What Are The Figures of Speech

"Yes, he ate this dog," and "time runs", "here the whole city gathered" ... We are so used to such phrases in oral and written speech that we do not even notice the figures of speech and path used here. Moreover, many people do not even know about their existence. And yet, the paths and figures of speech occupy such an important and lasting place in our lives that it would be rather difficult to imagine even an ordinary everyday conversation without them ...


The figures of speech are all syntactic and lexical means used by us, which are necessary for giving the text brightness and expressiveness.

To the syntactic include those figures of speech that use manipulation with words, sentences and punctuation:

- inversion (violation of the classical order of words). "Porter by he's an arrow";

- antithesis (speech turnover using opposition). "I had a black handkerchief, and Masha's sister had a white";

- Zeugma (use among the homogeneous members of elements that are knocked out of the general series in meaning). "He took three weeks off and a ticket to Menton";

- anaphora and epiphore (the recurrence of identical structures at the beginning or end of several sentences in a row). "The sun shines in that valley, happiness awaits in that valley", "The forest is not the same!" - The bush is not that! -Third is not that! ";

- Gradation (the arrangement of elements by the degree of increase or decrease in their significance). "I came, I saw, I won!" ;

- ellipsis (skipping a member of the proposal, which is implied in the context). "From the station he is right here" (the verb is omitted);

- rhetorical questions, appeals and exclamations. "Is there any meaning in our life?", "Come, spring, here soon!";

- Parceling (splitting the proposal into parts, each of which is formalized as a separate proposal). "And so I returned home, where I was, young."

Lexical figures of speech include those in which the "game" is used by the meanings of words:

- synonyms and antonyms (words that are similar / opposite in meaning). "Red, scarlet, purple colors," "Is he cheerful or sad?";

- hyperbole and litot (artistic exaggeration / understatement). "The whole world froze in anticipation," "Pretty Spitz, no more thimble";

- Occasionalisms (words first introduced by the author). "Pryknopay me picture";

- metaphor (a hidden comparison, based on giving one object the properties of another). "The bee from the cell wax flies for tribute to the field";

- an oxymoron (a combination of mutually exclusive words). "Young grandmother, who are you?";

- the personification (giving the inanimate object the qualities of the living). "Winter came, and the forest fell asleep, to awaken only with the spring sun";

- Peripheral (substitution of the word itself with an appraisal statement or description). "I return to my beloved city on the Neva";

- epithet (figurative definition). "His future - il is empty, il dark."

The figures of the speech illustrate the richness of the Russian language and help not only to express one's individual attitude to the subject, but also to show it from a new angle. They give the text liveliness and immediacy, and also help to reveal the author's point of view. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to recognize and use speech figures, because without them our language can become dry and soulless.