3. retreat, rout
phased withdrawal 4. admit defeat
concede the victory to 5. concentration camps strategic villages or hamlets
6. bombing and blasting of whole villages
pacification of the enemy infrastructure; softening up of enemy resistance; give
massive air support (The euphemism here are in the true sense of the word “false”. They are used to cover up
the true nature of events, deceiving the public with nice-sounding and pseudo-technical words.)
7. Irony Irony achieves emphasis by saying the opposite of what is meant, the intended meaning of the words being the opposite of their usual sense.
In everyday life we often hear people using irony in their speech, though they may not be conscious of it. For instance, they may call a very thin boy “Fatty”, or a very fat one “Skinny”. Similarly we may hear people saying, “Oh, how I love queuing up” when in fact they hate it.
However, not all verbal irony is of this light and humorous type. More often it is used to veil feelings in a subtle way, using words of praise where condemnation is meant, and vice versa. Such irony can be light or heavy, depending on the circumstances.
Below are some examples of light irony:
1. “Generally speaking,” said Miss Murdstone, “I don?t like boys. How d?ye do, boy?”
Under these encouraging circumstances, I replied that I was very well, and I hoped she was the same, with such indifferent grace that Miss Murdstone disposed of me in two words, ---- “Wants manner!” ---- David Copperfield (Dickens)
Here the word encouraging is used ironically, for the circumstances were not encouraging at all ---- they were, in fact, discouraging, for Miss Murdstone had said she didn’t like boys.
2. We are lucky. It?s the other side on the thirteenth of December. That makes us feel real good.
---- G. I. Diary (David Parks)
The writer means exactly the opposite of what he says. 13 is an unlucky number to most Westerners, and therefore they are definitely not lucky. And since on that date (December 13) they will land “on the other side” of the Pacific, in Vietnam, to fight in the Vietnam War, they don’t feel good at all. In fact, they are all quite frightened at the prospect.)
8. Hyperbole Hyperbole is the deliberate use of overstatement or exaggeration to achieve emphasis. Instead of saying in plain language
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1. Thank you very much.
2. She is very pretty. 3. He laughed heartily.
We can express the same ideas or feelings more emphatically by saying:
4. Thanks a million.
5. She is the prettiest girl in the world. 6. He almost died laughing.
Effective hyperbole, however, is more than just to emphasize something in exaggerated terms. In the hands of experienced writers it can be used to achieve various literary effects: to intensify emotion, to elevate or idealize persons or events to heroic or mythical status, or to poke fun at or ridicule.
Examples of various forms and uses of hyperbole are given below:
1. Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay. (Alexander Pope)
2. For she was beautiful ---- her beauty made The bright world dim, and everything beside
Seemed like the fleeting image of a shade. (P. B. Shelley) 3. Was this face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss! … O, thou art fairer than the evening star,
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars… (Christopher Marlowe)
4. “Shut up a minute!” Brackett ordered angrily. “Listen! You just have to look at
this soup (= nitroglycerin), see? You just cough loud and it blows!” (Albert Maltz)
In the last example, Brackett is angrily trying to dissuade Jesse from taking the job of transporting nitroglycerin by exaggerating the dangerous nature of the stuff.
It is not difficult to sprinkle our speech and writing with superlatives, especially when we are deeply moved or excited. But if we get into the habit of describing ordinary happenings in exaggerated terms, we might find ourselves at a loss for the right words to describe extraordinary events. For instance, if we use “terrific”, “fantastic”, “sensational”, “terrible”, “horrible” to describe every little thing that impressed us, what words would we use for something really impressive and significant? As the writer Robert Lynd once said, “If we use all the extreme words on ordinary occasions, we make it impossible to use them with very much significance on extreme occasions.”
Moderation in the use of exaggeration, then, seems to be the rule for us to follow.
9. Understatement As the word implies, understatement is the opposite of hyperbole, or overstatement. It achieves its effect of emphasizing a fact by deliberately understating it, impressing the listener or the reader more by what is merely implied or left unsaid than by bare statement. Below are some typical examples:
1. He was a man of no mean wealth. (He was quite rich.)
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2. …so we carried him, and that was rough. He weighs 290 lbs. (David Parks) 3. It?s no laughing matter. (It?s a serious matter.) 4. I didn?t half like that. (I liked that very much.)
10. Transferred epithet It is a figure of speech where an epithet (an adjective or descriptive phrase) is transferred from the noun it should rightly modify to another to which it does not really apply or belong. Generally, the epithet is transferred from a person to a thing or idea. For instance, when we say we spent sleepless nights on a project, the word sleepless is a transferred epithet, for nights cannot sleep. Below are further examples:
1. … Virtues
Are forced upon us by our impudent crimes. (“Gerontion” ---- T. S. Eliot) (impudent crimes really mean “crimes committed by impudent people, or committed in impudence”.)
