英语常用30种修辞.docx

英语常用30种修辞.docx

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英语常用30种修辞

RhetoricalDevices

1.1Alliteration

1.1.1Definition

Theword“alliteration”derivesfromLatin,meaning“repeatingandplayinguponthesameletter”.Itistherepetitionofinitialconsonantintwoormorewords.

1.1.2Examples

（1）Thegreatandgooddonotdieeveninthisworld.（-CompanionshipofBooks）

（2）Loveme,lovemydog.（-CompanionshipofBooks）

（3）Thepreacherpreachedawonderfulrhythmicalsermon,allmoansandshoutsandlonelycriesanddirepicturesofhell,andthenhesangasongabouttheninetyandninesafeinthefold,butonelittlelambwasleftoutinthecold.（-Salvation）

1.1.3Analysis

Inthethreesentence,“good”and“great”，“love”and“love”,and“preacher”and“preached”allhaveinitialconsonants;thatmeanstheyaretherepetitionsofinitialconsonantsintwowords,sothesoundrhymesaremadeinthethreesentences.Allinall,thealliterationsareusedinthesethreesentences.

1.2Assonance

1.2.1Definition

Assonanceistherepetitionorresemblanceofvowelsoundsinthestressedsyllablesofasequenceofwords,precededandfollowedbydifferentconsonants.Assonancealsoreferstothelikenessofsoundinaseriesofwords.

1.2.2Examples

（1）Myaunttoldmethatwhenyouweresavedyousawalight,andsomethinghappenedtoyouinside!

AndJesuscameintoyourlife!

（-Salvation）

（2）Italsoenshrinesthegermsofaction,forgoodwordsalmostalwaysinspiretogoodworks.

（-CompanionshipofBooks）

1.2.3Analysis

（1）Inthefirstsentence,inthe“light”,the“inside”,andthe“life”,thevowelsound“I[ai]”—inthestressedsyllablesisrepeated,sotheeuphonyiscreatedandalsoitisfollowedbydifferentconsonants,sotheassonanceisapplied.

（2）Inthesecondsentence,the“words”andthe“works”havethelikenessofsound—[wɜː],thepartial–rhymeismade,sothefigureofspeechofthissentenceisassonance.

1.3Consonance

1.3.1Definition

ConsonancecomesfromLatin,meaning“toharmonize”.Itreferstotherepetitionofthefinalandidenticalconsonantswhoseprecedingvowelsaredifferent.

1.3.2Examples

（1）MyStrokeofLuck.（--MyStrokeofLuck.）

（2）Yetitisoftenmisunderstoodandmisinterpreted,forlanguageisaverycomplicatedmechanismwithagreatdealofmagnitudes.（-GenderBiasinLanguage）

（3）Almostwithoutfailthemasculinewordisputbeforethefeminineword.Forexample,Mr.andMrs.,hisandhers,boysandgirls,menandwomen,kingsandqueens,brothersandsisters,guysanddollsandhostandhostessareallcommonplaceintodayssociety.

（-GenderBiasinLanguage）

1.3.3Analysis

Inthefirstphrase,thesoundsof“ke”and“k”aresame;inthesecondsentence,thesoundsofthe“d”arerepeated;inthelastsentence,thesoundsofthe“s”arethesame.Theconsonancesareusedinthephraseandthetwosentencestomakethemmoremetrical.

1.4Pun

1.4.1Definition

Punis,innature,aword–play.Apuninvolvestheuseofapolysemouswordtosuggesttwoormoremeanings,commonlyliteralmeaningversusfigurativemeaning,orinvolvestheuseofhomonyms.

1.4.2Examples

（1）ForIwasthenhisvision,asIamstillhisrighthand.Literally,Iwas（whatheoftencalledme）theappleofhiseye.Hesawnature--hesawbooksthroughme.（-JaneEyre）

（2）Ifwedonothangtogether,weshallsurelyhangseparately.（-BenjaminFranklin）

1.4.3Analysis

（1）Inthefirstsentence,thesounds“I”andthe“eye”arethesame.Literally,Ihelphimseesomething,butfiguratively,Iamhiseyes,andIamtheappleinhiseye—Iamveryimportant,sothepunisusedandproducesawittyeffectfromthejuxtapositionofmeanings.

（2）Inthesecondsentence,thefirst“hang”means“unit”,butthelatter“hang”means“beingkilled”-onewordsuggeststwomeanings.Thepunisusedandbothofthehumorouseffectandwittyeffectarecreated.

1.5Repetition

1.5.1Definition

Repetitionisapowerfulrhetoricaldevicewhichcreatesgoodrhythmandparallelismtomakethelanguagemusical,emphatic,attractiveandmemorable.

1.5.2Examples

（1）Thenhesaid:

'Won'tyoucome?

Won'tyoucometoJesus?

Younglambs,won'tyoucome?

"（-Salvation）

（2）AndIkeptwaitingserenelyforJesus,waiting,waiting—buthedidn'tcome.（-Salvation）

（3）Iwantedtoseehim,butnothinghappenedtome.Nothing!

Iwantedsomethingtohappentome,butnothinghappened.（-Salvation）

1.5.3Analysis

Inthefirstsentence,the“Won'tyoucome?

”isrepeatedforthreetimes;inthesecondsentence,“waiting”isalsorepeatedforthreetimestoshowtheanxiousnessoftheauthor;inthethirdsentence,the“nothing”isrepeatedforthreetimestoexpressthattheauthor’sirritationorcomplains.Therepetitionsareusedinthethreesentencesandcreategoodrhymestomakethelanguagemoreemphatic,attractiveandmemorable.

