Figure of speech is a phrase, clause or sentence that has an implied (deep) meaning. Unlike parts of speech which have a surface meaning that anyone who understands the language can understand, the meaning of the figure of speech is not easily known. The figure of speech makes someone a critical thinker and allows the person to know much about the aesthetics of language. Figure of speech is also known as rhetorical figure, trope, and figurative device.

The List of Figures of Speech

Simile
Simile is a method of comparison that allows the similarity of two entities (objects) to be used for a vivid description. Simile highlights two different things that have the same similarity to create effect. Simile is derived from the Latin word, similis, which means similar, like. Simile uses some comparison words, such as; as, like, as…as.

Examples:

i. As cunning as a fox

ii. The boy behaves like a goat.

iii. It is as true as the gospel.

iv. He talks as parrot talks.

Metaphor
Metaphor is a method of comparison based on the insistence that one thing is another. Just like a simile, metaphor also creates the effect of comparison by using the similar feature of two different things. Metaphor is from the Greek word, metapherein, which means to transfer. So, metaphor is the transfer of the attribute of the tenor (what is being compared) to the vehicle (what it is being compared to).

Examples:

i. Life is a stage

ii. The boy, the lion of the field, is here.

iii. You are the goddess of beauty.

iv. The young woman is a pig.

Personification
Personification is the figure of speech that allows the attributions of human qualities to abstractions, objects and natural phenomena. In a simpler term, personification gives the qualities of human beings to the inanimate objects. It represents the human features in objects, and abstract ideas.

Examples:

i. The balloon is pregnant (only women get pregnant).

ii. The trees wave their hands at us (human beings have hands, not trees).

iii. Death lays its icy hand on the king (death does not have a hand).

iv. The moon smiles at us today (the moon does not have a mouth to smile).

Apostrophe
An apostrophe is a figure of speech that addresses an entity that is not present in a work of art. The entity may be a person, object, abstraction or even natural phenomena, such as; death, love, hatred, rain.

Examples:

i. Rain, rain// go away// come again another day// little children want to play (the poetic persona addresses rain in this poem).

ii. Twinkle, twinkle, little star// how I wonder what you are!// up above the world so high// like a diamond in the sky (star is addressed in this poem)

iii. Death, be not proud, though some have called thee __ By John Donne in his poem, Death, Be Not Proud.

iv. Dear dead father, I believe you have been asleep for centuries; wake up now, your children are suffering on earth.

Hyperbole
Hyperbole is the rhetorical device that creates humour. It can also be called exaggeration or overstatement, and sometimes, auxesis. Hyperbole creates strong feelings and great emphases. It intends to portray a statement comically without seeming to be literally true.

Examples:

i. I killed a lion with my hands when I was four.

ii. Her sorrow is bigger than the world.

iii. Bimpe’s teeth are sharper than a razor.

iv. All the world’s dignitaries will attend my wedding ceremony.

v. The whole universe will be excited when I graduate from college.

Litote
Litote, the opposite of hyperbole which means exaggeration, is a clever use of language that makes use of sentiment to show an understatement by using negative words to express positive meanings. Litote thrives in the use of understatement. It presents occurrences or wordings that seem insignificant, less important and not too good, but are essential.

Examples:

The writer uses his pen to fight a dictator. He can’t win. (Here pen is used as something not important, but it is a tool that can be used to project the evil of the dictator to the world)

ii. You are not doing badly. (Affirming that the person is doing well)

Litote embraces the use of irony and understatement to say something positive in a negative way without affirming it directly.

Irony
Irony is the intentional use of words that denote the opposite of what someone means. In other words, it is the statements or situations that give the direct opposite of what should be the reality. In irony, what happens comes on top of what should happen. Emphasis is on the contradiction of expectation and reality in which the latter takes the ultimate priority of the writer/author. One notable fact about irony is that it reveals the realities that are far to be true.

Types of Irony

Verbal Irony: This is the process of saying the opposite of what one means. Verbal means spoken.

Imagine that someone who always gets the lowest scores in class asks you whether s/he is brilliant. And you say “Yes, you are.” That is verbal irony.

Dramatic Irony: It occurs in drama. It is a situation where the audience in a play knows what a character or characters are not aware of. The audience has foreground knowledge of happenings in the events of the plot while a character is not living in the present happenings of events.

For instance: someone pays assassins to eliminate another person in a play. The audience has known about the development. However, the person to be killed does not know. He is still going around, engaging in his daily routine.

Situational Irony: it is the reversal of expectation in a situation or circumstance. It makes the occurrence of the opposite of one’s expectation.

For instance: A child stole someone’s money while his parents were away. He expected his parents to beat him when they came back home. However, they did not beat him. They hugged him and advised him not to steal again.

What happened is the opposite of what he expected. That is a situational irony.

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