Top 15 figures of speech for beginners.
Figures of speech are words or expressions used in some other way than its literal meaning. Whenever you say something but you don’t mean it literally you are using a figure of speech.
Artistically the purpose of a figure of speech is to lend texture and colour to your writing, this in itself is a figure of speech.
Below is a list of fifteen commonly used figures of speech with their examples.
Simile
A comparison usually using ‘as’ and ‘like’ between different
things but certain qualities in common.
Note: Unlike metaphor, simile draws resemblance with the help
of ‘as’ and ‘like’. The expression will not be qualified to be termed as simile
if the words ‘as’ and ‘like’ are not use for comparison.
Example 1:
Ramos in today’s match was like a lion.
Example 2: He is as funny as a monkey.
Metaphor
A direct comparison between two things that have something in
common.
Example 1: Sulayman is really a lion.
Example 2: Kisses are the flowers of affection.
Personification
A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or
abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities.
Example 1: Look at this milk telling me not to drink
it.
Example 2: The trees were waving us on our way to
school.
Hyperbole
The use of deliberately exaggerated expression for the
purpose of emphasis. (Also termed as an extravagant statement).
Example 1: The police were packed in the truck like
sardines.
Example 2: I called you million times before you
answered
Apostrophe
A figure of speech where one address absent person or thing,
some abstract quality, an inanimate object, or a non-existent character.
Example 1: Hello moon, come down because I want to
talk to you.
Example 2: Hey Aisha. You are one month old but
please repeat after me.
Euphemism
The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered
offensively explicit.
Example 1: I regret to tell you that Binta’s husband
left this world. (Died)
Example 2: I feel sorry for this boy because all his
parents are behind bars. (Jailed)
Pun
A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same
word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.
Example 1: The grammarian was very logical. He had a
lot of comma sense.
Example 2: You were right, so I left.
Oxymoron
A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms
are use together in the same expression.
Example 1: Buba is intelligently stupid.
Example 2: He is telling an untrue fact..
Paradox
A statement that seems self-contradictory.
Example 1: Truth is honey, which is bitter.
Example 2: I am nobody.
Irony
Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such
a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the
words.
Example 1: Her boyfriend’s hand is soft like a rock.
Example 2: Brilliant pupils always take last position
in class.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of identical
initial consonant sounds in closely associated syllables within a group of
words.
Example 1: Sheep should sleep in a shed.
Example 2: I saw a saw that could out saw any other
saw I ever saw.
Assonance
Assonance is a resemblance in the sounds of words/syllables between
their vowels.
Example 1: Sally sells sea shells beside the sea
shore. (Repetition of the e sounds )
Example 2: Go slow over the road. (Repetition of the ‘O’
sound in almost all the words)
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the
whole or vice versa.
Example 1: I have hungry mouths to feed.
Example 2: We should put all hands on desk.
Mouths in example
1 represent people and hands also in
example 2 represent a crew (people).
Metonymy
A metonymy is a figure of speech in which an object or idea
represents a larger concept that is related to it.
Example 1: The crown has spoken. (Crown in
this context refers to the King)
Example 2: The pen is mighty than the sword. (The pen
and sword as used in the expression represent above represent knowledge
and violence respectively.)
Sarcasm
Sarcasm is a statement which means the opposite of what it
says. It is mostly made to create humour, or even hurtful.
Example 1: She has a Masters degree in English
literature but cannot spell the word ‘boy’
Example 2: You should thank the mad man for insulting
you.
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is an expression that phonetically suggests,
imitates or resembles the sound tat it describes. Such words are themselves called onomatopoeias.
Example 1: Please bang the door. (Bang imitates the
sound that occurs when a door is closed)
Example 2: I will slap anyone who murmur in this
class. (Murmur is a kind of irregular noise that happens usually in a crowd).
