Oxymoron – (from Greek – “wittily foolish”) a figure of speech in which incongruous or seemingly contradictory terms appear side by side.
Oxymorons from Everyday Life
- Great Depression
- Cruel to be kind
- Pain for pleasure
- Clearly confused
- Beautifully painful
- Original copy
Sentence Examples with Oxymorons
"I like a smuggler. He is the only honest thief." - Charles Lamb
"I am busy doing nothing."
"I am a deeply superficial person." - Andy Warhol
Purpose of Oxymorons
-Dramatic Effect
-Adding Flavor to Speech
-For Entertainment
Understatement – is when something is said that is far less than what is true.
Examples
"It's a bit yellow" - while describing a very yellow canary.
"There is some music by Beethoven in his Ninth Symphony" - while describing Beethoven's famous work.
"The desert is sometimes dry and sandy" - While describing the driest desert in the world.
Hyperbole – (from Greek – “overshooting”) is an extreme exaggeration used to make a point. It is like the opposite of “understatement.”
Examples
“I’ve told you a million times”
“It was so cold, I saw polar bears wearing jackets”
“She is so dumb, she thinks Taco Bell is a Mexican phone company”