1.6Anaphora

1.6.1Definition

Theword“anaphora”originatesfromGreek,meaning“carryingback”.Itisapopularfigureofspeechinvolvingtherepetitionofthesamewordatthebeginningofsuccessiveclauses,sentencesorverses.

1.6.2Examples

（1）Doyourespectplantlife?

Doyoustopanyonefromcarvinginthebarkoftrees?

Doyouavoidwalkingonfreshgrass?

Doyouconservewaterandenergy?

（-BecomingAChildOfNature：

It’sATwofoldTaskofParentsandChildren）

（2）Ilovedlife,andIlovedbeingalive.（-TheLightofDepression）

（3）Hetaughtmetohatehypocrisyandpiousmouthingofunctuouswords.Hetaughtmethatbeneathgruffnesstheremaybekindness,andthatkindnessisthesweetestthingintheworld,andgoodnessisthebestthingintheworld.Hetaughtmetodespisemoneygrubbing.

（-ADebttoDickens）

（4）Ihaveadreamthatonedaythisnationwillriseupandliveoutthetruemeaningofitscreed:

"Weholdthesetruthstobeself-evident,thatallmenarecreatedequal."IhaveadreamthatonedayontheredhillsofGeorgia,thesonsofformerslavesandthesonsofformerslaveownerswillbeabletositdowntogetheratthetableofbrotherhood.IhaveadreamthatonedayeventhestateofMississippi,astateswelteringwiththeheatofinjustice,swelteringwiththeheatofoppression,willbetransformedintoanoasisoffreedomandjustice.Ihaveadreamthatmyfourlittlechildrenwillonedayliveinanationwheretheywillnotbejudgedbythecoloroftheirskinbutbythecontentoftheircharacter.Ihaveadreamtoday!

Ihaveadreamthatoneday,downinAlabama,withitsviciousracists,withitsgovernorhavinghislipsdrippingwiththewordsof"interposition"and"nullification"--onedayrightthereinAlabamalittleblackboysandblackgirlswillbeabletojoinhandswithlittlewhiteboysandwhitegirlsassistersandbrothers.Ihaveadreamtoday!

Ihaveadreamthatonedayeveryvalleyshallbeexaltedandeveryhillandmountainshallbemadelow,theroughplaceswillbemadeplain,andthecrookedplaceswillbemadestraightandthegloryoftheLordshallberevealedandallfleshshallseeittogether."?

（-IHaveADream）

1.6.3Analysis

Inthethreesentences,thebeginningwordsofthesuccessivesentencesareallrepeated：

“doyou”,“Iloved”,“hetaught”，and“Ihaveadream”areallthebeginningwordsofthesuccessivesentencesandareallrepeated.Therefore,theanaphorasareusedandstrengthenthetoneofthelanguagetomakethetextmorepersuasive.

1.7Epiphora

1.7.1Definition

Epiphoraistheoppositeofanaphora.Itistherepetitionofthesamewordsorphrasesattheendofsuccessivelines,clausesorsentences.

1.7.2Examples

（1）Thatthegovernmentofthepeople,bythepeople,andforthepeople,shallnotperishfromtheearth.（-AbrahamLincoln）

（2）Themantakesawayawoman’svirginityandawomanloseshervirginity.

（-GenderBiasinLanguage）

（3）Andslowly,thedesiretolive,thecouragetowanttolive,begantoreturn.

（--TheLightofDepression）

1.7.3Analysis

Inthethreesentences,theendingwordsofthesuccessivesentencesareallrepeated：

“thepeople”,“virginity”,andthe“tolive”areallrepeated,sothefigureofspeechofthesethreesentencesistheepiphoraandtheepiphoraisusedtomakethespeechortextmoreconvincing.

1.8Antithesis

1.8.1Definition

Theword“antithesis”comesfromGreekword“antithenai”,meaning“opposition”.Antithesis,favoredbymanyspeakerswhenpersuading,placescontrastingideassidebysideforemphasisandrhythm.

1.8.2Examples

（1）Theworldwilllittlenotewhatwesayhere,butitcanneverforgetwhattheydidhere.（-AbrahamLincoln）

（2）InAmericanculture,awomanisvaluedfortheattractivenessofherbody,whileamanisvaluedbyhisphysicalstrengthandhisachieves.

（-GenderBiasinLanguage）

（3）AllenPaceNielsennotesthatthereareinstanceswhenwomenareseenaspassivewhilemenareactiveandbringthingsintobeing.（-GenderBiasinLanguage）

1.8.3Analysis

（1）Inthefirstsentence,the“littlenote”andthe“neverforget”arethecontrastingideasinordertoemphasizethatpeoplewillneverforgetwhatthesoldiersdotheircountry.Clearly,theantithesisisusedtostresstheimportantpartofthesentence.

（2）Inthesecondsentence,thedifferencebetweenwomenvaluedforattractivenessandmenvaluedbytheirstrengthandachievementsisdemonstratedtoshowthatthediscriminationtothewomen.Theantithesisisusedtomakethelanguagemoresharporforceful.

（3）Thetwocontrastingideas:

“active”and“passive”areusedtoshowthegenderbiasinthesociety.Theantithesisisappliedtostressthecontradiction—theauthor’sintentioncanbeprotruded.

1.9Climax

1.9.1Definition

Theword“climax”derivesfromtheGreekword“klimax”,meaning“ladder”.Asafigureofspeech,climaxisthearrangementofwords,phrases,clauses,orsentencesinascendingorderofimportance.

1.9.2Examples

（1）