.Semantic figures of speech is including simile ,metaphor,metonymy, synecdoche, antonomasia,personification, parody,synesthesia,transferred epithet,etc. Logical figures of speech is including allusion,allegory,etc.The history of rhetoric covers about 2,500 years. For most of its history, rhetoric, as an art of verbal communication, has been closely associated with education.Learning English is for the main purpose of effective communication, which results from a good command of the language in listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation. And all of these five linguistic abilities are closely related to st but not least,Rhetoric has much to do with translation. Generally speaking, a good version is characterized by “faithfulness,expressiveness and elegance” which are mainly based on the correct understanding of the original and on a good command of the target language.。
Figures of speech各种修辞
Figures of SpeechWords used in their original meanings are used literally, while words used in extended meanings for the purpose of making comparisons or calling up pictures in the reader’s or listener’s mind are used figuratively(形象的,比喻的). For example, in “a colorful garden”the word “colorful”is used in its literal sense, but in “a colorful life”the word is used in its figurative sense. Colorful here has a new extended or figurative meaning: exciting, interesting and rich in variety. The word suggests a comparison between life and something that has different colors, like garden, and because of this association the word is more impressive than a word used in its literal sense, such as interesting and exciting.Definition:A figure of speech is a use of a word that diverges from its normal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it such as a metaphor, simile, or personification. Figures of speech often provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity. However, clarity may also suffer from their use, as any figure of speech introduces an ambiguity between literal and figurative interpretation. A figure of speech is sometimes called a rhetoric or a locution(惯用语).There are various ways of using figures of speech. Among the most common of them are:1. Simile（明喻）: it is a comparison between two distinctly different things and the comparison is indicated by the word “as” or “like”:O my love’s like a red, red rose.—Robert Burns That man can’t be trusted; he is as slippery as an eel.2. Metaphor（隐喻）: it is the use of a word which originally denotes one thing to refer to another with a similar quality.It is also a comparison, but the comparison is implied, not expressed with the word “as” or “like”.O my love’s a red, red rose.He is the soul of the team.Irrigation is lifeblood of agriculture.Metaphors are used not only after verb “be”, and not only nouns can be used metaphorically. The adverbs, adjectives can also be used metaphorically. Study the following examples:The picture of those poor people’s lives was carved so sharply in his heart that he could never forget it.There was a medieval magnificence about the big dining hall.The street faded into a country road with straggling house by it.There were a few lordly poplars before the house.All his former joy was drowned in the embarrassment and confusion he was feeling at the moment.He often prefaced his remarks by “I can’t help thinking …”The charcoal fire glowed and dimmed rhythmically to the strokes of the bellows (风箱).As is shown in these sentences, nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs can all be used in a metaphorical way.A metaphor or a simile has to be fresh to be effective. One that has been frequently used over a long period of time will become dull and stale, and cease to function as a metaphor or simile.“The leg of a table” must have been a metaphor when it was first used, but today we feel that leg is used in its literal sense.3. Personification（拟人）: it is to treat a person or an idea as if it were human or had human qualities. In poetry personification is very common:Youth is hot and bold,Age is weak and cold,Youth is wild, and Age is tame.—William ShakespeareIn prose personification is also used, though not so often as in poetry.The march will soon be over and defeat is starving us in the face.This time fate was smiling to him.Thunder roared and a pouring rain started.Dusk came stealthily.The storm was raging and an angry sea was continuously tossing their boat.4. Metonymy（转喻）: It is substituting the name of one thing for that of another with which it is closely associated.Thus the crown can stand for a king, and the White House for the American government, the bottle for wine or alcohol, and the bar for the legal profession. When metonymy is well used, brevity and vividness may be achieved:Sword and cross in hand, the European conquerors fell upon the Americas.When the war was over, he laid down the sword and took up the pen.His purse would not allow him that luxury.5. Synecdoche（提喻）: when a part is substituted for the whole or the whole is substituted for a part, synecdoche is applied:The farms were short of hands during