FIGURES OF SPEECH (ADVANCED)

Figures of Speech
A figure is worth a thousand words
(A picture is worth a thousand words)
 
Figurative language: One meaning of "figure" is "drawing" or "image" or "picture". Figurative language creates figures (pictures) in the mind of the reader or listener. These pictures help convey the meaning faster and more vividly than words alone.

③ We use figures of speech in "figurative language" to add colour and interest, and to awaken the imagination. Figurative language is everywhere, from classical works like Shakespeare or the Bible, to everyday speech, pop music and television commercials. It makes the reader or listener use their imagination and understand much more than the plain words.
③ Figurative language is the opposite of literal language. Literal language means exactly what it says. Figurative language means something different to (and usually more than) what it says on the surface:
He ran fast. (literal)
He ran like the wind. (figurative)
③ In the above example "like the wind" is a figure of speech (in this case, a simile). It is important to recognize the difference between literal and figurative language. There are many figures of speech that are commonly used and which you can learn by heart. At other times, writers and speakers may invent their own figures of speech. If you do not recognize them as figures of speech and think that they are literal, you will find it difficult to understand the language.
③ Four common types of figure of speech:
Simile
Metaphor
Hyperbole
Oxymoron

✈Simile 

‘It`s been a hard day`s night, and I`ve been working like a dog” ~ The Beatles
A simile is a figure of speech that says that one thing is like another different thing. We can use similes to make descriptions more emphatic or vivid.[C, U] (technical) a word or phrase that compares sth to sth else, using the words like or as, for example a face like a mask or as white as snow; the use of such words and phrases. [sự so sánh, ví von]
We often use the words as...as and like with similes.
Common patterns for similes, with example sentences, are:
something [is*] AS adjective AS something His skin was as cold as ice. It felt as hard as rock. She looked as gentle as a lamb.
something [is*] LIKE something My love is like a red, red rose. These cookies taste like garbage. He had a temper (that was) like a volcano.
something [does**] LIKE something He eats like a pig. He smokes like a chimney. They fought like cats and dogs.
* stative verb: be, feel, smell, taste etc ** action verb

Here are some more examples of well known similes:
as alike as two peas in a pod
identical or nearly so


as bald as a coot
completely bald


as big as a bus
very big


as big as an elephant
very big


as black as a sweep
completely black
sweep = chimney sweep

as black as coal
completely black


as black as pitch
completely black


as blind as a bat
completely blind
may be exaggeration

as blind as a mole
completely blind
may be exaggeration

as bold as brass
very bold
usually in a negative sense

as brave as a lion
very brave


as bright as a button
very bright


as bright as a new pin
very bright and shiny


as busy as a beaver
very busy


as busy as a bee
very busy


as busy as a cat on a hot tin roof
very busy


as calm as a millpond
very calm and still
usually said of water

as clear as a bell
very clear
of a sound

as clean as a whistle
very clean


as clear as crystal
very clear


as clear as mud
not at all clear
irony/sarcasm

as cold as ice
very cold


as common as dirt
very common, rude, vulgar
usually said of a person

as cool as a cucumber
cool


as cunning as a fox
cunning


as dead as a doornail
dead


as dead as the dodo
dead, extinct
the dodo is an extinct bird

as deaf as a post
completely deaf
may be exaggeration

as different as chalk from cheese
very different


as drunk as a lord
completely drunk


as dry as a bone
very dry


as dry as dust
very dry


as dull as dishwater
dull, boring
usually said