“A picture is

worth a
thousand
words.”
He runs fast He runs fast like
the wind.
 The Art of
Language:
FIGURES OF
SPEECH
THE ART OF LANGUAGE
 Language is truly an art form.
 has many variations available that can
convey several different meanings.
 to serve one main purpose – to
communicate.
 we use different methods to express
meaning.
 common method involves – figures of
speech.
 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
• One meaning of “figure” is “drawing” or “picture”.
• creates pictures in the mind of the reader/listener.
• helps convey the meaning faster and more vivid
than words alone.
• to add color, interest and to awaken the
imagination.
 FIGURES OF SPEECH
• another group of words, phrases, or clauses
that may differ in meaning from their literal
interpretation.
• are poetic devices in which two images are
compared to make language meaningful and
beautiful.
  description.
 add color, correctness,
beauty, richness to our
sentences if they are used
appropriately.

flowery words modification of words

 are meant to clarify and  provide emphasis,
describe in more details. freshness of expression,
 are very useful in giving a or clarity.
more detailed and  to give an auxiliary
accurate meaning. meaning, idea or feeling.

Importance of Figures of Speech

 TYPES OF FIGURES OF SPEECH
1. Simile 9. Paradox
2. Metaphor 10. Oxymoron
3. Personification 11. Alliteration
4. Hyperbole 12. Assonance
5. Apostrophe 13. Onomatopoeia
6. Allusion 14. Irony
7. Synecdoche 15. Litotes
 1. SIMILE
- is a brief, compressed comparison using “like” or
“as”.
- a stated comparison between two fundamentally
dissimilar things that have certain qualities in
common. E.g. Your love is like a water to my dry
and barren life.
 2. METAPHOR
- is a figurative language that functions like a simile except that it doesn’t use like
or as in the comparison.

- is a Greek word meaning to “transfer” or “carry over”.

- is an implied comparison.

E.g. Your cheeks are red tomatoes.

 3.
- usually a metaphor that gives human qualities to inanimate
objects.
PERSONIFICATION
- gives non-living things and animals the ability to think, feel and
act like humans.
- an inanimate object/abstraction is endowed with human
qualities.
E.g. The road isn’t built that can make it
breathe hard.
 4. HYPERBOLE
- uses an exaggeration for effect.
- an extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms
for the purpose of emphasis/heightened effect.

E.g. I am so angry, I could kill a battalion of

soldiers.
 5. APOSTROPHE
- addresses an absent person or idea as if present.
- breaking off discourse to address some absent person or
thing, some abstract quality, an inanimate object, or a
non-existent character.
E.g. Oh, Liberty! How many crimes have
been committed in thy name?
 6. ALLUSION
- makes reference to historical, literary,
biblical, and mythological people or
famous quote to add more depth and
meaning to the statement.
E.g. She is the Delilah of her misfortunes.
 7. SYNECDOCHE
- a form of metaphor where one part stands for the
whole, or the whole is substituted for its parts.
- referring to a part by its whole or vice-versa.

E.g. Sheryn got wheels this Christmas.

 8. METONYMY
- uses a word to represent another.
- uses one word to refer to another,
which may not be necessarily, part of
that thing.
E.g. The Crown has enacted
a new social law.
 9. PARADOX
- an apparent contradiction that begins to make
sense in the end.
- a statement that seems to be untrue and
contradictory, but may actually be true.
E.g. The family is alone in the midst of
crowded, congested cities.
 10. OXYMORON
- a form of paradox that combines opposite
terms to show a particular image with striking
effect.
E.g. deafening silence
 11. ALLITERATION

- repetition of initial consonant sounds.

E.g. She sells seashells on the sea
shore.
 12. ASSONANCE
- identity or similarity in sound between internal
vowels in neighboring words.

E.g. Hear the mellow wedding bells.

 13. ONOMATOPOEIA

- the use of words that imitate the sounds

associated with the objects and actions they
refer to.
E.g. “Chug, chug, chug. Puff, puff, puff.
The little train rumbled over the trucks.”
 14. IRONY
- contrast between what is meant and what is said.
- the use of words to signify the opposite of its literal meaning
(sarcastic), saying precisely the opposite of what s/he means.
- Three types:
1. Verbal
2. Situational
3. Dramatic
A. VERBAL IRONY

- uses sarcasm.
E.g. You’re so beautiful today.
 B. SITUATIONAL
IRONY
- may occur when the outcome of a certain situation
is completely different than what was initially
expected.
- “irony of events”.
E.g. A person who claims to be a
vegan and avoids meat but will
eat a slice of pepperoni pizza
because s/he is hungry.
 C. DRAMATIC IRONY
- occurs when there is miscommunication in a book,
play or film and the audience is smarter than the
characters.
E.g. As an audience member, you
realize that if a character walks in an
abandoned warehouse, chances are a
killer is waiting... But because you are
a member of the audience, you
cannot disclose the information to the
character.
 15. LITOTES
- (deliberate understatement).
- states that something is less important than it
really is.
- is expressed by a negative of the contrary.
- affirming by negating its opposite.

E.g. My three-storey house

is not that expensive.
Thank You. 