AP English

• is the use of words
• whose pronunciation imitates the sound the word describes. "Buzz," for
• example, when spoken is intended to resemble the sound of a flying
• insect.
• Other examples include these: slam, pow, screech, whirr, crush, sizzle,
• crunch, wring, wrench, gouge, grind, mangle, bang, blam, pow, zap,
• fizz,
• urp, roar, growl, blip, click, whimper, and, of course, snap, crackle,
• and pop. Note that the connection between sound and pronunciation is
• sometimes
• rather a product of imagination ("slam" and "wring" are not very good
• imitations).
• And note also that written language retains an aural quality, so that
• even
• unspoken your writing has a sound to it. Compare these sentences, for
• instance:

• Someone yelled, "Look out!" and I heard the skidding of
• tires and the
• horrible
• noise of bending metal and breaking glass.
• Someone yelled "Look out!" and I heard a loud screech
• followed by a
• grinding,
• wrenching crash.

• is an adjective or adjective
• phrase appropriately qualifying a subject (noun) by naming a key or
• important
• characteristic of the subject, as in "laughing happiness," "sneering
• contempt,"
• "untroubled sleep," "peaceful dawn," and "lifegiving water." Sometimes
• a metaphorical epithet will be good to use, as in "lazy road," "tired
• landscape,"
• "smirking billboards," "anxious apple." Aptness and brilliant
• effectiveness
• are the key considerations in choosing epithets. Be fresh, seek
• striking
• images, pay attention to connotative value.

• At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth of
• thieves and murderers
• . . . . --George Herbert
• Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to
• hold / A sheep
• hook . . . . --John Milton
• In an age of pressurized happiness, we sometimes
• grow insensitive
• to subtle joys.

• includes several
• rhetorical devices involving departure from normal word order. One
• device,
• a form of inversion, might be called delayed epithet,
• since the
• adjective follows the noun. If you want to amplify the adjective, the
• inversion
• is very useful:

• From his seat on the bench he saw the girl content-content
• with the
• promise
• that she could ride on the train again next week.

• a final form
• of hyperbaton, consists of a word, phrase, or whole sentence inserted
• as
• an aside in the middle of another sentence:

• But the new calculations--and here we see the value of
• relying upon
• up-to-date
• information--showed that man-powered flight was possible with this
• design.
• Every time I try to think of a good rhetorical example, I
• rack my
• brains
• but--you guessed--nothing happens.

• is the recurrence
• of initial consonant sounds. The repetition can be juxtaposed (and then
• it is usually limited to two words):

• Ah, what a delicious day!
• Yes, I have read that little bundle of pernicious prose,
• but I have no
• comment to make upon it.
• Done well, alliteration is a satisfying sensation.

• interrupts the discussion
• or discourse and addresses directly a person or personified thing,
• either
• present or absent. Its most common purpose in prose is to give vent to
• or display intense emotion, which can no longer be held back:

• O value of wisdom that fadeth not away with time, virtue
• ever
• flourishing,
• that cleanseth its possessor from all venom! O heavenly gift of the
• divine
• bounty, descending from the Father of lights, that thou mayest exalt
• the
• rational soul to the very heavens! Thou art the celestial nourishment
• of
• the intellect . . . . --Richard de Bury
• O books who alone are liberal and free, who give to all
• who ask of you
• and enfranchise all who serve you faithfully! -- Richard de Bury

• is an informally-stated
• syllogism which omits either one of the premises or the conclusion. The
• omitted part must be clearly understood by the reader. The usual form
• of
• this logical shorthand omits the major premise:

• Since your application was submitted before April 10th, it
• will be
• considered.
• [Omitted premise: All applications submitted before April 10 will be
• considered.]
• He is an American citizen, so he is entitled to due
• process. [All
• American
• citizens are entitled to due process.]

