Decide if these statements are ironic or not.

Practice 5

Theme. Stylistic semasiology. Lexico-semantic stylistic devices. Figures of substitution

Aims:to define the notions of lexico-semantic stylistic devices, figures of substitution; to differentiate between figures of quantity and figures of quality; to learn to find hyperbole, meiosis, litotes, metonymy, metaphor, irony in the texts.

Plan

1. General considerations.

2. Figures of quantity:

- hyperbole;
- meiosis (litotes).

3. Figures of quality:

- metonymy (synecdoche, periphrasis, euphemism);

- metaphor (antonomasia, personification, allegory, epithet);

- irony.

Literature recommended

1. Мороховский А. Н., Воробьева О. П. и др. Стилистика английс­кого языка. - К., 1991. - С. 164-186.

2. Арнольд И. В. Стилистика современного английского языка. -М., 1990.-С. 74-93

3. Кузнец М. Д., Скребнев Ю. М. Стилистика английского языка. -Л., 1960.-С. 13-27, 35-36, 38-41.

4. Kukharenko V. A. Seminars in style. - Moscow, 1991. - P. 24-26.

5. Galperin I. R. Stylistics. - Moscow, 1981. - P. 139-148, 157-162, 169-177, 246-248.

Assignments

Pick out and name the figures of speech used in these statements.

• Shall I compale thee to a summer's day?

• She was thrilled to bits when she heard the news.

• The sky looked like black velvet.

• 'Sit still!'she hissed.

• The chancellor will steer the economy through these choppy waters.

• He was over the moon when the team scored.

2. Which key word creates the metaphor in these statements? [See if you can also identify its grammatical function].

• Don't think you can come waltzing in here.

• He was a wizard with figures.

• Wipe that smile off your face right now.

• You are my sunshine.

• That junction's always a bottleneck.

• The road was a ribbon of moonlight.

Identify any metonymy in the following statements.

• The pound has risen in strength today against the dollar.

• It's about time you put your foot down.

• The bench has decreed that the case be dismissed.

• Japan is sometimes referred to as the land of the rising sun.

• The whole city will welcome this grant from the government.

• 'In all of Homer, there is no finer view of Greece than this.'

Pick out any examples of synecdoche in the following statements.

• England lost the Ashes in 1997.

• In the estuary there appeared a fleet of fifty sail.

• The Church has declared that abortion is a sin.

• Fifty head of cattle were sold at auction yesterday.

• "You won't find any jokers in this pack."

• Everton scored in extra time to win the Cup.

Decide if these statements are ironic or not.

"So you've lost the books I lent you? Well, that's wonderful!"

"She gave us a two-hour lecture on how to make a cup of tea. It was really fascinating."

"We can't select you for the play. It doesn't feature simpletons."

"Yes, put the baby next to the fire. That will be the safest place."

"Don't look at me in that way - unless you want a thick ear!"

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a for­tune must be in want of a wife.

6. Match each figure of quantity with its main stylistic feature:

1. Hyperbole. 2. Meiosis. 3. Litotes.

a)positive sense of a structure with double negation;

b)a deliberate exaggeration;

c) a deliberate diminution.

7. Indicate separately the cases of: a) hyperbole; b) meiosis; c) litotes:

1. English and American hands were as scarce as hen's teeth in this unhealthy place. (W. Foster). 2. He would give the world for her fair eyes. 3. Dear aunt, you frightened me out of my senses. (H. Fielding). 4. A smile crossed Natt's face from ear to ear. (H. Caine). 5. An unfortunate man would be drowned in a tea-cup. 6. A watched pot never boils. 7. He said: "I thought I'd come up and have a word with you, father." (A. Cronin). 8.1 have not seen you for ages. 9. To write a novel is as simple for him as falling off a chair, I suppose. 10. You make noise enough to wake the dead. 11. We'll be back in three shake^ of a dead lamb's tail. (J. Conroy). 12. He seemed to me to be frightened all to pieces. (A. Doyle). 13.1 don't speak empty words. 14. It hadn't been for nothing after all. 14. No man is indispensable. 15. These cabins aren't half bad. (H. Wells). 16. Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. 17. I've had such a lot of worry lately that I don't know whether I'm on my head or heels. (H. Lawson). 18. And the floors! They haven't seen water for ages. (J. Steele). 19. An old dog barks not in vain. 20. "Well, that's not a bad idea," he said finally. (M. Wilson). 21. He proceeded very slowly and cau­tiously, an inch at a time. (J. London). 22. He was a good-for-nothing fellow. 23.1 wouldn't say it is beyond your purse to buy that book.

8. Match each metonymic figure of quality with its main stylistic feature:

1.Metonymy. 2. Synecdoche. 3. Periphrasis. 4. Euphemism.

a) replacement of a direct name of a thing/phenomenon by the description of some of its quality;

b)naming the whole object by mentioning part of it, or naming a constitu­ent part by mentioning the whole object;

c) replacement of an unpleasant, impolite word or expression with a mild­er and decent one;

d)transference of a name of one object to another based upon contiguity.

