Up Board Class 12 figure of speech Types And Examples
figure of speech :— All of us use different figures of speech in our everyday life, no matter which language we speak. Being familiar with different types of figures of speech can not only increase your vocabulary in a particular language but also help you in your career.
Personification :—
Personification attributes human nature or human qualities to abstract or inanimate objects. For example, we often use the phrases like the howling wind, dancing leaves, time flies etc. Some examples of personification in a sentence are:
The opportunity knocked at his door
The plants in her house silently begged to be watered
Lightning danced across the sky
The wind howled in the night.
Metaphor :—
A metaphor is used for implying a comparison between two things that have something in common but are in general different from each other. Some examples of the usage of metaphors in a sentence is as follows:
It is raining cats and dogs
He is the star of our class
Life is a highway.
Her eyes were diamonds.
Simile :—
A simile is a figure of speech that compares two things that are different from each other but have similar qualities. These are generally formed through the usage of the words ‘as’ or ‘like’. Some examples of similes in a sentence include:
He is as brave as a lion
Her expression was as cold as ice
Swim like a fish
As light as a feather
Onomatopoeia :—
This is a figure of speech that is used to express a sound. To be more precise, it involves the use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the action or object referred to i.e. hiss, clap etc. Some examples of onomatopoeia include:
The buzzing bee flew over my head
The stone hit the water with a splash
The boulder hit the ground with a flump.
Leaves rustle in the wind and are whipped into the air.
Hyperbole :—
A hyperbole is a figure of speech that consists of an exaggeration. It is the usage of exaggerated terms in order to emphasise or heighten the effect of something. Some examples of using hyperboles in a sentence include:
I have told you a million times to not touch my stuff!
She has got a pea-sized brain
I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.
She’s as old as the hills.
Apostrophe :—
It addresses the subject that is not present in the work. In this case, the object is absent or inanimate. Here are some of the examples of apostrophes.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are
Welcome, O life!
Alarm clock, please don’t fail me.
Seven, you are my lucky number!
Oxymoron :—
This figure of speech, which should not be confused with ironies and paradoxes, links two opposing ideas at once. This indicates that two opposing concepts are utilised inside a single sentence to create levity in an oxymoron figure of speech. For instance,
This is another fine mess you have got us into
Suddenly the room filled with a deafening silence
The comedian was seriously funny
You are clearly confused by the situation you have found yourself in
C. Point out the figures of speech in the following lines:
1- Ojudgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts.—————– Apostrophe
2- Opportunity knocks at the door but once.———— Personification
3- Omighty Caesar! dost thou lie so low.———- Apostrophe
4- Oworld! O life! O time!
On whose last steps I climb.————– Apostrophe
5- O Julius Caesar! thou art mighty yet. ————Apostrophe
6- Our sweetest songs are those That tell of a saddest thoughts.———– Oxymoron
7- Osweet Content! where is thy mild abode? ———-Apostrophe
8- O heavy lightness! Serious vanity. ————-Apostrophe
9- Ocuckoo! shall I call thee bird. ———-Apostrophe
10- Omy love’s like red rose.—————Simile
11- O Solitude! where are thy charms? ———Apostrophe
12- O Grave! Where is thy victory?———-Apostrophe
13- Or from star like eyes doth seek. ————Simile
14- O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done.————–Apostrophe
15- Her mother too, upon this occasion felt a pleasing distress. ——————Oxymoron
16- He is the star of the family. ——————Metaphor
17- He has a heart of stone. ——————Metaphor
18- He that loves a rosy cheek or coral lip admires. ——————Metaphor
19- Hope is the poor man’s bread. ——————Metaphor
20- He is idly busy nowadays. ——————Oxymoron
21- How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world. ——————Apostrophe
22- It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven. ——————Apostrophe
23- Isee a lily on thy brow. ——————Simile
24- She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream. ——————Metaphor
25- She is the pillar of the state. ——————Simile
26- She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride. ——————Metaphor
27- She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream. ——————Simile
28- She is lovely like a rose. ——————Simile
29- That sages have seen in thy face. ——————Simile
30- The more haste, the less speed. ——————Apostrophe
31- The city’s voice itself is soft like solitude’s. ——————Oxymoron
32- They build the nation’s pillars deep and lift them to the sky. ——————Simile
33- This sea that bares her bosom to the moon. ——————Hyperbole
34- This is an open secret. ——————Oxymoron
35- The camel is the ship of the desert. —————— Metaphor
36- Life is a dream. ——————Metaphor
37- Love is the spice of life. ——————Metaphor
38- Life is like a dream. ——————Simile
39- Love is blind. ——————Metaphor
40- Like a huge python winding round and round. ——————Simile
41- Look like innocent flower. ——————Simile
42- Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour. ——————Apostrophe
43- My love is like a red rose. ——————Simile
44- My friend is regularly irregular. ——————Oxymoron
45- Peace hath her victories no less renowned that war. ——————Personification
46- Pride goeth forth on horse back grand and gray,
But cometh back on foot and begs its way. ——————Personification
47- Rome, thou hast seen much better days. ——————Personification
48- Rivers of blood flowed in the battle. ——————Hyperbole
49- Revenge is a kind of wild justice.. ——————Metaphor
50- She wept oceans of tears. ——————Hyperbole
51- She is as fresh as dew. ——————Simile
52- She is a fen of stagnant water. ——————Metaphor
53- She hangs like a star in the dew of our song. ——————Simile
54- So like a shattered column lay the king. ——————Personification
55- But patience to prevent, that murmur soon replies. ——————Personification
56- Curses are like chickens they come home to roost. ——————Apostrophe
57- Death lays his icy hands even on kings. ——————Simile
58- Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow. ——————Simile
59- Exult, o shores! and ring o bells! ——————Simile
60- Expanding like the petals of young flowers
I watch the gentle opening of your minds. ——————Simile
61- From star-like eyes doth seek
Fuel to maintain his fires. ——————Simile
62- Frailty! They name is woman. ——————Apostrophe
63- Great lord of all things yet a prey to all. ——————Oxymoron
64- He is now in the sunset of his days. —————Metaphor
65- Ichatter, chatter, as I flow to join the brimming river. —————Onomatopoeia
66- I hear lake water lapping. —————Onomatopoeia
67- I heard the water lapping on the crag. —————Onomatopoeia
68- King James I was known as the wisest fool of Christendom. —————Oxymoron
69- Life is a tale told by an idiot. —————Metaphor
70- Life is as tedious as a twice told tale. —————Simile
71- Lightly! Olightly! We glide and we sing We bear her along like a pearl on a string —————Simile
72- Like is but a walking shadow. —————Simile
73- Let not ambition mock their useful toil. —————Personification
74- Life is bitter sweet. —————Oxymoron