• (gradatio) consists of arranging
• words, clauses, or sentences in the order of increasing importance,
• weight,
• or emphasis. Parallelism usually forms a part of the arrangement,
• because
• it offers a sense of continuity, order, and movement-up the ladder of
• importance.
• But if you wish to vary the amount of discussion on each point,
• parallelism
• is not essential.

• The concerto was applauded at the house of Baron von
• Schnooty, it was
• praised
• highly at court, it was voted best concerto of the year by the Academy,
• it was considered by Mozart the highlight of his career, and it has
• become
• known today as the best concerto in the world.

• repetition of a word
• or phrase after an intervening word or phrase as a method of emphasis:

• We will do it, I tell you; we will do it.
• We give thanks to Thee, 0 God, we give thanks . . . .
• --Psalm 75:1
• (NASB)

• reversing the
• order of repeated words or phrases (a loosely chiastic structure,
• AB-BA)
• to intensify the final formulation, to present alternatives, or to show
• contrast:

• All work and no play is as harmful to mental health as all
• play and no
• work.
• Ask not what you can do for rhetoric, but what rhetoric
• can do for you.

• one word irony,
• established by context:

• "Come here, Tiny," he said to the fat man.
• It was a cool 115 degrees in the shade.

• repetition of one word
• (for emphasis):

• The best way to describe this portion of South America is
• lush, lush,
• lush.
• What do you see? Wires, wires, everywhere wires.
• Polonius: "What are you reading?" Hamlet: "Words, words,
• words."

• stopping abruptly
• and leaving a statement unfinished:

• If they use that section of the desert for bombing
• practice, the rock
• hunters
• will--.
• I've got to make the team or I'll--.

• finishing a sentence
• with a different grammatical structure from that with which it began:

• And then the deep rumble from the explosion began to shake
• the very
• bones
• of--no one had ever felt anything like it.
• Be careful with these two devices because improperly used
• they
• can--well,
• I have cautioned you enough.

• detailing parts, causes,
• effects, or consequences to make a point more forcibly:

• I love her eyes, her hair, her nose, her cheeks, her lips
• [etc.].
• When the new highway opened, more than just the motels and
• restaurants
• prospered. The stores noted a substantial increase in sales, more
• people
• began moving to town, a new dairy farm was started, the old Main Street
• Theater doubled its showings and put up a new building . . . .

• placing a good point
• or benefit next to a fault criticism, or problem in order to reduce the
• impact or significance of the negative point:

• True, he always forgets my birthday, but he buys me
• presents all year
• round.
• The new anti-pollution equipment will increase the price
• of the product
• slightly, I am aware; but the effluent water from the plant will be
• actually
• cleaner than the water coming in.

• writing successive independent
• clauses, with coordinating conjunctions, or no conjunctions:

• We walked to the top of the hill, and we sat down.
• In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And
• the earth
• was
• without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And
• the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. --Genesis 1:1-2
• (KJV)
• The Starfish went into dry-dock, it got a barnacle
• treatment, it
• went back to work.

• using subordination
• to show the relationship between clauses or phrases (and hence the
• opposite
• of parataxis):

• They asked the question because they were curious.
• If a person observing an unusual or unfamiliar object
• concludes that it
• is probably a spaceship from another world, he can readily adduce that
• the object is reacting to his presence or actions when in reality there
• is absolutely no cause-effect relationship. --Philip Klass
• While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
• --John 9:5

• quoting a maxim or wise
• saying to apply a general truth to the situation; concluding or summing
• foregoing material by offering a single, pithy statement of general
• wisdom:

• But, of course, to understand all is to forgive all.
• As the saying is, art is long and life is short.
• For as Pascal reminds us, "It is not good to have all your
• wants
• satisfied."

• citing an example; using
• an illustrative story, either true or fictitious:

• Let me give you an example. In the early 1920's in
• Germany, the
• government
• let the printing presses turn out endless quantities of paper money,
• and
• soon, instead of 50-pfennige postage stamps, denominations up to 50
• billion
• marks were being issued.