the harvest season.He had to earn his daily bread by doing odd jobs.Germany beat Argentina 2 to 1 in this exciting football match.The poor creature could no longer endure her sufferings.In the above sentences hands stands for men, bread for food or living expenses, the names of the two countries for the two teams, and creature for a woman.6. Euphemism（委婉）: it is the substitution of a mild or vague expression for a harsh or unpleasant one, for example:to die: to pass away, to leave us; one’s heart had stopped beating; kick the bucket; turn up one's toesold people: senior citizensmad: emotionally disturbedlavatory: bathroom, men’s or women’s roomconcentration camp: strategic hamletsinvasion: military actionIt is obvious that those euphemisms used by the ordinary people are meant to soften harsh reality, but those used by politicians may aim at deceiving the public. Can you give some example?7. Irony(讽刺):it is the use of words which are clearly opposite to what it is meant, in order to achieve a special effect. Suppose you planned an outing on a certain day, expecting it to be fine; but when the day came it was raining heavily. If you said, “What fine weather for an outing!” you were speaking ironically. If a barbarous act was called civilized or cultural, irony was used.Yeah, Stone has done a great job. He just mess all things up and let me wipe his ass.8. Overstatement and understatement (夸张和轻描淡写):in overstatement the diction exaggerates the subject, and in understatement the words play down the magnitude or value of the subject. Overstatement is also called hyperbole(夸张法). Both aim at the same effect: to make the statement or description impressive or interesting.She is dying to know what job has been assigned her.On hearing that he was admitted to that famous university, he whispered to himself, “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”It took a few dollars to build the indoor swimming pool.9. Transferred Epithet(移情或转移修饰):an epithet is an adjective or descriptive phrase that serves to characterize somebody or something. A transferred epithet is one that is shifted from the noun it logically modifies to a word associated with that noun. She was so worried about her son that she spent several sleepless nights.In his quiet laziness he suddenly remembered that strange word.The assistant kept a respectful distance from his boss when they were walking in the corridor.He said “yes” o the question in an unthinking moment.The old man put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.10. Oxymoron(矛盾修辞):in oxymoron apparently contradictory terms are combined to produce a special effect.When the news of failure came, his friends said that it was a victorious defeat.The president was conspicuously absent on that occasion.She read the long-awaited letter with a tearful smile.11. Alliteration(头韵): it refers to the appearance of the same initial consonant sound in two or more words, such as “proud as a peacock(孔雀)” and “blind as a bat”. Alliteration is often used in poetry to give emphasis to words that are related in meaning:Wherefore feed, and clothe, and save,From the cradle to the grave,Those ungrateful drones who wouldDrain your sweat – nay, drink your blood?—Percy Bysshe Shelly I see also the dull, drill, docile, brutish masses of the Hun soldiery plodding on like a swarm of crawling locusts.Exercises:I. Identify the figures of speech used in the following sentences:1.I'll give you a piece of my mind.2.Stone is in his way of climbing the ladder to success.3.There are four eyes looking at me. I have no way to escape.4.Marshal is a man of masculine character and muscly-built body.5.Stone and Maggie fell in love at the first sight.6.I have to have this operation. It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain.7.He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow.8.Y ou must see the smiling girl in the Asian Games’opening ceremony; she’s awfully pretty.II. Rewrite the following sentences, using the word(s) in the brackets figuratively.1.I think hard, but I can’t get the answer. (rack brain)2.The car made from carbon fiber is very light. (feather)3.The government of the U.S. asked the television networks for air time on Mondaynight. (White House)4. A woman who has been hurt deeply by a man never cares how happily others live.(broken heart)5.She has a beautiful voice. (nightingale)。
figures of speech
3
Metaphor(暗喻)
It is the use of a word which originally donates one thing to refer to another with a similar quality. It is also a comparison, but the comparison is implied, not expressed with the word as or like. Examples: The picture of those poor people's lives was carved so sharply in his heart that he could never forget it. There were a few lordly poplars before the house.
14
Oxymoron(矛盾修辞法) Oxymoron(矛盾修辞法)
In oxymoron apparently contradictory terms are combined to produce a special effect. Examples: The coach had to be cruel to be kind to his trainees. When the news of the failure came, all his friends said that it was a victorious defeat. She read the long-awaited letter with a tearful smile.
