Metaphor Example 1
Life is a yo-yo. It’s a series of ups and downs.
Here, life is the tenor and yo-yo is the vehicle. The fact that both life and a yo-yo have ups and downs is the ground.
Habit is a cable; every day we weave thread, and
soon we cannot break it.
The sunshine of life is made up of very little beams.
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed ......
Simile For examples:
1.Jim and Billy are as like as two peas.
2.Records fell like ripe apples on a windy day.
3.As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from as far country.
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As water is the most important of liquids, so air is the most important of gases.
Personification
1. The wind whistled through the trees.
2. Dawn was beginning to prowl about the sky and put out the stars.
Analogy For examples:
1.shoe is to foot as tire is to wheel
2.followers are to a leader as planets are to a sun.
3.shells were to ancient cultures as dollar bills are to modern culture
Parallelism For examples:
1) The child was pretty and intelligent .
2) You can go there on foot or by bus or by train.
3) It is important to know how to study and to learn how to plan one’s time.4) Do you know who will come and when they will arrive ?
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Antithesis For examples:
1) Speech is silver; silence is golden.
2) More haste, less speed. (W.Shakespeare)
3)To err is human, to forgive, divine.--- Pope
4) Where there is marriage without love, there will be love without marriage.
Repetition For examples:
1) Tiger , tiger , burning bright
In the forests of the night (W. Blake)
2) Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill
of Mississippi . From every mountainside , let
freedom ring .(Martin Luther King Jr. I Have A Dream )
3) We eat to live , not live to eat .
synecdoche
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A. the part for the whole
1. hand: a) member of a ship’s crew---all hands on deck.
b) worker, laborer, helper ---- they were shot of hands at harvest time.
2. head: person-----He paid the workers $5 per head.
3. heart: brave fellow
Yet there were some stout hearts who attempted resistance.
4. legs: (coll.) persons on foot; the infantry
--- the legs could hardly keep up with the tanks.
5.bread: food, esp. staple food
--- Give us this day our daily bread.
B. the whole for the part
1. name of country for group of people of that country
---Australia beat Canada at cricket.
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2. Vehicle for engine, machine for mechanism of machine itself, etc.
--- The car conked out.
--- The plane’s flamed out.
--- The radio is out of order.
3. person for part of his body
--- Then he cut me open and took out the appendix and stitched me up again.
C. the species for the genus, or the genus for the species
1. Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!
2. What a despicable creature he is.
D. name of material for the thing made
1. She was dressed in silks and satins.
2. Cotton suits you.
E. the container for the thing contained or vice versa
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1. The kettle is boiling.
2. Two beers, please.
Metonymy For examples :
pen : what is written by the pen ; books , articles , etc .
sword : instrument of force and destruction ;
e.g. The pen is mightier than the sword .
table : source or supply of food ;
e.g. She sets a good (poor) table.
(She provides good /poor food.)
bottle : liquor , wine , alcohol ;
e.g. He took to the bottle. ( He took to drinking )
A : Name of persons
1 John Bull : England , or the English people
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2 Uncle Sam : The United States of America
B : Animals
1 British Lion : England or the English government
2 the bear : The former Soviet union or the Soviet government
C: Parts of the body
1 heart : feelings or emotions
2 head/brain : wisdom , intelligence , reason
e.g. Her heart ruled her head .
Use your brain .
3 gray hair : old age
D Professions
1 the bar : the legal profession ;
e.g. He has been called to the bar .
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2 the bench : position ( office) of judge or magistrate ;
e.g. He has been appointed to the bench .
3 the veil : vocation of a nun ;
e.g. She took the veil at 20 .
4 the press : newspapers ; newspaper reporters ; e.g. He’s meeting the press this morning . What has the press to say to this ?
E : Locations of government , of business or industrial enterprises
1 Downing Street : the British gobernment or cabinet
2 The White Hall : the President or Executive branch of the U.S. government
3 the Pentagon : the U.S. military establishment
4 Kremlin : the government of the former Soviet Union
5 Wall Street : U.S. financial circles
6 Madison Avenue : American advertising industry
7 Hollywood : the American film-making industry
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Hyperbole For examples:
1. His eloquence would split rocks.
2. My left leg weights three tons.
3. You write ten times better than any man in the congress.
4. Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay
5. Hamlet: I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum.
Irony & SarcasmFor examples:
1)You are eloquent as an oyster.
2)This hard-working boy seldom reads more than one hour per week.
Rhetorical question For examples:
1) If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? (Shelley)
2) Can the leopard change his spots?
3) Isn’t the best choice?
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Transferred epithet For examples:
1) She sat there with embarrassed delight.
2) His recent kindness was winning a surprised gratitude from the lonely girl.
3) He answered with a helpless smile.
4) The child gazed in wide-eyed amazement.
Synaesthesia For examples:
He gave me a sour look.
The music breathing from her face.
Johnson’s Baby Powder: the soft smell.
Posner lipstick : music to your lips .
微风过处，送来缕缕清香，仿佛远处高楼上渺茫的歌声似的。
．．．但光与影有着和谐的旋律，如梵阿玲上奏着的名曲。
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