IDENTIFYING LANGUAGE IDENTIFYING LANGUAGE FEATURESFEATURES

• to instruct and entertain people through the play of language,

• to persuade people of the truth or value of the message that a figure conveys, and

• to help people remember both the meaning of the message and its figurative expression.

Figures of Speech

Since ancient times, the figures of speech have served three main purposes:

• To analyze and appreciate the craft of the writers

• To comment on passages on the exam

• To study literature

Figures of Speech

Using a particular device, or trick, with language in order to make it more

interesting

Figures of Speech

•Images/resemblance

•Sound

•Contradictions

•Others

Figures of Speech

IMAGES/RESEMBLANCEIMAGES/RESEMBLANCE • Simile

• Metaphor

• Personification

Simile

The use of simile is to describe something by

comparing or establishing its similarity to something

else, using ‘like’ or ‘as’. This device makes the

description more emphatic.

IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE

This food tastes like garbage.

He’s as cool as a cucumber.

p r a c t i c e

as _____as a cucumber

as _____ as a lamb

as _____ as a bat

as _____ as a doornail

to _____ like a fish

to _____ like a bird

to _____ like a horse

to _____ like a chimney

Simile

IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE

I could hear Armanda’s voice above the rest: her laughter was like that of an overtired child. Sprinkled across the water’s edge, the lanterns and candles looked like Chistmas light.

Simile

IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE

I could hear Armanda’s voice above the rest: her laughter was like that of an overtired child. Sprinkled across the water’s edge, the lanterns and candles looked like Christmas light.

Her laughter was like that of an overtired child is a simile. Armanda is an old lady. Not a child, and the simile suggests that Armanda has had such a wonderful time that she felt like a little girl again.

Simile

IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE

I could hear Armanda’s voice above the rest: her laughter was like that of an overtired child. Sprinkled across the water’s edge, the lanterns and candles looked like Chistmas light.

The lanterns and candles looked like Chistmas light is the second simile.This is effective because it suggests how bright and sparkling the lanterns were, and it adds to the party atmosphere as Christmas is a time of celebration.

SimileRichard fought as fiercely as a loin.

MetaphorRichard was a lion in the fight.

SimileThe waves broke on the shore with noise like a thunder.

MetaphorThe waves thundered on the shore.

Simile and Metaphor

Metaphor

Metaphor is a step further than simile. Instead of

basing the comparison on the fact that two things

are like each other, using metaphor is saying that

the first is the second, because of the similarities

between them.

The meanings of metaphors, while sometimes

simple, are best understood in context.

IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE

MetaphorIMAGES/RESEMBLANCE IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE

The school was a prison for him.

The school shares certain characteristics with prisons. It is probable that the person referred to as ‘him’ feels locked up in school, as prisoners do in prison.

p r a c t i c e

Do the following analysis with a friend. Write down

your analysis in your notebook.

MetaphorIMAGES/RESEMBLANCE IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE

Rice is nourished by water, earth and wind

and transforms into gold.

Analyze the metaphor in the following sentence.

MetaphorIMAGES/RESEMBLANCE IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE

Transforms into gold is a metaphor. Rice is a plant and becomes a food, and people do not eat gold. However, people value gold so the metaphor suggests that rice is valuable because without food we die.

Rice is nourished by water, earth and wind

and transforms into gold.

Personification

IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE

Personification is the treating of an inanimate

object as if it were animate and is probably the

most beautiful and effective of all the figures of

speech. Personification depends much on a vivid

imagination and is adapted especially to poetical

composition.

p r a c t i c e

Personification

IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE

It has two distinguishable forms:1.when personality is ascribed to the inanimate:

"The mountains sing together, the hills rejoice and clap their hands."

2. when some quality of life is attributed to the inanimate:

a raging storm, an angry sea, a whistling wind, etc.

p r a c t i c e

Do the following analysis with a friend. Write down

your analysis in your notebook.

Personification

IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE

Rice demands the sweat of man. In return,

the earth gives birth to grain that is

valuable and precious for human life.

Analyze the personification in the following text.

Personification

IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE IMAGES/RESEMBLANCE

The earth gives birth is an example of personification as giving birth is a human (or animal) activity, and the earth cannot give birth. The writer wants to stress the life-giving qualities of the cultivated earth and the rice it produces.