13
Transferred Epithet
Examples: She was so worried about her son that she spent several sleepless nights. In his quiet laziness he suddenly remembered that strange word. The assistant kept a respectful distance from his boss when they were walking in the corridor.
figures of speech 2
Rhetorical Devices
Hyperbole （夸张）
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used to emphasize a point, to create humor, or to achieve some similar effects. For example, 1) She was scared to death. 2) I told you a thousand times that you shouldn’t behave like that. 3) Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay. ( A Pope) 4) Her beauty made the bright world dim. (Shelley) 5) I have a sea of troubles. I was mad for success and on the news of success I went mad with joy.
Metonymy Metonymy is a figure of speech that has to do with the substitution of the “name” of one thing for that another. This Substituted name may be an attribute of that thing or be closely associated with it. In other words, it involves a “change of name”, the substituted name suggesting the thing meant. e.g. The glories of our blood and state Are shadows, not substantial things; There is no armour against fate; Death lays his icy hand on kings; Sceptre and Crown Back Must tumble down
FiguresofSpeech
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
Life is a day at the beach!
(A) Metaphor (B) Alliteration (C) Simile
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
The glass vase is as fragile as a child’s sandcastle. Metaphor (B) lliteration (C) Simile
(A)
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
The buzzing bee startled me!
METAPHOR
“You are a tulip.”
From “A Meditation for his Mistress” ~Robert Herrick
ALLITERATION
Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds of neighboring words.
Sally sells seashells by the seashore.
ALLITERATION
“She left the Heaven of Heroes and came down To make a man to meet the mortal need, A man to match the mountains and the sea, The friendly welcome of the wayside well.”
(A) (B) (C)
Figures_of_Speech解读
It has both a tenor and a vehicle.
All the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players. (Shakespeare) Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. (William B. Yeats)
X is to A what Y is to B Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Judicious praise is to children what the sun is to flowers. X is …no more than Y A home without love is no more than a body without a soul.
X … and Y （This is a special simile, which often occurs in English proverbs.） A word and a stone let go cannot be recalled.
2. Metaphor(暗喻)
A metaphor is the use of a word which denotes one thing to refer to another with a similar quality. It is also a comparison, which is implied without using like /as.
2) Patterns of simile X is like Y My wife’s new hat is like a lighthouse. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. X…as /(as…as)/ as if/ though Y You cannot hope to move me, as you cannot expect the sun to rise in the west. Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark. (Francis Bacon)
- 1、下载文档前请自行甄别文档内容的完整性，平台不提供额外的编辑、内容补充、找答案等附加服务。
- 2、"仅部分预览"的文档,不可在线预览部分如存在完整性等问题,可反馈申请退款(可完整预览的文档不适用该条件!)。
- 3、如文档侵犯您的权益，请联系客服反馈,我们会尽快为您处理(人工客服工作时间：9:00-18:30)。
She is very pretty.
3). He almost died laughing. He laughed heartily. 4). It made my blood boil I was really enraged.
(2) Ways of creating hyperboles:
By the use of numerals 利用数词
E.g. His eyes fell on the page, but his mind was a million miles away. (他的眼睛在书页上，可心思却在十万八千里之外。)
By the use of extreme words 利用极端概念
E.g. I’ll keep it a secret till the end of the world. (我将把秘密保持到世界末日。)
2.The Bible
1）From the Old Testament The Tower of Babel, Samson and Delilah, Solomon 2) From the New Testament The Nativity, The Magi, Judas 3) From Christ's Parables The lost sheep, The eleventh hour
I will love you till the seas gone dry, the rocks melt with the sun.
