Курс лекций по стилистике современного английского языка и вопросы к лекциям в приложении приведены материалы для практических занятий

• Название: Курс лекций по стилистике современного английского языка и вопросы к лекциям в приложении приведены материалы для практических занятий
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LEXICAL STYLISTIC DEVICES

1. SIMILE

2. METAPHOR

3. PERSONIFICATION

4. ALLUSION

5. METONYMY

6. SYNECHDOCHE

7. ANTONOMASIA

8. PERIPHRASIS

9. EUPHEMISM

10. EPITHET

11. OVER-STATEMENT
(HYPERBOLE)

12. UNDER-STATEMENT
(MEIOSIS)

13. LITOTES

14. OXYMORON

15. ZEUGMA

16. PUN

17. IRONY

18. PARADOX

Lexical devices are based on the principle of analogy. A similar feature in otherwise different objects is discovered, and this similarity suggests an image of the thing that is described.

1. SIMILE

Simile (imaginative comparison) is a device based on partial identity of two objects. In fact, the objects are not identical, they are only similar, resembling each other due to some identical features.

In simile two objects compared are always merged by a formal connective, which can be expressed by:

• conjunctions (as if, as though, such as);

• adverbs (like, unlike);

• verbs (resemble, remind of, seem);

• nouns (to have/bare a resemblance to, to have a look of);

• prefixes and suffixes (-like, -wise).

Simile He resembled a professor. With ape-like fury. (From Robert Louis Stevenson) She seemed nothing more than a doll. Darkness, when once it fell, fell like a storm.

A simile should not be mixed up with an ordinary comparison. Simile is based on comparison of things belonging to entirely different classes. Comparison deals with two objects of the same class.

A great many similes lost their expressiveness because of long use. They have become trite. They are widely used in everyday speech.

Simile She sings like a nightingale. Our agricultural reform is as slow as a snail. Comparison She sings like a professional soloist. The changes in agriculture are as slow as they were last year. Trite simile as mad as a March hare; as blind as a bat; to fit like a glove; to smoke like a chimney

2. METAPHOR

Metaphor is also based on analogy between two objects, but it has no formal connective. It is expressive renaming on the basis of similarity of two objects, the real object, and the one whose name is actually used.

Metaphor A film star. Her eyes were two gun-barrels. He is not a man, he is just a machine.

We must distinguish between poetic and trite metaphors. Poetic metaphor is based on some new vivid and striking analogy between two things. It’s always individual. Trite metaphors have lost their freshness. They are frequently reproduced in everyday speech.

Trite metaphor the path winds; time flies; to burn with desire

Metaphors can be simple, when expressed by a word or phrase, or sustained, when a broader context is required to understand it.

Sustained metaphor The average New Yorker is caught in a machine. He whirls along, he is dizzy, he is helpless. If he resists, the machine will crush him to pieces. (W. Frank)

3. PERSONIFICATION

Personification is a variety of metaphor, attributing human properties to lifeless objects, mostly to abstract notions such as thoughts, intentions, emotions, seasons of the year, or animals.

Personification is often represented grammatically by the choice of masculine or feminine pronouns for the names of inanimate objects, or by capitalization of these words.

Personification The sun shone brightly down on me as if she was shining for me alone.

Personifications are most often used in poetry.

Personification in poetry Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are! (Jane Taylor) No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet To chase the glowing hours with flying feet. (Byron) How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stolen on his wings my three and twentieth year! (Milton)