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| Expressive means and stylistic devices
| Their definition
| Example
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| Metaphor
| transference of some quality from one object to another which has the power of realizing two lexical meanings simultaneously; a comparison without ‘like’ or ‘as’ based on analogy and partial similarity
| I jumped and struggled my way to the front of the restless crowd. My pulse shot in my ears. My face was burning hot…
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| Metonymy
| a substitution of one item for another item suggested by or closely related with the first one; it is based on association connecting the two represented ideas
| The pen is mightier than the sword
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| Simile
| an imaginative comparison of two unlike objects belonging to two different classes
| Take, for example, Petey Bellows, my roommate at the university. Same age, same background, but dumb as an ox.
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| Epithet
| a stylistic device based on the interplay of emotive and logical meaning in an attributive word, phrase, sentence
| The successful lawyers I had observed were, almost without exception, married to beautiful, gracious, intelligent women.
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| Irony
| it is based on the simultaneous realization of two logical meanings – dictionary and contextual – which stand in opposition to each other (delightful=awful)
| "Can you mean," I said incredulously, "that people are wearing raccoon coats again?" "All the Big Men on Campus are wearing them. Where've you been?"
"In the library," I said, naming a place not frequented by Big Men on Campus.
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| Oxymoron
| it is a partially marked construction; a combination of two words in which the meanings of the two clash, being opposite in sense, being contradictory (sweet pain, a damned saint).
| A yawn may be defined as a silent yell.
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| Hyperbole
| a deliberate overstatement/exaggeration of a feature essential to the object/phenomenon, intensifies the feature, sometimes to an absurdity
| Somebody coughed, and I expected the windows to rattle.
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| Allusion
| indirect reference by word or phrase to a historical, literary, mythological, biblical act made in the course of speaking or writing. No indication of the source is given
| The final examinations are judgment day.
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| Inversion
| a special arrangement of words within a sentence by means of which one of the members of the sentence is put into prominence
| Cool was I and logical. Keen, calculating, perspicacious, acute and astute—I was all of these.
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| Parcellation
| a stylistic device with an intentional splitting of an indivisible syntactic structure into 2 or more isolated parts separated by a pause from each other
| He is a nice enough fellow, you understand, but nothing upstairs. Emotional type. Unstable. Impressionable. Worst of all, a faddist.
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| Parallel constructions
| a device which consists of successive phrases, clauses or even sentences. The sentence structure is repeated, or just some of its parts, but they should occur in succession
| There were, ..., real silver spoons to stir the tea with, and real china cups to drink it out of, and plates of the same to hold the cakes and toast in.
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| Polysyndeton
| a stylistic device of connecting sentences/phrase/syntagms/words by using connectives (conjunctions and prepositions) before each component part
| They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and played and talked and flunked.
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| Rhetorical question
| a special syntactic stylistic device, the essence of which consists in reshaping the grammatical meaning of an interrogative sentence. Formally it is a question, but semantically – a declarative sentence
| How could you choose Petey Bellows over me? Look at me—a brilliant student, a tremendous intellectual, a man with an assured future. Look at Petey—a knothead, a jitterbug, a guy who'll never know where his next meal is coming from.
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| Ellipsis
| an omission of one/both principal members of the sentence, but their meanings are restored in the context
| Looks like rain.
See what I mean?
What’s happened? – Nothing.
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| Aposiopesis
| a figure of speech consisting in an abrupt breaking off which leaves it for the reader to complete what has remained unsaid. It is represented with a suspension mark (...)
| My opponent is a notorious liar. You can't believe a word that he is going to say…
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