Now read the utterances and identify the stylistic devices on your own. Comment on their use.

a. His unrivalled brilliance as a student of the physical sciences was aptly illustrated by his 10% in the physics examinations.

b. Their home was a great barracks of a place.

c. The film was minutely dissected by the critics.

d. Our wedding was particularly gruesome (ужасный), with two sets of totally incompatible relatives grinding and grating against each other.

e. I swelled with the pride of possession.

f. That was a possibility as remote as flying to the moon.

g. She sang like a kettle whistling as it boils.

h. The hotel compares favourably with most tents that I have slept in.

i. I am an island.

j. I’ve managed to stop smoking, now I’m trying to stop nuclear power.

143 Read the following advertisements and explain the use of pun. Model: When you decide to give her a ring, give us a ring (Advertisement for a jeweler’s shop)

Here pun is based on the interaction of 2 meanings of the phrase to ‘give a ring’; the first meaning is ‘to present somebody with a ring’ and the second ‘to phone somebody”.

1 For a few pounds you can lose a few (Ad for a slimming course).

2 Go up in the world (ad to recruit air attendants).

3 We’ll give you sound advice (Hi-fi shop ad).

4 We offer you a good deal (Bank ad to attract new customers).

5 Your views are reflected in the Mirror (Ad for the Mirror newspaper).

6 Make a snap decision (Ad for a new camera).

7 Money matters (Title of the financial section of a newspaper).

8 It’s good for you, naturally (Ad for fruit juice).

9 Go by air. It’s plane common sense (Ad for air travel).

10 We’ll give you red carpet treatment (or blue, or green, or brown, or yellow…(Carpet shop ad).

11 Sea for yourself (Ad to attract recruits to the Royal Navy).

12 Try our glue once and you’ll always stick with us (Ad for a brand of glue).

13 Christmas is a time to think of family ties. Buy ours (Ad for men’s ties).

14 The weather-men can’t guarantee you an Indian summer, but we can (Travel agency ad).

144 Hackneyed similes are ‘ready-made’ comparisons that are registered in the anguage and are set expressions or idioms. Below there are more of them. Make sure you understand their meanings. Try and find their Belarusian/Russian equivalents.

1 Why did you speak to him? You usually avoid him like the plague.

……………………………………………………………………….......

2 Are you OK? You're white as a sheet. ……………………………………………...........................................

3 He phones us every Sunday at six, regular as clockwork……………………….……………………………………....

4 Dan Brown’s books are going now like hot cakes. ……………………………….............................................................

5 He is dead, as sure as death…………………………………

6 Ads pull customers in like bees to a honeypot…………………………………….......................................

7 I didn't get on with her at work either - we fought like cat and dog……………..………………………………….........................

8 He turned up one morning, drunk as a lord………………………………………............................................

9 He was like cat on a hot tin roof before his exam…………………………………………………………….............

10 I turned a corner and there was Joe, as large as life……………………………............................................................

11 She's a fantastic girl, as good as gold ……………………………………………...........................................

12 The baby’s skin is as smooth as silk. ………………………………………………........................................

13 All three of them were there and had finished lunch when Maxi, cool as a cucumber,..............................................................

took out some cigarette paper and started rolling a joint in front of them .

14 We follow their every word like lamb to the slaughter………………………………..............................................

15 It’s not as simple as ABC…………………………………….

Quite often pun or a play on words happens unexpectedly and unintentionally resulting from mistakes that students or non-native speakers of English make. These are caused either by verbal misuse or misspelling or both. The excerpts illustrate such cases.