Figures_of_speech

1、Figures of Speech A figure of speech is the use of a word or words diverging from its usual meaning. It can also be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it, as in idiom, me

2、taphor, simile, hyperbole, or personification. Definition Figures of speech often provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity, heighten effect, or create suggestive暗示的；影射的imagery . However, clarity may also suffer from their use, as any figure of speech introduces an ambiguity between lite

3、ral and figurative interpretation. A figure of speech is sometimes called a rhetorical figure.FunctionSimile a figure of speech 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 use

4、d to transfer the quality we associate with one to the other. As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. My love is like a red red rose. Tom is as tall as his brother. (not a simile) Tom is as tall as a tower. (simile)Examples Type One: like. E.g., Living without an aim is

5、 like sailing without a compass. Type Two: as. E.g., Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark. As firm as a rock As brave as a lion As obstinate as a cow As white as snow As changeable as the weather As proud as a peacock As fresh as a rose充满青春活力的，精力充沛的 Type Three: what. Two Patterns:A is

6、to B what C is to D.What C is to D, A is to B.E.g., Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. What salt is to food, wit智慧and humor are to conversation and literature. Type Four: than. E.g., A home without love is no more than a body without a soul. Type Five: and. E.g., Truth and roses ha

7、ve thorns about them. A word and stone let go放手cannot be recalled撤消.Metaphor A figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another. (Websters New World Dictionary)A comparison is usually implicit; whereas in si

8、mile it is explicit.Metaphors are often easy to identify and take the form X is Y. Something or someone is being compared to something or someone else through a construction using the appropriate part of the verb to be (i.e. am, are, is, was, were, will be). Marriage is a book of which the first cha

9、pter is written in poetry and remaining chapters in prose. Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. ( Of Studies, Bacon) All the worlds a stage, And all men and women merely players;They have their exits and entrances,And one man in his time plays many p

10、arts,His acts being seven ages (Shakespeare, As you Like it皆大欢喜)Personification It gives human form of feelings to animals, or life and personal attributes(个人属性) to inanimate objects, or to ideas and abstractions.1. O, my loves like a red, red rose,Thats newly sprung in June:O, my loves like the mel

11、ody Thats sweetly played in tune. Robert Burns 2. Kindness is the golden chain by which the world is bound. -(Goethe)3. The rain to the wind said“You push and Ill pelt急降,”They so smote侵袭（smite的过去式） the garden bedThat the flowers actually kneltAnd lay lodged倒伏 though not deadI know how the flowers fe

12、lt. (Robert Frost)Questions: what figures of speech have been adopted respectively? Whats the difference? 1: simile; 2: metaphor; 3: personification. 1&2 are static figures of speech. No.3 is Dynamic; Very lively. A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. 真理

13、还来不及穿上鞋子，谎言已经走遍了半个世界。Metonymy转喻；借代 *A figure of speech that consists in存在于using the name of one thing for that of something else with which it is associated.*Function: brief, vivid, interesting 转喻(Metonymy)是指当甲事物同乙事物不相类似，但有密切关系时，可以利用这种关系，以乙事物的名称来取代甲事物。转喻的重点不是在“相似”；而是在“联想”。转喻又称借代 。E.g., The pen is mi

14、ghtier强有力的than the sword.He keeps a good table. (待客周到,以丰盛的饮食招待客人)This is the struggle between the kimono和服and the miniskirt.Synecdochesnekdk提喻提喻 提喻是不直接说某一事物的名称，而是借事物的本身所呈现的各种对应的现象来表现; 部份代整体，或整体代部份 a term is used in one of the following ways: 1.Part of something is used to refer to the whole thing 2.

15、 A thing (a whole) is used to refer to part of it 3. A specific class of thing is used to refer to a larger, more general class 4. A general class of thing is used to refer to a smaller, more specific class 5. A material is used to refer to an object composed of that material Examples Many hands mak

16、e light work. the good book, or The Book for the Bible John Hancock for the signature of any person glasses for spectacles steel for a sword barrel for a barrel of oil Transferred Epithet修饰语移置；移就修饰语移置；移就Epithet: An adjective or descriptive phrase that refers to the character or most important qualit

17、y of someone (表示某人性格或最主要特征的)修饰语或描述性短语 移就：这种修饰语不直接说明它所修饰对象的性质、形象或特色，而往往转个弯子去表示该对象给人的某种感觉。a dizzy height: a. height that is dizzyb. a height that cause people to feel dizzy (令人眼晕的高度)a sleepless bed:a. a bed that is sleeplessb. a bed on which the sleeper has little sleep (寝不安枕)a sweet voice:一个甜嗓子(表示味觉的

18、形容词转移到了听觉)an icy look:一副冷漠神色(表示触觉的形容词转移到视觉)I spoke to them in hesitant French.After an unthinking moment, she put her pen into her mouth.Hyperbole/OverstatementDefinition: An exaggerated or extravagant过度的statement used as a figure of speech; Exaggeration for effect, not meant to be taken literally E

