Figures of Speech

The judicious use of rhetoric will lift your speech and writing to the next level and make it memorable. 

Alliteration

Whether the evidence is affected by concoction, confusion or contamination.

To be attacked so publicly for not agreeing was dishonourable, divisive and devious.

Antithesis

“You have the watches but we have the time” – Taliban commander.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” – Benjamin Franklin.

“Economic growth is a not a cure-all, but lack of growth is a kill-all” – Paul Collier.

“The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear” – Aung San Suu Kyi.

“Trump hasn’t overshadowed Biden; he has eclipsed him.  Trump is the future, Biden the past; Trump wide awake, Biden sleepy.” 

“If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more ‎violence. If the Jews put ‎down their weapons ‎today, there would be no ‎more Israel” – Golda Meir. 

Climax

“You ask, what is our aim?  I can answer in one word:  victory – victory, victory at all costs, victory however long and hard the road may be, for without victory, there is no survival” – Winston Churchill. 

Simile and Metaphor

In both simile and metaphor, a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.  Whereas a simile is introduced by such words as like, as, or so, a metaphor does not state that one thing is like another or acts as another but takes that for granted and proceeds as if the two things were one. 

Identify the figures of speech in the following examples:

The 46th President is a worn tyre, the tread soft and indistinct.  [Other leaders] can neither predict Trump nor imitate him, so they can’t take their eyes off him. 

The Institute for the Study of War, an American think tank, has identified more than 200 Russian military and paramilitary targets that would be in the range of the Ukrainian ATACMS.  “It is far more cost-effective to destroy the archer than the arrow.  Let Ukraine defend itself.”

“Merkel was like an airline pilot:  passengers could trust her completely – that is, as long as they did not care where they landed.  Unfortunately, Germany has now crash-landed.  Its industry is in decline.  Its military is understaffed and underequipped.  Its politics are in crisis” – Oliver Hartwich.  

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