This is a slide show created to be used as an Open Educational Resource (OER) as part of an assessment for an Educational module at the University of Pretoria.

1. English
Understanding: figures of speech

2. INTRODUCTION TO
FIGURES OF
SPEECH
YouTube video available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSEmS
pTTZ3U
OR scan the QR code

3. WHAT ARE FIGURES OF SPEECH?
• A figure of speech is a word or phrase that
has a meaning other than the literal
meaning
• designed to further explain a concept.
• Can be the repeated (alliteration)
• Can exaggerate (hyperbole) to give further
emphasis or effect.
To the Left: the man in green is saying to have a nice day, but the man in
red misunderstood his figurative speech.

4. General division of
language
Literal Language Figurative Language
Based on Likeness Not based on Likeness
Simile
Metaphor
Personification
Apostrophe
Hyperbole
Irony
Allusion
Climax
The sky is blue

5. SIMILE & METAPHOR
(COMPARISON)
Simile
A comparison using like or
as
Metaphor
A comparison referring to a person
place or thing as being something else
A is like B
A is B

6. SARCASM & IRONY
(CONTRAST)
• Irony – a contrast between what is stated and what is meant, or what is
expected to happen and what actually happens (see cartoon above)
• Dramatic Irony – a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the
reader or audience know.
• Sarcasm (verbal Irony) – a word or phrase that is used to suggest the
opposite of its usual meaning

7. SYMBOLS
(CREATING CLEARER IMAGES)
onomatopoeia
• A word that imitates a sound it
represents
• Buzzing of bees
• The book fell with a BANG!
• His balloon popped during the ride
personification
• Giving human traits to non-­human
objects
• Opportunity knocks
• The wind whispered through the trees
• Time creeps up on you

8. APOSTROPHE
• Addressing someone absent, dead or non-­human as if that
person or thing were present
• Examples
“Roll on blue ocean”
the ocean is being addressed
“Oh, Death, Be not proud”
Death is being addressed
“Why are you always slow, stupid internet!”
the internet is being addressed
Common practice in poetry.
Usually starts with “O/Oh” followed
by “addressed object”

9. Paradox
• A statement that, despite apparently
sound reasoning from true premises,
leads to a self-­contradictory or a
logically unacceptable conclusion.
Oxymoron
• Two words with opposing meanings are
used together intentionally
Contradictions

10. ANTITHESIS
• A juxtaposition or contrast of ideas or words in a
balanced or parallel construction
• Eg: “To be, or not to be”
“Too black for heaven but too white for hell”
Watch a video explaining the differences
between Oxymoron, Antithesis and
Paradox
Availiable at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWvp
ySr7_cY
Or scan the QR code

11. LITOTES
• ironic understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its
contrary
Litotes
• “Not Bad”
• “She’s not ugly”
• “You are not wrong”
• “She’s no ordinary girl”
• “I am not unfamiliar with poetry”
Translation
“Good”
“She’s pretty”
“You’re right”
“She’s a special girl”
“I know a lot about poetry”

12. REDUNDANCY
• the use of words or data that could be omitted
without loss of meaning or function;; repetition
or superfluity of information.
• Tautology – a phrase or expression in which
the same thing is said twice in different words.In this case of the above image the
words “in advance” are not only
redundant (not necessary) but also a
repetition of the word prepare
(tautology)

13. IDIOMS
Scan the QR code to
download an A -­ Z list of
English idioms
OR visit
https://www.easypacelearning.com/english-­books/english-­
books-­for-­download-­pdf/category/6-­english-­grammar-­pdf-­
and-­word-­doc
• Phrases which people use in everyday language
which do not make sense literally, but have
• Eg: Don’t let the cat out the bag.
This figurative expression means not
to expose all your secrets.

14. SATIRE
He use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or
vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
Wit
• a natural aptitude for using words and
ideas in a quick and inventive way to
create humor.
Pun
• a joke exploiting the different possible
meanings of a word or the fact that
there are words that sound alike but
have different meanings

15. METONYMY
• The substitution of one noun for another which it suggests (not based on
resemblance but on association)
• The pen is mightier than the sword
Diplomacy War
• Synecdoche – A significate part representing the whole
• A head of cattle
• The bird has a nest of hungry mouths to feed

16. HYPERBOLE & UNDERSTATEMENT
Hyperbole
• exaggerated statements or claims not
meant to be taken literally.
Understatement
• the presentation of something as being
smaller, worse, or less important than it
actually is.