19、xtravagant exaggeration.Function: exaggerate the toneCompare: He ran down the avenue, making a loud noise. He ran down the avenue, making a noise like ten horses at a gallop疾驰；飞奔. The most effective water power in the world womens tearsFor she was beautiful her beauty madethe bright world dim暗淡的, an

20、d everything beside seemed like the fleeting image of a shade. ShellyThe hyperbole “her beauty made the bright world dim” expresses the speakers great admiration for the female figure. What the poet intends to say, put in plain terms, is that she was extraordinarily beautiful.To be, or not to be: th

21、at is the questionWhethert is nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of troublesAnd by opposing end them?. (Shakespeares Hamlet )生存还是毁灭,这是一个值得考虑的问题；默默忍受命运的暴虐的毒箭，或是挺身反抗人世的无涯的苦难，在奋斗中结束一切？ A hyperbole is often metaphorical. The phrase a sea

22、 of troubles in line four is an exaggerated as well as metaphoric way of saying that it is a great quantity of troublesUnderstatement(低调/含蓄陈述)Statement that expressed an idea, etc, too weakly；the opposite of hyperbole, or overstatement. It achieves its effect of emphasizing a fact by deliberately un

23、derstating it, impressing the listener or the reader more by what is merely implied or left unsaid than by bare无装饰的statement. low profile低调，低姿态 This problem is not above us He is a man not without ambition. Money is a kind of tight, but I can manage.Onomatopoeia（拟声 ）Definition: Combination of sounds

24、 in a word that imitating what the word refers to, like hiss嘶嘶声 or boom隆隆声; imitation of sound；sound from natureFunction: association, direct, vivid.The stream flows through the woods.The stream is murmuring through the woods.Dasi started laughing.Dasi started giggling. Cows low牛叫, moo.（哞哞叫） Cocks c

25、row. Cats mew, purr（猫的）呜呜声 Lions roar. Snakes hiss. Wolves howl. Magpies喜鹊chatter. Dogs bow-wow.Euphemism The use of pleasant, mild or indirect words or phrases in place of more accurate or direct ones; to talk about unpleasant things in a pleasant way.Examples Under the weather 不舒服, 身体不适 Social dis

26、ease性病, 花柳病 Hard of hearing听力不好 Join ones ancestors Whats the matter with you? You look off colour. 你怎么了你怎么了?你的脸色看上去很不好。你的脸色看上去很不好。 Not all there 稀里糊涂的;不太正常 Senior citizen go west上西天上西天 Return to dust Globes, apples, curves, charms (breast) Relieve oneself大小便Oxymoron,ksmrn矛盾修饰法 The yoking结合；给上轭toget

27、her of two expressions which are incompatible, so that in combination they have no conceivable literal reference to reality. Features: contradictory in meaning；the complexity of things Example: A cheerful pessimist Painful pleasure A thunderous silenceAdj. + N. creative destruction, living death, te

28、arful joy, orderly chaos, etc.Adj.+ Adj. cold pleasant manner, sour-sweet days, poor rich guys, etc.Adv. +Adj. dully bright, mercifully fatal, falsely true, wisely stupid, etc.V. + Adv. hasten slowly (=make haste slowly), shine darkly, etc. N. + N. love-hate relationship, the sound of silence, etc.

29、It (New York) has the poorest millionaires, the littlest great men, the haughtiest傲慢的beggars, the plainest beauties, the lowest skyscrapers, the dolefulest悲痛的pleasures of any town I ever saw.Parody 拙劣模仿/滑稽模仿Literary or musical composition imitating the characteristic style of some other work or of a

30、 writer or composer, but treating a serious subject on a nonsensical(荒谬的) manner, as in ridicule嘲笑；愚弄. Function: humorous, ironical, interesting Example: I have no outlook, but an uplook. My place in society was at the bottom.我没有人生观，但我有“上爬观”，我的地位在社会的最底层。*A husband in hand is worth two in the bush.A

31、bird in hand is worth two in the bush.*To lie or not to liethe doctors dilemma.To be or not to be, thats the problem.ParallelismThe arrangement of a number of related ideas of the same importance in a number of parallel or balanced structures forms an integrated whole, in order to intensify emotion

32、and to emphasize the authors point. Function: create rhythm, brief, compare and contrastThey could describe an entertainment with accuracy, relate an anecdote with humor, and laugh at their acquaintance with spirit. Read not to contradict and confuse; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find

33、 talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.If you prick us, do we not bleed?If you tickle us, do we not laugh?If you poison us, do we not die?And if you wrong us无理地对待, shall we not revenge? (The Merchant of Venice) Antithesis(对偶) deliberate arrangement of contrasting words or ideas in balanced s

34、tructural forms to achieve emphasis. Feature: contrast in meaning, parallel in structureGive me liberty, or give me death不自由，毋宁死。 Knowledge make humble, ignorance make proud. Where theres marriage without love, there will be love without marriage. Benjamin FranklinPunplay on wordsn. An amusing use o