Rice demands the sweat of man. In return,

the earth gives birth to grain that is

valuable and precious for human life.

Figures of Speech

•Images/resemblance

•Sound

•Contradictions

•Others

Figures of Speech

SOUNDSOUND

• Onomatopoeia

• Alliteration

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is about the use of words that imitate

the sound they denote. In this figure of speech, the

sound of a word is imitative of the sound of the thing

which the word represents.

SOUNDSOUND

"Brrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinng! An alarm clock clanged in the dark and silent room."

(Richard Wright, Native Son, 1940)

p r a c t i c e

Look at the following picture for one minute.

Write what you remember, the word and the picture,

in your notebook.

Onomatopoeia

SOUNDSOUND

There was a loud clatter as dustbins were

blown in the alleyway. Somewhere in the

distance, a dog was howling.

Analyze the onomatopoeia in the following text.

Onomatopoeia

SOUNDSOUND

‘Clatter’ is an example of onomatopoeia. It seems to copy the loud and strident sounds of the metal hitting the ground, the sound made by the dog ‘howling’ is also onomatopoeia. It has two syllables and a long ow sound; these add to the effect that noise made by the dog is prolonged.

There was a loud clatter as dustbins were

blown in the alleyway. Somewhere in the

distance, a dog was howling.

Alliteration

Alliteration is a figure of speech in which words

beginning with the same sounds are deliberately

placed close together to achieve a particular effect.

It is the repetition of an initial consonant sound.

SOUNDSOUND

She sells seashells down by the seashore.

"The soul selects her own society.“

(Emily Dickinson)

In clichés:

sweet smell of success

a dime a dozen

bigger and better

jump for joy

the more the merrier

AlliterationSOUNDSOUND

p r a c t i c e

In your notebook, write a sentence with alliteration.

Exchange your book with a friend, memorize your

friend’s sentence with alliteration. Present it to class.

p r a c t i c e

Do the following analysis with a friend. Write down

your analysis in your notebook.

AlliterationSOUNDSOUND

In the little girl’s pocket, wrapped in a

crunched-up piece of pale paper, was a

rotting apple, brown and bruised.

Analyze the alliteration in the following text.

AlliterationSOUNDSOUND

‘Pale paper’ is an example of alliteration in the representation of the letter ‘p’. As this is a abruptly stopped sound (called plosive) it is appropriate that it should be used in alliteration as something rigid and crunchy is being described. The second example is ‘brown and bruised’. Again, hard sounds are used, and this is appropriate as something unpleasant and therefore harsh to the senses is being described.

In the little girl’s pocket, wrapped in a crunched-up piece of pale paper, was a rotting apple, brown and bruised.

Figures of Speech

•Images/resemblance

•Sound

•Contradictions

•Others

Figures of Speech

CONTRADICTIONCONTRADICTION

• Contrast/antithesis

• Oxymoron

Speech is silver, but Silence is gold.

Contrast/antithesis

In contrast or antithesis, a writer is placing in close

proximity ideas which contrast with each other or

seem almost opposites of each other, in order to

achieve a particular effect.

CONTRADICTIONCONTRADICTION

‘I want to move with all deliberate haste.’

Barrack Obama

TooToo black black forfor heaven,heaven,

and yet too and yet too white white for hell.for hell.

p r a c t i c e

With a partner, think a situation when you can use this .

CONTRADICTIONCONTRADICTION

It was the best of times, it was the worst

of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was

the age of foolishness … it was the spring

of hope, it was the winter of despair.Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities

Analyze the contrast/antithesis in the following sentence.

Contrast/antithesis

The ideas of ‘best’ and ‘worst’ are contrasted as are the ideas of ‘wisdom’ and ‘foolishness’. There is a double contrast in the third item, between ‘spring’ and ‘winter’ and ‘hope’ and ‘despair’. The writer is being contradictory and rather mysterious as if the period being described is problematic. The effect is to engage attention and make the readers want to read more.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness … it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair

CONTRADICTIONCONTRADICTION Contrast/antithesis

Oxymoron

When using oxymoron, a writer places two ideas

that seem to be directly opposed to one another in

close proximity, which, in closer inspection, make

sense.

