Many times we wish to show comparison of someone or something with something, but unable to use the right words. We wish to write poems, but words don’t rhyme. Figures of speech help us in framing such sentences. It not only impresses the listener, but also makes you a creative writer when you write essays or stories.

As per Wikipedia: A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is figurative language in the form of a single word or phrase. It can be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words. Figures of speech often provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity.

Some examples are:

“O my Luve is like a red, red rose

That’s newly sprung in June;

O my Luve is like the melody

That’s sweetly played in tune”. – Robert Burns.

“It’s been a hard days night, and I’ve been working like a dog.” – “A Hard Day’s Night,” The Beatles

“Good words are the light of my life”.

“Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day,” – William Shakespeare.

“She is a living dead”.

There are hundreds of figures of speech, however the most impressive and commonly used are:

1. Similes – A simile is a figure of speech that compares two different things using the words “like” or “as”. Some examples are:

• The bag is as heavy as an elephant.

• His body is as cold as ice.

• She is clever like a fox.

2. Metaphor – A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase for one thing is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar. Some examples are:

1. All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances.-  William Shakespeare.
2. I am not a couch potato.
3. My niece is the apple of my eye.

3. Oxymoron – A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction. Some examples are:

1. 1. It’s an open secret that they conspired against me.

• After hearing a lot of negative things, she went into a deafening silence.

• I only feel that there is impossible solution to her problem.

4. Hyperbole – Hyperbole is the use of exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. Some examples are:

1. I want to achieve a million things before I die.
2. “The best a man can get” (Gillette)
3. I’ll love you till the ocean

Is folded and hung up to dry.”.” – W. H. Auden.

5. Personification – It is a figure of speech in which human qualities are given to objects or ideas. In other words, representing a non-human thing as if it were human. Some examples are:

1. I was sad and saw the moon smiling at me.
2. Opportunity was knocking at his door when he was planning.
3. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” –  William Wordsworth

6. Alliteration – It is when words in a row start with the same sounds. Some examples are:

1. Alice’s aunt ate apples.
2. Coca-Cola.
3. PayPal.
4. Life is locked in locker.

Written by Monica