Dariya Kokisheva

The dirty sweat (epithet) poured from his face and dripped from his (repetition) nose. It stood out like small black grapes on the bent bare back (alliteration) and along his ribs (simile). There was a squelching in his boots where the coal dust mixed with the perspiration. The powerful arms and knee drove the shovel deep into the heap and (polysyndeton) the biceps bulged as he tossed the coal into the skip. On the opposite side his mate kept pace with him, shovel for shovel (alliteration, repetition), both lights bobbing up and down alternately, up and down (repetition), like parts of a machine (simile). As each head rose with the lift of the shovel the slender beam of light from the lamp shot into the haze of dust hanging over the skip, become diffused and lost. Outside the narrow shaft…

Alliteration – the repetition of consonants, usually in the beginning of words and the best way, we are looking for words with the same consonant sounds. Assonance is similar to alliteration, in which vowel sounds are repeated. Onomatopoeia – the use of words whose sounds imitate those of the signified object or action. Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar sounds, usually accented vowel sounds and succeeding consonant sounds at the end of words. Rhythm exists in all spheres of human activity and assumes multifarious forms. It is a mighty weapon in stirring up emotions whatever its nature or origin, whether it is musical, mechanical or symmetrical as in architecture. Graphon - intentional violation of the graphical shape of a word (or word combination) used to reflect its authen…

Polysyndeton is a list or series of words, phrases, or clauses that is connected with the repeated use of the same conjunction. The most common conjunctions used with polysyndeton are and and or. Example: The citizens of the small town demanded a new sheriff and mayor, hoping the change would lead to the elimination of deception and fraud and corruption. Asyndeton is a list or a series in which no and is used at all, rather the items are separated by commas. Asyndeton has an effect that is quite different from polysyndeton’s. If the effect of polysyndeton is to slow the reader down, the effect of asyndeton is most often the opposite: to speed the reader up. One of the most famous examples of asyndeton is attributed to Julius Caesar. Example: “I came, I saw, I conquered.” –Julius Caesar. Q…

Litotes is a stylistic device consisting of a peculiar use of negative construction. The negation plus noun or adjective serves to establish a positive feature in a person or thing.

Antithesis emphasizes the contrast between two ideas. The structure of the phrases / clauses is usually similar in order to draw the reader's / listener's attention directly to the contrast.

Rhetorical Question a question to which the answer is obvious and there­fore not expected. In reality rhetorical questions are a kind of statement.

Polysyndeton is a list or series of words, phrases, or clauses that is connected with the repeated use of the same conjunction. The most common conjunctions used with polysyndeton are and and or. Example: The citizens of the small town demanded a new sheriff and mayor, hoping the change would lead to the elimination of deception and fraud and corruption. Asyndeton is a list or a series in which no and is used at all, rather the items are separated by commas. Asyndeton has an effect that is quite different from polysyndeton’s. If the effect of polysyndeton is to slow the reader down, the effect of asyndeton is most often the opposite: to speed the reader up. One of the most famous examples of asyndeton is attributed to Julius Caesar. Example: “I came, I saw, I conquered.” –Julius Caesar. Q…

Litotes is a stylistic device consisting of a peculiar use of negative construction. The negation plus noun or adjective serves to establish a positive feature in a person or thing.

Antithesis emphasizes the contrast between two ideas. The structure of the phrases / clauses is usually similar in order to draw the reader's / listener's attention directly to the contrast.

Rhetorical Question a question to which the answer is obvious and there­fore not expected. In reality rhetorical questions are a kind of statement.

Oxymoron is a combination of two words in which the meaning is opposite in sense. Oxymorons from Everyday Life:

-         Great Depression;

-         Pain for pleasure;

-         Beautifully painful;

-         Painfully beautiful;

-         Pretty ugly;

-         Pretty cruel;

-         Only choice;

-         Amazingly awful;

-         Awfully delicious;

-         Original copy.

PERIPHRASISis the "use of a longer phrasing in place of a possible shorter form of expression", or "an instance of periphrasis".

Euphemism is used to avoid some unpleasant things, or taboo things.

Example: "He passed away" for he died;

Big boned- fat;

Correctional facility – prison.

Hyperbole is deliberate overstatement or exaggeration.

An UNDERSTATEMENT is the opposite of a HYPERBOLE. It is when the speaker or writer makes something sound less important than it really is.

Epithets are most commonly used to describe things and people.

1)Irony is a stylistic device in which the contextual meaning of a word is directly opposite to its diction­ary meaning. Irony occurs when a person says one thing but really means something else. Example: Never argue with a fool. People might not know the difference. 2)Zeugma is a stylistic device that plays upon two different meanings of the word. The effect comes from the use of a word in the same formal (grammatical) relations, but in different semantic relations with the surrounding words in the phrase or sentence, due to the simultaneous realization (in one text) of the literal and figurative meaning of a word. Example: A leopard changes his spots, as often as he goes from one spot to another. 3)Pun is another stylistic device based on the interaction of two meanings of a word or phr…

On the last lesson we discussed themes such as simile, metaphor, personification and metonymy. I want to tell about them. Let's start with a simile. A simile is comparison. Each simile consists of the following three components: 1) the tenor; 2) the vehicle; 3) link-words, such as “like, as, as though, as like, such as, as … as, as if, seem”, etc. So we can define and compare example: My Mama moved among the days like a dreamwalker in a field. (L. Clifton). Metaphor. A metaphor is a word or expression used in a figurative sense. “Her voice is music to his ears.” (It is implied that he is always happy to hear her voice.). What is the difference between a metaphor and simile? 1) Life is a journey. 2) Life is like a journey. First example is metaphor and second is simile, because the compari…