• using more words than
• required to express an idea; being redundant. Normally a vice, it is
• done
• on purpose on rare occasions for emphasis:

• We heard it with our own ears.
• And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus
• Himself alone.
• --Matthew 17:8

• similar vowel sounds
• repeated in successive or proximate words containing different
• consonants:

• A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. --Matthew
• 5:14b (KJV)
• Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
• good works,
• and glorify your Father which is in heaven. --Matthew 5:16 (KJV)

• mentioning a
• balancing or opposing fact to prevent the argument from being one-sided
• or unqualified:

• This car is extremely sturdy and durable. It's low
• maintenance; things
• never go wrong with it. Of course, if you abuse it, it will break.
• . . . But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling
• block, and to
• Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and
• Greeks,
• Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. --l Cor. 1:23-24 (NASB;
• cf. Rom. 13:4-5)

• combining anaphora and
• epistrophe, so that one word or phrase is repeated at the beginning and
• another word or phrase is repeated at the end of successive phrases,
• clauses,
• or sentences:

• To think clearly and rationally should be a major goal for
• man; but to
• think clearly and rationally is always the greatest difficulty faced by
• man.

• a noun or noun substitute
• placed next to (in apposition to) another noun to be described or
• defined
• by the appositive. Don't think that appositives are for subjects only
• and that they always follow the subject. The appositive can be placed
• before or after any
• noun:

• Henry Jameson, the boss of the operation, always
• wore a red baseball
• cap. [This shows the subject (Henry Jameson) with the appositive (the
• boss of the operation) following the subject. This is the most commonly
• used variety.]
• A notorious annual feast, the picnic was well attended.
• [Here, the
• appositive (notorious annual feast) is in front of the subject (the
• picnic).]
• That evening we were all at the concert, a really
• elaborate and
• exciting
• affair. [Here the appositive (elaborate and exciting etc.) follows the
• noun, which is the object of a preposition (concert).]

• is a single word or short
• phrase, usually interrupting normal syntax, used to lend emphasis to
• the
• words immediately proximate to the adverb. (We emphasize the words
• on
• each side of a pause or interruption in order to maintain continuity of
• the thought.) Compare:

But the lake was not drained before April.

But the lake was not, in fact, drained before April.

• consists of omitting
• conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. In a list of items,
• asyndeton
• gives the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity, of an extemporaneous
• rather
• than a labored account:

On his return he received medals, honors, treasures, titles, fame.

• is the use of a
• conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause, and is thus
• structurally
• the opposite of asyndeton. The rhetorical effect of polysyndeton,
• however,
• often shares with that of asyndeton a feeling of multiplicity,
• energetic
• enumeration, and building up.

• They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and played and
• talked
• and flunked.

• deliberately
• expresses an idea as less important than it actually is, either for
• ironic
• emphasis or for politeness and tact. When the writer's audience can be
• expected to know the true nature of a fact which might be rather
• difficult
• to describe adequately in a brief space, the writer may choose to
• understate
• the fact as a means of employing the reader's own powers of
• description.
• For example, instead of endeavoring to describe in a few words the
• horrors
• and destruction of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, a writer might
• state:

• The 1906 San Francisco earthquake interrupted business somewhat in the
• downtown area.

• a particular form of understatement,
• is generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which
• otherwise
• would be used. Depending on the tone and context of the usage, litotes
• either retains the effect of understatement, or becomes an intensifying
• expression. Compare the difference between these statements:

Heat waves are common in the summer.

Heat waves are not rare in the summer.

• is recurrent syntactical
• similarity. Several parts of a sentence or several sentences are
• expressed
• similarly to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in
• importance. Parallelism also adds balance and rhythm and, most
• importantly,
• clarity to the sentence.

• Ferocious dragons breathing fire and wicked sorcerers casting their
• spells
• do their harm by night in the forest of Darkness.