CONTRADICTIONCONTRADICTION

"A joke is a very serious thing.“

Winston Churchill

OxymoronCONTRADICTIONCONTRADICTION

Random order

Clearly confused

Constant change

Growing small

Typically unusual

Genuine imitation

Terribly good

Numb sensation

Recent history

Act naturally

p r a c t i c e

CONTRADICTIONCONTRADICTION

… the star turn in the schoolroom was a massive sandy-haired Highland Major whose subject was ‘the spirit of the beyond’ (a weapon). He spoke with homicidal eloquence, keeping his talk alive with genial and well-judged jokes.

Siegfried Sassoon Memoirs of an Infantry Officer

Analyze the oxymoron in the following sentence.

Oxymoron

Whose subject was ‘the spirit of the beyond’ shows the major is comfortable with killing people in war and possibly derives satisfaction from it, therefore it is appropriate to describe him as ‘homicidal’. Because he knows his subject well enough to be lecturing on it, he is also ‘eloquent’. We can see the lecturer enjoys both killing and talking about it; his love for killing makes him want to pass on his enthusiasm to others

… the star turn in the schoolroom was a massive sandy-haired Highland Major whose subject was ‘the spirit of the beyond’ (a weapon). He spoke with homicidal eloquence, keeping his talk alive with genial and well-judged jokes.

CONTRADICTIONCONTRADICTIONOxymoron

Figures of Speech

•Images/resemblance

•Sound

•Contradictions

•Others

Figures of Speech

OTHERSOTHERS• Irony

• Rhetorical question

• Repetition

• Pun

• Euphemism

• Hyperbole

Irony

When a writer uses irony, there is a discrepancy

between what is literally said and what is really

meant, or in contrast between what the reader

expects and what is actually given. It can also be a

sarcastic expression in which criticism is disguised as

praise.

Irony

Verbal Irony

Dramatic Irony

Situational Irony

These lines convey verbal irony as band of robbers are in general, not respectable! So, it is ironic that Huck has to return to the widow to join the group.

"But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable" ~ Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

Irony

Verbal Irony

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, dramatic irony is reflected when Romeo kills himself after he finds Juliet sleeping under the influence of drugs and assuming that she is dead.

The irony is that upon awakening Juliet finds Romeo dead and kills herself.

Irony

Dramatic Irony

Irony

Situational Irony

In this case, there is salty sea water everywhere in abundance but there is hardly any water to drink, that is required for basic survival.

"Water, water, everywhere,And all the boards did shrink;Water, water, everywhere,Nor any drop to drink."

Irony

Situational Irony

The firehouse burned down.

Even the police station was robbed.

The teacher failed her test!

p r a c t i c e

With a partner, analyze the following irony,

and write a similar ironic situation.

The boss threw my report across the room

at me. ‘I can see you spent hours on that

piece of work,’ she snarled.

Analyze the irony in the following sentence.

Irony

It is clear that the boss’s actions and tone of the voice that she does not think that the employee spent very long on the work at all and that it is in fact a poor effort. The boss uses the expression ‘spent hours’ ironically to be indirectly critical of the employee.

The boss threw my report across the room at me. ‘I can see you spent hours on that piece of work,’ she snarled.

Irony

Figures of Speech

OTHERSOTHERS• Irony

• Rhetorical question

• Repetition

• Pun

• Euphemism

• Hyperbole

Idiom is the use of a word or expression which is

particular to a language (in this case English) and

which would not make sense if it were translated

literally into another language.

Usually idiom has an informal tone.

I D I O MI D I O M

p r a c t i c e

With a partner, analyze the following idioms.

I’m over the moon to have Miss Smith as

my Maths teacher.

Analyze the idiom in the following sentence.

I D I O MI D I O M

Over the moon expresses the writer’s happiness about the teacher. The moon does not have any literal place in what she says. The writer is using an informal, and rather overused, idiomatic expression which is peculiar to English.

I’m over the moon to have Miss Smith as my

Maths teacher.

I D I O MI D I O M

P R O J E C T

Figures of Speech

• Images/resemblance

• Sound

• Contradictions

• Others

FIGURES OF SPEECH

IDENTIFY AND COMMENT