2. …And an old man driven by the Trades To a sleepy corner. (Ibid)
(sleepy corner refers to “a corner where he can go to sleep or doze off”.)
11. Oxymoron An oxymoron is a compressed paradox, formed by the conjoining of two contrasting, contradictory or incongruous terms, as in
---- bitter-sweet memories
---- proud humility: this refers to the quality of being humble, but not servile ---- orderly chaos: chaos (confusion, disarray) exists, but there is some method or order in the way the things are thrown around.
An oxymoron can be formed in various ways, the most common being the following: a) adj. + noun a living death
conspicuous absence tearful joy
jarring concord
b) adj. + adj. cold pleasant manner poor rich guys c) adv. + adj. dully bright mercifully fatal d) verb + adv. hasten slowly shine darkly
e) noun + noun a love-hate relationship
As in paradox, the appreciation of an oxymoron comes from trying to find the hidden truth, the subtle significance in otherwise conflicting images or ideas.
12. Alliteration It is a rhetorical device that has more to do with sound than the sense of words for effect. It is a device that repeats the same sound at frequent intervals and since the sound
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repeated is usually the initial consonant sound, it is also called “front rhyme”.
1.
“?Father? is rather vulgar, my dear. The word ?Papa?, besides, gives a pretty form to the lips. Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prisms, are all very good words for the lips; especially prunes and prisms.” (Little Dorrit ---- Dickens)
2.
…a fourth imputed our defeat to the over-civility of our umpire, George Gosseltine, a sleek, smooth, silk, soft-spoken person, who stood with his little wand under his arm, smiling through all our disasters ---- the very image of peace and good humor; whilst their umpire, Bob Coxe, a
roistering, roaring, bullying blade, bounced, and hectered, and blustered from his wicket, with voice of a twelve pounder. (Our Village ---- Mary
Russel Mitford)
In present-day journalistic writing and in advertisements, writers make use of the impressiveness of alliteration quite frequently. In one issue of Time, for example, the following instances of alliteration were found:
(Titles of articles)
---- Bye, Bye, Balanced Budget
---- Gunk Grounds the Second Shuttle ---- Sky Swoop
---- Six Masters, Seen by a Seventh (Advertisements)
---- C & C ---- The Computer and Communication Company helps you get the most out of
“digital”. ---- For comfort, convenience, superb service and more flights to Japan ---- YOU CAN
DEPEND ON US. Cathay Pacific
Exercises
I. Name the figure of speech used in each of the following sentences:
1. Her rich relatives rained birthday presents on her only son. 2. Wrong ideas may harm a man just like disease. 3. Some words may be defaced by careless usage. 4. The leaves are trembling in the cold wind.
5. The storm was so angry that it wanted to destroy everything in its way.
6. Many people bowed before Force, but eventually Force would surrender to Reason. 7. Selfless people are like cows, which eat straw but produce milk. 8. “What do you think of the roast duck?” “Not bad.” 9. His friends praised his daughter’s performances to the skies. 10. His writing is clear and clean.
11. His unfriendly tongue surprised her.
12. There is fertile soil for popular music in China today.
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II. Find a euphemism from the right column that matches the word or words in the left column.
1. lazy a. subterranean engineer 2. drunk b. planned withdrawal
3. heavy drinking c. deteriorating residential section d. culturally deprived environment 4. dirty e. plant food 5. manure f. memory garden 6. toilet g. the low-income group 7. slum h. beautician 8. cemetery i. relocation center 9. firing j. indolent
10. bankruptcy k. clairvoyant readers 11. concentration camp l. resettlement
12. forcible expatriation m. plant superintendent
13. disorganized retreat n. immoderate use of intoxicants 14. the poor people o. customer-contact personnel 15. sewerman p. jakes/john
16. shoemaker q. lack of proper health habits
17. hairdresser r. intoxicated
18. foreman s. straitened financial circumstances 19. door-to-door salesman t. shoe rebuilder
20. fortune teller u. termination of employment
v. declaring staff redundant
VI. Commonly Confused Words
1. Homonyms
Some words are commonly confused because they have the same sounds but different meanings and spellings; such words are known as homonyms. Following are a number of homonyms. Complete the activity for each set of words, and check off and study the words that give you trouble.
all ready completely prepared already previously; before
It was already four o’clock by the time I thought about lunch. My report was all ready, but the class was canceled.
Fill in the blanks: Tyrone was ________________ to sign up for the course when he discovered that it had _________________ closed.
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