• might be called "reverse
• parallelism," since the second part of a grammatical construction is
• balanced
• or paralleled by the first part, only in reverse order. Instead of an
• A,B
• structure (e.g., "learned unwillingly") paralleled by another A,B
• structure
• ("forgotten gladly"), the A,B will be followed by B,A ("gladly
• forgotten").
• So instead of writing, "What is learned unwillingly is forgotten
• gladly,"
• you could write, "What is learned unwillingly is gladly forgotten."
• Similarly,
• the parallel sentence, "What is now great was at first little," could
• be
• written chiastically as, "What is now great was little at first." Here
• are some examples:

He labors without complaining and without bragging rests.

• Polished in courts and hardened in the field, Renowned for conquest,
• and
• in council skilled. --Joseph Addison

• For the Lord is a Great God . . . in whose hand are the depths of the
• earth;
• the peaks of the mountains are his also. --Psalm 95:4

• includes several similar
• rhetorical devices, all involving a grammatically correct linkage (or
• yoking
• together) of two or more parts of speech by another part of speech.
• Thus
• examples of zeugmatic usage would include one subject with two (or
• more)
• verbs, a verb with two (or more) direct objects, two (or more) subjects
• with one verb, and so forth. The main benefit of the linking is that it
• shows relationships between ideas and actions more clearly.

Pride opresseth humility; hatred love; cruelty compassion. --Peacham

Fred excelled at sports; Harvey at eating; Tom with girls.

Alexander conquered the world; I, Minneapolis.

• establishes a clear,
• contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together or
• juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure. Human beings are
• inveterate
• systematizers and categorizers, so the mind has a natural love for
• antithesis,
• which creates a definite and systematic relationship between ideas:

To err is human; to forgive, divine. --Pope

• That short and easy trip made a lasting and profound change in Harold's
• outlook.

• That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. --Neil
• Armstrong

• To think on death it is a misery,/ To think on life it is a vanity;/ To
• think on the world verily it is,/ To think that here man hath no
• perfect
• bliss. --Peacham

• In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee
• things
• to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth
• the laws of peace. --Richard de Bury

• Finally, we must consider what pleasantness of teaching there is in
• books,
• how easy, how secret! How safely we lay bare the poverty of human
• ignorance
• to books without feeling any shame! --Ibid.

• forms the counterpart to anaphora, because the repetition of the same
• word
• or words comes at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences:

• Where affections bear rule, there reason is subdued, honesty is
• subdued,
• good will is subdued, and all things else that withstand evil, for ever
• are subdued. --Wilson

• And all the night he did nothing but weep Philoclea, sigh Philoclea,
• and
• cry out Philoclea. --Philip Sidney

• You will find washing beakers helpful in passing this course, using the
• gas chromatograph desirable for passing this course, and studying hours
• on end essential to passing this course.

• repeats the last
• word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at or very near the beginning
• of
• the next. it can be generated in series for the sake of beauty or to
• give
• a sense of logical progression:

• Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,/ Knowledge
• might pity win, and pity grace obtain . . . . --Philip Sidney

• resembles
• anadiplosis in the repetition of a preceding word, but it repeats a key
• word (not just the last word) from a preceding phrase,
• clause, or sentence,
• at the beginning of the next.

• If this is the first time duty has moved him to act against his
• desires,
• he is a very weak man indeed. Duty should be cultivated and obeyed in
• spite
• of its frequent conflict with selfish wishes.

• The strength of the passions will never be accepted as an excuse for
• complying
• with them; the passions were designed for subjection, and if a man
• suffers
• them to get the upper hand, he then betrays the liberty of his own
• soul.
• --Alexander Pope

• She fed the goldfish every day with the new pellets brought from Japan.
• Gradually the goldfish began to turn a brighter orange than before.

• repeats the beginning
• word of a clause or sentence at the end. The beginning and the end are
• the two positions of strongest emphasis in a sentence, so by having the
• same word in both places, you call special attention to it:

Water alone dug this giant canyon; yes, just plain water.

• To report that your committee is still investigating the matter is to
• tell
• me that you have nothing to report.

