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10 Basic Figures of Speech – An Easy Guide

The use of figures of speech in creative writing gives ideas or feelings a unique perspective. It involves a departure from the more commonly used form of word order or sentence construction. Writers often employ such figures of speech to embellish their composition.

This article attempts to shed light on various figures of speech that will help you realize how you can craft your writing to meet your expectations.

1. similar

It is a specific comparison made by means of words such as “as” or “like” between two types of objects. “Reason is to faith like the eye is to a telescope”, an example of a simile.

2. Metaphor

Use a word or phrase that denotes one type of idea in place of another word or phrase to suggest a similarity between the two.

3. Anticlimax

It is a series of ideas that suddenly lose importance at the end of a sentence or passage. It is used to bring satirical effect.

4. Antithesis

It is a juxtaposition of two words, phrases, clauses or sentences contrasting in meaning to provide emphasis to contrasting ideas. “To err is human, to forgive is divine” is a good example of antithesis.

5. Climax

It is an arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences in the order of their meaning. The least powerful go first and the others. “It is an outrage to bind a Roman citizen; it is a crime to scold him; it is almost a parricide to kill him; but to crucify him, what shall I say of this?” This particular example correctly says what climax means.

6. Design

It is an elaborate and often extravagant metaphor. It makes an analogy between totally dissimilar things. The term originally means concept or idea. The concepts were widely used in the metaphysical poetry of the 17th century. In “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”, John Donne uses it where the linked arms image of a compass is used to demonstrate the attachment of a pair of lovers; even when one makes a move, the two are closely linked as one.

7. Euphemism

It involves the substitution of a harmless term or phrase for one that has rude or sordid unpleasant associations, for example, in the use of words like “toilet” for “lavatory” and “perish” for “die.”

8. Hyperbole

It is a form of excessive exaggeration. It means that a person or thing is portrayed as better or worse than the real thing. For example, “Dr. Jonathan drank his tea in the oceans.”

9. Irony

It is a humorous or slightly sarcastic way of speaking. Words are used here to convey a meaning contrary to their literal meaning.

10. Personification

It involves the representation of inanimate or abstract ideas as living beings. The sentence “Necessity is the mother of invention” can help you better understand this idea.

Studying these rhetorical figures in detail will help you understand the point of elaborating your ideas and imagination in creating an excellent work of literature, poetry, or other mode of writing.

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