Figures of speech
A figure of speech is the use of a word or a phrase that transcends its literal meaning, i.e., a way of creating meaning by organizing words or phrases in specific patterns (schemes) or by using them figuratively (tropes).
You will find longer lists here (and elsewhere):
- Allegory
- A sustained metaphor continued through whole sentences or even through a whole discourse; e.g., The ship of state has sailed through rougher storms than the tempest of these lobbyists.
- Alliteration
- Repeated used of the same sound(s), e.g., Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden … (J. F. Kennedy, American President, 1961).
- Allusion
- An implied or indirect reference to a person, event, or thing or to a part of another text. It is up to the reader or the hearer to make the connection, so the allusion must refer to common ground between author and reader/speaker and hearer.
- Antithesis
- Juxtaposition of opposites, e.g., This election is not about the miners; not about the militants; not about the power of the unions: it's about the disastrous failure of three and a half years of Conservative government. (Harold Wilson, British Labour leader, 1974).
- Irony
- Implying the opposite of what is actually said, such as describing a bad situation as "good times".
- Lists
- especially of three items = tri-colon, e.g., Friends, Romans, countrymen (Shakespeare, 1600); …the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
- Metaphor
- a word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar; e.g., The energy, the faith, and the dovotion we bring to this endeavour will light our country (J.F. Kennedy, 1962); the black sheep of the family
- Metonomy
- Referring to a thing, a concept or a person by means of association; e.g., A summary of international relations issued by the White House last week …
- Omission
- Leaving out something
- Oxymoron
- A paradoxical antithesis with only two words, e.g.; living dead; the sound of silence
- Parallelism
- Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me and I will learn. (Benjamin Franklin, American President)
- Repetition
- repetition of a word or a phrase at the beginning (anaphora) or at the end (epiphora) of several successive sentences, e.g., I have a dream … I have a dream … I have a dream today (Martin Luther King, 1963)
- Rhetorical question
- A question that is not intended to be answered.
Forms of appeal
A speaker (or a writer) can use any of the three classical forms of a appeal to add strength to his argument. Usually all three forms of appeal will be present in a speech or a text, but the strength or the weakness of the case may favour some forms over others: if your case is not logically coherent, you should not base your presentation on a logos appeal, but rather on pathos or ethos; and if you are bald-headed and comfortable with that, you should probably not try to sell a hair tonic by means of an ethos appeal.
- Ethos
- appeals to the speaker's (good) character, e.g., I am a husband, a father, and a taxpayer. I have served faithfully for 20 years on the school board. I deserve your vote for the city council.
- Pathos
- appeals the receiver's emotions, e.g., He wants to hurt the elderly by cutting Medicare
- Logos
- appeals to the receiver's sense of logic or reason, e.g., If everybody only did what they felt like, nobody would empty the rubbish bins. (Or: 50.000.000 flies can't be wrong …)