35、f a word or phrase that has two meanings, or words with the same sound but different meanings.The humorous use of a word, or of words which are formed or sounded alike but havedifferent meanings, in such a way as to playon two or more of the possible applications; a play on words.Pun: different type

36、s Type 1: The same sound, but different spelling and meanings You earn your living and urn骨灰瓮your dead. 谋生即筑墓。 (earn your living 谋生， urn your dead火化死者） Type 2: The same spelling, same sound but different meanings. To England will I steal, and there Ill steal. (Shakespeare: Henry V) 我悄悄地溜到英国就在那儿偷。*We

37、 must hang together, or we shall all hang separately. （Benjamin Franklin)我们必须紧密地团结在一起，否则我们 将被一个个地绞死。Make your every hello a real good-buy. (a Telephone Advertisement)让你的每一声“哈罗”都真的物有所值。这则广告，打电话第一句称呼通常是“hello”而末尾通常是“good-bye”,那么每一次打电话从头到尾都清晰，这个电话就确实买得好，good-buy与good-bye同音，一语双关。Zeugmazjugm (轭式修饰法轭式修饰法)

38、 A figure of speech in which a single word, usually a verb or adjective, is syntactically related to two or more words, with only one of which it seems logically connected.* A word is used to modify or govern two or more words although its use is grammatically or logically correct with only one. 指用一

39、个词（通常是动词，形容词或介词）同时修饰或支配两个或两个以上的名词,但其中只有一个是合乎逻辑的搭配句式. * She opened the door and her heart to the homeless boy.她打开门热忱欢迎那个无家可归的孩子。句中动词open(打开)先用于本义，后用于转义。Three types of zeugma Type 1: V+N1 +N2(1个动词个动词+2个名词个名词)*She dropped a tear and her pocket handkerchief. (Dickens) 她掉了一滴眼泪，掉了一条手帕。 *She possessed two

40、false teeth and a sympathetic heart. (O.Henry) 她有两颗假牙，一颗富于同情的心。以上两个句子里动词后接的是两个逻辑上明显并不能并列的、属于完全不同语义范畴的词作同等成分，以达到滑稽、可笑的效果。 Type 2: Adj.+N1+N2(1个形容词个形容词+2个名词个名词) *The room was not light, but his fingers were. *It is much better to have a patched jacket than to have a (patched) character.穿有补丁的衣服也比品德上打补丁

41、好。Patched 作形容词修饰jacket是规范搭配，而修饰character则是非规范搭配。 Type 3: Prep.+N1 +N2(1介词+2名词)* She was dressed in a maids cap, a pinafore, and a bright smile.她戴一顶少女戴的帽子，系一条围裙，带着灿烂的微笑。词组be dressed in 中介词in同cap与pinafore的搭配都属于规范搭配，而与smile 的搭配则属于非规范搭配。Allusion Definition: A figure of speech that makes a reference to,

42、or representation of, a place, event, literary work, myth神话, or work of art, either indirectly or by implication. The heel of Achilles唯一致命的弱点(Achilles阿基里斯(荷马史诗里的角色) Open sesame秘诀, 开门咒(magic words used, in one of The Arabian Nights Stories, to cause a door to open) Cinderella灰姑娘, 被埋没的人 （格林童话中主角） Towe

43、r of Babel巴别塔;古代巴比伦未建筑成的通天塔（据圣经创世记第11章记载，是当时人类联合起来兴建，希望能通往天堂的高塔。为了阻止人类的计划，上帝让人类说不同的语言，使人类相互之间不能沟通，计划因此失败，人类自此各散东西。此故事试图为世上出现不同语言和种族提供解释。） Pound of flesh残酷榨取;割肉还债;合法但极不合理的要求 （the story in The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare ） Catch-22: dilemma faced by someone who is bound to suffer, whichever cour

44、se of action he takes 令人左右为难的规定;相互矛盾的困窘 To meet ones Waterloo滑铁卢（比利时城镇）；比喻惨败，致命的打击: be finally and crushing defeated in a contest (esp. after a period of success)Irony反讽反讽 A method of humorous or subtle sarcastic挖苦的; 讽刺的expression in which the intended meaning of the words used is the direct opposit

45、e of their usual sense. Feature: You say one thing, but mean quite the opposite.Examples We send missionaries to China so the Chinese can get to heaven, but we dont let them into our country. Her capacity for family affection亲情 is extraordinary; when her third husband died, her hair turned quite gol

46、d from grief.What a noble illustration of the tender laws of his favoured country! they let the paupers go to sleep!他们竟允许穷人睡觉！ 这是多么高尚的例证，说明他喜爱的那个国家的法律是多么仁慈！Climax(递进法)A rhetorical series of ideas, images, etc. arranged progressively so that the most forceful is last.通过一系列观念、形象的修辞安排，逐步把意思往前推进，最有力量的放在

47、最后 Im sorry, I am so very sorry, I am so extremely sorry. (Chesterton) He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he who loses courage loses all. I came, I saw, I conquered. Some read to think, these are rare; some to write, these are common; and some read to talk, and these form the great majority.Some books are to be taste