9. Match each metaphoric figure of quality with its main stylistic feature:

1.Metaphor. 2. Epithet. 3. Antonomasia. 4. Personification. 5. Allegory.

a) an attribute describing an object expressively, pointing out an implied figurative connotation;

b) an abstract notion in a concrete image, embodied throughout a whole text, often possessing the features of a human being and having its proper name;

c) transference of a name of one object to another based on similarity;

d) usage of common nouns as proper names based on similarity of quali­ties, or usage of proper names as common nouns;

e) ascribing human behaviour, feelings, thoughts and actions to inanimate objects.

10. State the kind of the periphrasis: a) logical; b) met-onymic; c) metaphoric. Explain what is implied:

1. He was a mere adventurer, a man, who out of office must live by his pen. (Th. Macanlay). 2. He is now under fifteen, and an old limb of the law. (Ch. Dickens). 3. Learning is the eye of the mind. 4.1 am desperately fond of her: she is the light of my eyes. (Ch. Bront J. 5. Soldiers are citizens of death's gray land, drawing no dividend from time's tomorrows. (S. Sassoon). 6. Sui­cide note: The calm, cool face of the river asked me for a kiss. (L. Hughes). 7. Red cock will crow in his house. 8. "Of what profession is Mr. Archer?" "Of the Corporation of the Goosequil - of the Press, my boy," said War­rington. (W. Thackeray). 9. Neither of them had a word to throw to a dog. 10. You are scarcely out of the shell yet. 11. The woman was a walking corpse. 12. Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune. 13. He is an open book. 14. She's the skeleton in the family cupboard. 15. She distrusted old heads on young shoulders. (H. Walpole). 16. I know she has a sweet tooth still in her head. (M. Edgeworth). 17. He had a warm place in his heart for dogs. (M. Twain). 18. Jack was afraid they were going to ease him of his purse. 19. John was too much of an afternoon farmer to carry the business successfully. (J. Dixon). 20.1 thought it wise to keep that sum for a rainy day. 21. He is not going to depart this life. I suppose. 22. Geargel had been nearly six years upon the throne. (W. Ainsworth). 23. Keep a civil tongue, or I'll throw you to the crowd. (J. Galsworthy). 24. Here in Montreal she was a fish out of water. (Th. Dreiser). 25. A forgetful head makes a weary pair of heels. 26. He is disadvantaged, underprivileged - he still doesn't have a dime. 27. In the real world of political compromise, few hats are all white. (W. Safire "Safire's Political Dictionary"). 28. It is nothing to say that he hadn't a word to throw at a dog. (Ch. Dickens). 29. "I'm running a nut house." He rubbed his hand over his bald dome. 30. Soon he will pay his debt to nature. 31.1 wish I were under the turf. 32. "Go and take a nice big jump in the lake and forget to come out." says the truck driver. (J. Steele). 33. I was pretty much of a green-horn. I guess. 34. She suddenly took to her heels. (Th. Hardy). 35. Charles Bates expressed his opinion that it was the time to pad the hoof. (Ch. Di­ckens). 36. Snawley himself can tell that this is not his son, and that his son is food for worms. (Ch. Dickens). 37. In your chair days you will understand all your vanity. 38. The grocery store on the corner, half a block from where mother lived, changed hands. (J. London). 39. You know the Blakes next door but one. Only last week they flitted between the moon and the milkman. (J. Lindsay).

11. Define types (associated/unassociated; simple/com­pound/phrasal/clausal) and paraphrase the epithets in the context:

1. Well, haven't you always advocated a kid-glove policy? (D. Carter). 2. Never such a cat-and-dog life as they've been leading ever since! (Th. Hardy). 3. She gave him a penny-in-the-slot smile. (D. Bullett). 4. Does he really think that I will follow his hole-in-the-head advice? 5. As I've often told you, I'm a dyed-in-the-grain Liberal with no confidence in the Liberal Party. (J. Lindsay). 6. My Lady Dedlock fell not into the melting, but rather into a freezing mood. (Ch. Dickens). 7. Europe's new dead-end generation has lost faith in the future. (Newsweek). 8. Mine has been comparatively but a lotus-eating existence hitherto; to-morrow I begin the battle of life. (E. Yates). 9. My rascals are not milk-and-water rascals, I promise you. (W. Thackeray). 10. She didn't like his gin-and-water voice. 11. A green wound is soon healed. 12. The baculine method was a quite common mode of argument in those days. (W. Thackeray).

12. Point out metonymy among metaphor. Define its stylistic function in each case:

1. Father is a treasure, a brother is a comfort, but a friend is both. 2. Pat's got somebody in her mind's eye. (K. S. Prichard). 3. The heart that once truly loves never forgets. 4. The heads of the church and State reaped only that which they had sown. (Th. Macaulay). 5. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. 6. He was tolerably stricken in years by this time. (Ch. Dickens). 7. The servant answered the bell. 8. An enemy's mouth seldom speaks well. 9. He's hand in glove with you against me. (A. Cronin). 10. We're ruled by the inven­tors and human nature, and we live in Queer Street, Mr. Desert. (J. Galswor­thy). 11. Young man, you're ready with your tongue. (D. Cusack). 12. The company found their tongues at last. (H. Caine). 13. Flesh and blood could not stand the strain. (A. Doyle). 14.1 saw him down at the hotel shouting the drinks for Sam. I think he's pretty fond of the bottle now. (J. Aldridge). 15. Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings.