英语常见修辞格及其使用

1、英语中常见修辞格及其使用Figurative expressions are pictorial and full of images. They are rich in English and have added much beauty, vividness and strength to the language. As figurative expressions present ideas in a new relationship either b comparison or by association, we sometimes find it rather hard to u

2、nderstand a figure. This is no wonder, since peoples knowledge and experience are different, and each culture has its own special way of thinking. Generally, a non-native speaker can hardly use a figurative expression properly unless he is able to interpret it correctly in a literal way. Therefore,

3、a transformational study of the common figures of speech is by no means unnecessary. Besides, such a study is very helpful to our study of the western culture and to an improved appreciation of English and American literature.I. 使用语音手段的修辞格:1. 头韵 (Alliteration): It refers to the appearance of the sam

4、e initial consonant sound in two or more words, such as “as proud as peacock” and “as blind as a bat”. It is often used to give emphasis to words that are related in meaning.):在词的开头重复相同的元音或辅音.例如: Time and tide wait for no man. Suddenly the sky turned gray, The day, which had been bitter and chill, g

5、rew soft and still. as the fastest train in the world slipped to a stop in Hiroshima Station. (1.2) And ever since then they have been testing and treating me. 1.2) The Russian danger fighting for his hearth and home. (1.5) I see also the dull, drilled, docile Brutish masses(1.5) It was s splendid p

6、opulation for all the slow, sleepy, sluggish-brained sloths stayed at home. (1.9) It was that population and rushing them through with a magnificent dash and daring and a recklessness of cost or consequences. (1.9) Even with the most educated and the most literate, the Kings English slips and slides

7、 in conversation. (2.3) Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that (2.4)2. 拟声(Onomatopoeia): It refers to the fact of words containing sounds similar to the noises they describe, for example hiss; the use of words like this in a piece of writing are onomatopoeic wo

8、rds) makes use of imitation of sounds for effect. It is a device used in poetry and prose to add vividness or vitality to description or narration. There are two types of onomatopoeia: primary and secondary. Primary onomatopoeia usually imitates sounds made by a person, animal, thing or associated w

9、ith some action or movement. For example, meow, bow-bow, hiss and baa are respectively imitative of the cries or calls of cows, cats, dogs, snakes, lions and sheep. Examples of imitation of things like the toot of trains, the bang of doors, the rattle of windows and the crackles of fire and the clan

10、g of machines. Secondary onomatopoeia refers to the association between a certain sound and a symbolic meaning. We also call it sound symbolism. Sounds have sensory qualities, which suggest certain impression. Even though sounds in themselves have not meaning, and even though the associations betwee

11、n sounds and meanings in language are arbitrary and conventions, there are ways of using sounds to complement meaning. Sound is the shell of meaning. Sound and meaning are closely associated with each other.The stylistic effect of onomatopoeia in a variety of texts (Read P 47-54 of English Stylistic

12、s by Ju Yumei): a. Onomatopoeia can create vividness and vitality. Slide, glide, slipb. Onomatopoeia can also be employed to describe concrete objects to make the language be full of sound and color, dramatic and more impressive. Tinkling bells, burblingc. Onomatopoeia plays an important part in pla

13、ying up certain circumstances and conveying the feelings of characters. Creak, zigzag d. Onomatopoeia helps to achieve rhythm and beauty in music. Rhyme and rhythm are the major features of poetry. By employing onomatopoeia it can effectively produce a kind of musical beauty.): 以相似的声音描摹非语言的声音.例如: Sh

14、e brought me into touch with everything that could be reached or felt-sunlight, the rustling(沙沙声、瑟瑟声) of silk, the noises of insects, the creaking(咯吱声、吱嘎声) of a door, the voice of a loved one. You see, life is made up sobs(哭泣声),sniffles(抽鼻子声) and smiles-but mainly of sniffles. Little donkeys with ha

15、rmoniously tinkling bells thread their way among the throngs of people entering and leaving the bazaar. (1.1) Ancient girders creak and groan, ropes tighten and then a trickle of oil oozes down a stone runnel into a used petrol can. (1.1) taut and protesting, its creaks blending with the squeaking a

16、nd rumbling of the grinding wheels and the occasional grunts and sighs of the camels. (1.1)four or five thousand men in all, winding up the road with a clumping of boots and a clatter of iron wheels. (2.2)II. 使用词汇手段的修辞格:1. 明喻(simile) It is a figure of speech, which makes a comparison between two unl

17、ike elements having at least one quality or characteristic in common. The comparison is purely imaginative, that is, the resemblance between the two unlike things in one particular aspect which exists in our minds and in our “inward” eyes and not in the nature of the things themselves. To make the c

18、omparison, words like as, asso and like are used to transfer the quality we associate one to the other. A simile is made up of three parts, namely:1) the tenor (the thing described), 2) the vehicle (the thing compared to), and 3) words such as as, like, than, as if used to show the relationships of

19、comparison.: 用另一种事物比喻所要说明的事物,通常用like或as连用.例如: He had no more idea of art than a cow. The moon is like a silver plate He is as stubborn as a mule. It (The hair) fell about her, rippling and shining like a brown waterfall. It (The lion) is as big as a very large dog. More examples from the texts: The

20、yard is like an extended living room. (1.4) Maggies hand is as limp as a fish.(1.4) I am the way my daughter would want me to be . My skin like an uncooked barley pancake (1.4) “Maggies brain is like an elephants,” Wangero said. (1.4) The children went from adult to adult like buckets in a fire brig

21、ade. (2.1) and blowndown power lines coiled like back spaghetti over the roads. (2.1) The wind sounded like the roar of a train passing a few yards away. (2.1) all of them were mummified with age and the sun. (2.2) The Elizabethans blew on it as on a dandelion clock, and its seeds multiplied, and fl

22、oated to the ends of the earth. (2.3) My brain was as powerful as a dynamo, as precise as a chemists scales, as penetrating as a scalpel. (And hyperbole, 2.5) That did it. I leaped to my feet, bellowing like a bull. (2.5) I cited instances, pointed out flaws, kept hammering away without let-up. It w

23、as like digging a tunnel. (2.5) One blinked before them as one blinks before a man with his face shot away. (2.7) The church was set like a dormer-window on the side of a bare leprous hill. (2.7) These abominable houses cover the bare hillsides, like gravestones in some gigantic and decaying cemeter

24、y. (2.7)2. 隐喻(metaphor) A metaphor states that one thing is something else. It is a comparison, but it does NOT use like or as to make the comparison. Metaphor makes a comparison between two elements and this comparison is implied rather than stated like a simile. So a metaphor is, in a sense, a con

25、densed simile. It is a higher form and requires great ability on the part of the reader to perceive the hidden association, the insight into person, things or ideas that is implied.不用like或as隐藏的比喻.例如: They are birds of a feather. He said, "A foreign language is a weapon in the struggle of life.&

26、quot; Hope is the poor man's bread. More from the texts: You pass from the heat and glare of a big, open square into a cool, dark cavern which extends as far as the eye can see, (1.1) I had a lump in my throat (1.2) At last this intermezzo came to an end. (1.2) Her sister has held life always in

27、 the palm of one hand. (1.4) my case would snowball into one of the most famous trials in U.S history. (1.10) “We can batten down and ride it out”, he said. (2.1) Wind and rain now whipped the house. (2.1) Strips of clothing festooned the standing trees. (2.1) Camille, meanwhile, had raked its way n

28、orthward across Mississippi, (2.1) and no one has any idea where it will go as it meanders or leaps and sparkles or just glows. (2.2) They did not delve into each others lives or the recesses of their thoughts and feelings. (2.3) The conversation is on the wings. (2.3) The glow of the conversation b

29、urst into flames. (2.3) But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. (2.4) And if a beachhead of co-operation my push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, (2.4) In the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back

30、 of the tiger ended up inside. (2.4) And let ever other power know that this hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house. (2.4)There follows an informal essay that ventures even beyond Lambs frontier. (2.5)My brain, that precision instrument, slipped into high gear. (2.5)In other words,

31、 if you were out the picture, the field would be open. (2.5)Maybe somewhere in the extinct crater of her mind, a few embers still smoldered. Maybe somehow I could fan them into flame. (2.5)On their low sides they bury themselves swinishly in the mud. (2.7)And one and all they are streaked in grime,

32、with dead and eczematous patches of paint peeping through the streaks. (2.7)The effect is that of a fat woman with a black eye. It is that of a Presbyterian grinning. (2.7)That would forever prevent us from retreating behind the artificial walls of a provincial morality or the geographical protectio

33、n of our two bordering oceans. (2.10)until the crash of the world economic structure at the end of the decade called the party to a halt and (2.10)The war acted merely as a catalytic agent in this breakdown of the Victorian social structure. (2.10)They “wanted to get into the fun before the whole th

34、ing turned belly up”. (2.10)Their very homes were often uncomfortable to them; they had outgrown town and families.Younger brothers and sisters of the war generation, now began to imitate the manners of their elders and play with the toys of vulgar rebellion.The important book rather grandiosely ent

35、itled Civilization in the United States, was the rallying point of sensitive persons disgusted with America.3.借代(metonymy) In Latin, meta means change while onyma means name, so metonymy means the change of name. Metonymy is a figure of speech that has to do with the substitution of the name of one

36、thing for that of another. This substituted name may be an attribute of that other thing or be closely associated with it. In other words, it involves a change of name. (借代:不相类似的甲事物同乙事物之间有着不可分离的关系,利用这种关系以乙事物的名称来代替甲事物): .little old Japan adrift amid beige concrete skyscrapers .struggle between kimono

37、 and the miniskirt I thought that Hiroshima still felt the impactMetonymy can be derived from various sources:a. Names of persons e.g.: Uncle Sam: the USA b. Animals e.g.: a fight between the bear and the dragon (the bear: the Soviet Union; the dragon: the Chinese)c. Parts of the body e.g.:heart: fe

38、elings and emotionshead, brain: wisdom, intelligence, reasongray hair: old aged. Profession e.g.: the press: newspapers, reporters etc. He met the press yesterday evening at the Grand Hotel. the bar: the legal professione. Location of government, business etc. Downing Street: the British Government

39、the White House: the US president and his government the Capital Hill: US Congress Wall Street: US financial circles Hollywood: American filmmaking industry. More examples: In the country the revolutionaries set fire to the noble's castle and burnt them to the ground. (划线部分代封建制度)I saw that a lit

40、tle further up the traffic lights had turned red. (用红灯代stop)When the light turned green, I said to him, "Don't be stupid in future." (用绿灯代start)Hank couldn't believe his ears. (用ears代所说的话) f. container for the thing containedThe kettle is boiling. The hearth burns brightly.g: the i

41、nstrument for the agent The pen is mightier than the sword.h: the sign for the thing signified What is learned in the cradle is carried to the grave. Grey hair should be respected.I: others (organs for functions and authors for woks) He has a ready tongue. Have you ever read Shakespeare? More exampl

42、es from the texts: The rather arresting spectacle of little old Japan adrift amid beige concrete skyscrapers is the very symbol of the incessant struggle between the kimono and the miniskirt. (1.2) but for making money, his pen would prove mightier than his pickax. (1.9) The Washington Post, in an e

43、ditorial captioned “Keep Your Old Websters. (1.11) After all, surgeons have X-rays to guide them during an operation, lawyers have briefs to guide them during a grail, (2.5) , but I was not one to let my heart rule my head. Otherwise you have committed a Dicto Simpliciter. (2.5) You are guilty of Po

44、st Hoc if you blame Eula Becker for the rain. (2.5) Our young men began to enlist under foreign flags. Since the country was blind and deaf to everything save the glint and ring of the dollar, there was little remedy for (And Personification, 2.10) After the war, it was only natural that hopeful you

45、ng writers, their minds and pens inflamed against war, Babbittry, and “Puritanical” gentility, should flock to the traditional artistic center. (2.10) Before long the movement had become officially recognized by the pulpit which denounced it. (2.10) You are guilty of Post Hoc if you blame Eula Becke

46、r for the rain. (2.5)4.提喻 (synecdoche):The simplest case of metonymy is the so-called synecdoche. It means a word of phrase in which a part of something is used to represent a whole , or a whole is used to represent a part of something. 以部分代替整体,单个代替类别,具体代表抽象,或反过来,以全体代替部分,类别代替单个,抽象代替具体.例如: There are

47、about a hundred hands there. Great minds think alike. The world is still ignorant of the fact. Once Lu Xun spoke to the youth about the study of foreign language.youth不只是抽象名词表"年轻、青春(状态或阶段)",在古英语中就已经可以作集合名词指"青年人"这一整体。 A horse is an animal. The CCTV(中央电视台) has been broadcasting Eng

48、lish programs ever since 1977.(用整体代替部分,指中央电视台的工作人员) The case had erupted round my head. (1.10) But neither his vanity nor his purse is any concern of the dictionarys. (1.11) Or what of those sheets and jets of air that are now being used, in place of old-fashioned oak and hinges (1.11) There is a li

49、mit to what flesh and blood can bear. (2.5)5.讽喻(allegory):以形象的形式说明一些抽象的要领或深刻的道理,谚语是最常见的例子.例如:Fish begins to stink at the head.上梁不正下梁歪.You can not eat your cake and have it.两者不可兼得.Good medicine tastes bitter to the mouth.良药苦口.6.委婉语(Euphemism): the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expressio

50、n for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant. By euphemism we speak in gentle and favourable terms of some person, object or event, which is ordinarily seen in a less pleasing light: (用比较温和的词代替粗鲁的词或使人不愉快的词,用通行的词代替禁忌的词). E.g.: He was sentenced to prison. He is now living at the governmen

51、t's expenses.The boy is a bit slow for his age.to go to heavendeadto go to the bathroom, do one's business, answer the nature's call.Each day of suffering that helps to free me from earthly care (1.2). 例如: Would you like some help? 试比较:a. Will you like some help?b. Do you like some help?

52、 You look rather pale. Is there anything the matter? 试比较:You look rather ill. The next day he had a red face. 试比较:The next day he felt shy. He tried soldiering for two weeks with a motley band of Confederate guerrillas who diligently avoided contact with the enemy.(1.9) he commented with a crushing

53、sense of despair on mens final release from earthly struggles. (1.9)7.曲言(litotes): Contrary to hyperbole which owes its suggestibility to the deliberate overstatement, litotes derives its effect of emphasis from a conscious understatement by denying its opposite. 用反对语的否定来表达肯定,它又叫间接肯定法.例如: Its no eas

54、y matter to repair that machine. I was not a little surprised at the news. He is no fool, I should say. Man is not born to die.There is no doubt about it.The sort of medicine is not useless.Fish can't live without water.8.双关语(pun): Pun is a play on words, which involves an amusing use of express

55、ions with a double meaning or the same sound but different meanings. 一个词在上、下文中有双重或更多的含义.在英语中,常利用同形异义词(拼写相同但意义不同)或同(谐)音异义词(发音相同或相似,拼写与意义不同)来造成双关的效果.例如:Severn days without water make one weak (week).Customer：What's this? Waiter：It has bean(豆子) soup.Customer：I don't want to know what it has bee

56、n (是); I want to know what it is now.A：What is the longest sentence(句子、判刑) in the world? B：Prison for life.One shop announced: DARWIN IS RIGHTINSIDE.(This was J.R. Everything to Wear Store.) (1.10)9.夸张(hyperbole):It serves to express an exaggeration, frequently used in colloquial speech and fictitio

57、us writings, to convey intensity of feeling, but never used in scientific texts where precision of expression is necessary.在真实的基础上有意言过其实以更好地反映事物的本质.例如: I can wait all my life, sir. To Annie I owe thinks for this priceless gift(无价之宝) of speech. She shed floods of tears. He has an encyclopaedic knowle

58、dge of Chinese medicine. Examples from the texts: Most Americans remember Mark Twain as the father of Huck Finns idyllic cruise through eternal boyhood and Tom Sawyers endless summer of freedom and adventure. (1.9) It is not often that one so young has such a giant intellect. Finally he didnt turn away a