For example, we often use the phrases like the howling wind, dancing leaves, time flies etc. Personification attributes human nature or human qualities to abstract or inanimate objects. Let us take a look at some of the most popular ones that are used extensively: Personification There is a wide range of different types of figures of speech that are used in our daily communication.
Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed.The sentence “mango is a lovely fruit” might be constructed instead as,Īnaphora Opens in new window is the repetition of adjacent words at the beginning of the next clauses in a sentence. Sara's seven sisters slept soundly in sand.Īnastrophe Opens in new window is a deviation from the correct syntactic order of words, by which the normal English order of the subject Opens in new window, verb Opens in new window, and object Opens in new window are put into inverse order of object-subject-verb.Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”.“Come…dragging the lazy languid line a long”.AlliterationĪlliteration Opens in new window is a stylistic device in prosody Opens in new window, which creates a repetition of initial stressed consonant sound in a series of multiple words within a phrase Opens in new window or poetic verse Opens in new window or line. However, a brief summary of the top 20 figures of speech is provided below, giving you the grace to learn how to employ them to improve your writing skills.
Quintilian defines trope (tropus) as “the artistic alteration of a word or phrase from its proper meaning to another.” Tropes render effectiveness only on single words.įigures of speech are no doubt robust and interesting subject there are countless of them that falls under the sub-sets of Scheme and Trope. Tropes are figures of speech that deals with an unexpected twist in the meaning of words. Generally, it deals with assortment and arrangement of words in an orderly manner. Schemes are figures of speech that deals with word order and syntax. There are several figures of speech, all of which may be classified into: scheme and trope. It is the typical attempt by the speaker’s conscious effort to deviate from the strict literal sense of a word thereby creating room for ambiguity Opens in new window in interpretation.įigure of speech may consist in 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 Opens in new window, metaphor Opens in new window, simile Opens in new window, hyperbole Opens in new window or personification Opens in new window.