(我爱你到海枯石烂。)
By the use of certain adjectives and adverbs 利用形容词和副词
E.g. I am thirsty to death for the book.(我想那本书想得要命。)
Closely related to the fable and the parable. They are all figurative ways of telling stories about fictional characters and events with the purpose of teaching or illustrating a moral principle. They all suggest the truth without stating it directly. Allegory has no determinate length. It can be short as a few words, or as long as a whole passage or a whole novel. E.g. No rose without a thorn.世上没有无刺的玫瑰。 ( 世上没有十全十美的事) It’s time to turn swords into ploughs. 铸剑为犁。( 是应该以和平代替战争的时候了)
By the use of nouns 利用名词
E.g. ①He is always punctual as the Big Ben.(他总是守时如大本钟。)
②They cried to Heaven for a timely rainfall.(他们喊声震天乞求及时雨)
By the use of verbs E.g. ①She laughed, and the whole world laughed with her.
Chapter 11 Logical Figures of Speech
0114901 彭小芳 0114903 郑 洁 0114907 张茜茜 0114922 万文波
Contents of This Chapter
11.1 Allegory 讽喻 ；寓言 11.2 Allusion 典故；引用 11.3 Hyperbole 夸张 11.4 Understatement 含蓄陈述 11.5 Irony 反语
Understatement Litotes [ laɪ„ təʊtiːz] 曲言法
Meiosis [maɪ'əʊsɪs]弱陈法 Overtones [„əuvə,təunz] 暗示法
Litotes 曲言法
• Litotes is understatement by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed. • It is the use of negative form for positive ideas when the speaker wishes to weaken his tone of comment on something. • She was not without ambition. • She was quite ambitious. • He was a man of no mean wealth. • He was quite rich. • That’s no laughing matter. • That’s a serious matter.
11.2 Allusion [ə'lʊʒən]典故
Allusion derives from the Latin word “allusio”, which means “playing with”.指暗示或附带提及，即借助具有互不相干的熟悉 事物来阐述另外一种事物。 Allusion is usually a casual, brief and implicit reference to a famous historical or literary figure or a well-known historical event, which the writer assumes to be familiar to his readers. E.g. She sat there all night as silent as the sphinx. If you take his parking place, you can expect World War II all over again. In the Greek mythology, Sphinx was a monster with the head and breasts of a woman, the wings of a bird, a serpent’s tail and a lion’s paws and a human voice. The Sphinx story is well known to the westerners.
夸张手法是人们从主观出发，有意识地把事实夸大，故意言过其实，
以达到强调或突出的一种修辞手法。它偏重于情感，而不太注重事
实，表达得比实际事情更高、更强烈、更有集中性，具有诙谐、讥 讽、褒贬等功用。一般说来，凡事物，都可适当地利用夸张去修饰。
E.g. 1). Thanks a million. Thank you very much. 2). She is the prettiest girl in the world.
4.Modern and Contemporary Sources
The Titanic; the great depression; the sneak attack on pearl harbor…
5.Historical figures
a Wellington, a Homer, a Shakespeare, a Hitler…
By the use of superlative degree of adjectives or adverbs
利用形容词和副词的最高级
E.g. ①I’m the happiest man in the world.(我是世界上最幸福的人。) ②Shakespeare is universally well known. (莎士比亚名冠天下。)
11.3 Hyperbole 夸张
It refers to a case where the speaker’s description is
stronger than is warranted by the state of affairs
described, also known as exaggeration or over-statement. Hyperbole is commonly used as a sign of great emotion or passion. There is no intent to deceive the audiences.
Sources of Allusions:
1.Fairy tales, Myths, Legends and Fables
1)Fairy tales Cinderella, Open sesame, Aladdin and the wonderful lamp, Beauty and the beast, The emperor’s new clothes, The ugly duckling… 2) Greek mythology Achilles’ heel or the heel of Achilles, Apollo, Oedipus, Pandora’s box, Trojan horse… 3) Fables Sour grapes, Bury one’s head in the sand, Pull the chestnuts out of the fire, The boy who cried wolf, The hare and the tortoise…
(她一笑，整个世界都笑了) ②He smoked like a chimney. （他就像个大烟囱)
11.4 Understatement 含蓄陈述
(1) Definition: It is a figure of speech in which an idea is deliberately expressed too weakly. It is the opposite of hyperbole. It is used to play down or to minimize the importance of it . The purpose is to draw the attention of the audience to the subject or the idea so as to lay emphasis on it.