英文修辞知识自学rhetoricaldevices

英文修辞知识自学rhetoricaldevices
1.Sound Patterning
Sound patterning refers to the matching of identical or similar sounds between two or more words. English words may consist of one or more syllables. Let us examine the possible types of sound patterning between monosyllabic words. The
2. Figures of Speech
As to those common words, sometimes they are used literally, and sometimes figuratively. The figurative language is usually of high stylistic significance.
Figurative Use Definition Example
Simile A comparison between
two distinctly different
things and the comparison
is indicated by the word as
or like.
my love’s like a red, red rose.
They all rose as one man.
Metaphor The use of a word which
originally denotes one
thing to refer to another
with a similar quality.
He is the soul of the team.
Personification It is to treat a thing or an
idea as if it were human or
had human qualities. Youth is hot and bold, Age is weak and cold.
Metonymy It is substituting the name
of one thing for that of
another with which it is
closely associated. When the war was over, he laid down the sword and took up the pen.
Synecdoche A part is substituted for the
whole or the whole is
substituted for a part. The farms were short of hands during the harvest season.
Euphemism The substitution of a mild
or vague expression for a
harsh or unpleasant one. to leave us (one’s heart has stopped beating)
Overstatement The diction exaggerates
the subject. She is dying to know what job has been assigned for her.
Understatement The words play down the
magnitude or value of the
subject. It took a few dollars to build this indoor swimming pool
Irony The use of words which
are clearly opposite to
what is meant, in order to
achieve a special effect. His designs were strictly honorable, as the saying is; that is; to rob a lady of her fortune by way of marriage.
Transferred Epithet An epithet is an adjective
or descriptive phrase that
serves to characterize
somebody or something. A
transferred epithet is one
that is shifted from the
noun it logically modifies
to a word associated with
that noun. She was so worried about her son that she spent several sleepless nights.
Oxymoron Contradictory terms
combined to produce a
special effect. When the news of the failure came, all his friends said that it was a victorious defeat.
9.3.3.2 Deviance on Syntactical Level
In our reading, we may come across some grammatically incorrect sentences. Sometimes they are deviance by violating grammatical rules on purpose, say, to show the speaker is not well-educated, or is a child:
Misuse of helping word
e.g. He done gone. (He has gone.)
2) Absence of the link-verb
e.g. That (is) where he is.
3) Non-standard auxiliary
e.g. I ain’t (am not) talking with yo u.
4) Disagreement in person or number.
e.g. Has (have) I talked wild?
The uses of rhetorical devices are modes of deviance on the syntactical level. For instance:
1.Repetition
The deliberate repetition of a word, phrase, or syntactical structure will enable certain important concept to leave a deep
impression to, or make a special effect in the reader’s mind:
I love everything that’s old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine; and, I believe, Dorothy, you’ll own I have been pretty fond of an old wife.
(Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer)
2.Parallelism
When a sentence contains two or more parts of the same form and grammatical function, or when two or more sentences are of the same form, it is one with parallel constructions.
Parallel sentences (called balanced sentences) are emphatic and forceful. They are
i mpressive because of the contrast, and pleasing to the ear because of the rhythm.
To believe is very dull. To doubt is intensively engrossing. T o be on the alert is to live; to be lulled into security is to die. (Oscar Wilde)
3. Antithesis
Antithesis is a special type of parallelism; it refers to the parallel of two phrases or coordinate clause, which are identical in structure, similar in word number, and relevant in meaning. This kind of sentences, symmetrical in form and impressive in meaning, are commonly found in proverbs, poems and titles: To err is human, to forgive, devine. (Pope)
Not that I love Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. (Shakespeare)
4. Rhetorical Question
Sometimes writers or speakers use the rhetorical question to emphasize a positive or negative meaning. The sentence is only in the form of question to enhance the tone of expression and make the idea impressive.
Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slave, than that Caesar were dead, to live al freemen? (Shakespeare)。