Lexical expressive
means and
stylistic devices
TASHENOVA A.K., ZH.MUSSIN KOKSHETAU HIGHER KAZAKH
PEDAGOGICAL COLLEGE
Simile
The formal elements of a Simile are link words like,
as, as if, as though, such as, etc., suffixes -wise, -like
and verbs to resemble, to seem, to appear, to look
like.
For instance, “He looked like a horse and he smiled
like a horse”, “She seemed nothing more than a
doll”, “… with ape-like fury, he was trampling his
victim under foot”.
Metaphor
a resemblance of two contradictory or
different objects is made based on a single
or some common characteristics.
“He is the black sheep of the family”
1. My brother was boiling mad. (This implies he was too
angry.)
2. The assignment was a breeze. (This implies that the
assignment was not difficult.)
3. It is going to be clear skies from now on. (This
implies that clear skies are not a threat and life is
going to be without hardships)
4. The skies of his future began to darken. (Darkness is
a threat; therefore, this implies that the coming
times are going to be hard for him.)
5. Her voice is music to his ears. (This implies that her
voice makes him feel happy)
Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing, an
idea or an animal is given human attributes. The non-
human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel
they have the ability to act like human beings.
“The sky weeps”.
The wind whispered through dry grass.
The flowers danced in the gentle breeze.
Time and tide waits for none.
The fire swallowed the entire forest.
Metonymy
It is a figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing
with the name of something else with which it is closely
associated.
1.“The hall applauded”.
2.“The round game table was boisterous and happy”.
3.England decides to keep check on immigration. (England
refers to the government.)
4.The pen is mightier than the sword. (Pen refers to
written words and sword to military force.)
5.The Oval Office was busy in work. (“The Oval Office” is a
metonymy as it stands for people at work in the office.)
6.Let me give you a hand. (Hand means help.)
Interjections are pure signs of emotions; they
are void of any logical meaning.
“Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud) /
How fast she nears and nears!”
Hey! Stop playing tricks on me!
Ouch! That hurts!
Epithet is a descriptive literary device that describes a
place, a thing or a person in such a way that it helps in
making the characteristics of a person, thing or place
more prominent than they actually are.
“The earth is crying-sweet,
And scattering-bright the air,
Eddying, dizzying, closing round,
With soft and drunken laughter…”
Types of epithets:
1. Single - “the smiling sun”,
2. Pair epithets - “wonderful and incomparable beauty” or “a tired old
town”.
3. Chain (string) epithets - “You’re a scolding, unjust, abusive,
aggravating, bad old creature”.
4. Two-step structure epithets - : “an unnaturally mild day”. (adv.+adj.)
5. Phrase epithets - “the sunshine – in – the – breakfast – room smell”.
6. Inverted (reversed) epithets - instead of “this devilish woman”, - the
inverted e-t is “this devil of a woman”. The model is "N +N". Ex.: the
giant of a man, a sparrow of a woman.
Oxymoron – is the combination of 2 words
(adjective + noun or adjective + adjective) in
which the meanings of the two clash being
opposite in sense. “Poorest millionaire”, “The
peopled desert”; “populous solitude”; “Proud
humility”.
Hyperbole – a SD in which emphasis is achieved
through deliberate exaggeration.
1.“I would gladly see the film a hundred times”.
2.My grandmother is as old as the hills.
3.Your suitcase weighs a ton!
4.She is as heavy as an elephant!
5.I am dying of shame.
6.I am trying to solve a million issues these days.
Understatement
“The woman was of a pocket size.”
Litotes is a two-component structure in
which two negations are joined to give a
positive evaluation.
e.g.: He is not half bad when you know
him. (J.G.)
Allusion is a reference to specific places, people, literary
characters, historical events, that by some associations one
have come to stand for a certain thing of the idea the
frequently resorted to sources, are mythology and the Bible.
E.g. Shakespeare talks of the herald Mercury. (Byron)
Scarlett, this tiny young creature, if you can credit it, runs my
entire household as if she were Ivan the Terrible.
She’s looking up at him as if he could walk on water. (A.R.)
He fancied himself La Mola, and Aramis, Bussy, Chicot, and
D’Artagnan rolled into one, but he quite failed to envisage Val
as Coconnas, Brissac, or Rochefort. (J.G.)
