Figurative Speech 英语修辞总结.doc

Figures of Speech/Rhetorical Devices I. Introduction By figures of speech we refer here to those rhetorical devices termed tropes in classical rhetoric. Tropes have to do with the way words are made to mean other than what they would normally imply, and therefore involve deviation from the ordinary and literal meaning of words. They are ways of making our language figurative. A knowledge of the figures, and of how they are best used will be of help to us not only in deepening our understanding of what we read, but also in appreciating more fully the finer points of a writer’s style. In the process, we might even learn to write better ourselves. The number of figures ranged from 65 to 200 in classical times. We will only choose those that are of most universal appeal, and of the greatest practical value. II. Simile and metaphor simile: It is a comparison between two distinctively different things and the comparison is indicated by the word as, like, as if, than. A simile is made up of three parts, the tenor, the vehicle, and the indicator of resemblance or simile marker. A simile is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements having at least one quality or characteristic in common. The comparison is purely imaginative, that is, the resemblance between the two unlike things in that one particular aspect exists only in our minds, in our “inward eye” and not in the nature of the things themselves. To make the comparison, words like as, as … as, as … so, like, as if, as though, similar to, to bear a resemblance to, and comparative structure, prepositional phrases, and other collocations are used to transfer the quality we associate with one to the other. Sometimes the association is between unfamiliar and familiar things, or between abstract and concrete images. The stronger the association that is felt, the greater the force of the comparison, the stronger the power of suggestion and the sharper the image produced. 1) like a. And then