• consists of raising one
• or more questions and then proceeding to answer them, usually at some
• length.
• A common usage is to ask the question at the beginning of a paragraph
• and
• then use that paragraph to answer it:

• There is a striking and basic difference between a man's ability to
• imagine
• something and an animal's failure. . . . Where is it that the animal
• falls
• short? We get a clue to the answer, I think, when Hunter tells us . . .
• . --Jacob Bronowski

• What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this
• matter?. . . What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God. --Rom.
• 4:1,3 (NIV)

• differs from hypophora in that it is not answered by the writer,
• because
• its answer is obvious or obviously desired, and usually just a yes or
• no.
• It is used for effect, emphasis, or provocation, or for drawing a
• conclusionary
• statement from the facts at hand.

• But how can we expect to enjoy the scenery when the scenery consists
• entirely
• of garish billboards?

• . . . For if we lose the ability to perceive our faults, what is the
• good
• of living on? --Marcus Aurelius

• Is justice then to be considered merely a word? Or is it whatever
• results
• from the bartering between attorneys?

• by anticipating
• an objection and answering it, permits an argument to continue moving
• forward
• while taking into account points or reasons opposing either the train
• of
• thought or its final conclusions. Often the objections are standard
• ones:

• It is usually argued at this point that if the government gets out of
• the
• mail delivery business, small towns like Podunk will not have any mail
• service. The answer to this can be found in the history of the Pony
• Express
• . . . .

• To discuss trivialities in an exalted style is, as the saying is, like
• beautifying a pestle. Yet some people say we should discourse in the
• grand
• manner on trivialities and they think that this is a proof of
• outstanding
• oratorical talent. Now I admit that Polycrates [did this]. But he was
• doing
• this in jest, . - . and the dignified tone of the whole work was itself
• a game. Let us be playful..... [but] also observe what is fitting in
• each
• case . . . . --Demetrius

• consists of a brief statement
• of what has been said and what will follow. It might be called a
• linking,
• running, or transitional summary, whose function is to keep the
• discussion
• ordered and clear in its progress:

• Such, then, would be my diagnosis of the present condition of art. I
• must
• now, by special request, say what I think will happen to art in the
• future.
• --Kenneth Clark

• We have to this point been examining the proposal advanced by Smervits
• only in regard to its legal practicability; but next we need to
• consider
• the effect it would have in retarding research and development work in
• private laboratories.

• I have hitherto made mention of his noble enterprises in France, and
• now
• I will rehearse his worthy acts done near to Rome. --Peacham

• is an explicit reference
• to a particular meaning or to the various meanings of a word, in order
• to remove or prevent ambiguity.

• To make methanol for twenty-five cents a gallon is impossible; by
• "impossible"
• I mean currently beyond our technological capabilities.

• The precipitate should be moved from the filter paper to the crucible
• quickly--that
• is, within three minutes.

• Mr. Haskins describes the process as a simple one. If by simple he
• means
• easy to explain on paper, he is correct. But if he means there are no
• complexities
• involved in getting it to work, he is quite mistaken.

• involves repeating
• a word or expression while adding more detail to it, in order to
• emphasize
• what might otherwise be passed over. In other words, amplification
• allows
• you to call attention to, emphasize, and expand a word or idea to make
• sure the reader realizes its importance or centrality in the
• discussion.

• In my hunger after ten days of rigorous dieting I saw visions of ice
• cream--mountains
• of creamy, luscious ice cream, dripping with gooey syrup and calories.

• This orchard, this lovely, shady orchard, is the main reason I bought
• this
• property.

• . . . Even in Leonardo's time, there were certain obscure needs and
• patterns
• of the spirit, which could discover themselves only through less
• precise
• analogies--the analogies provided by stains on walls or the embers of a
• fire. --Kenneth Clark

• emphasizes an idea
• by expressing it in a string of generally synonymous phrases or
• statements.
• While it should be used carefully, this deliberate and obvious
• restatement
• can be quite effective:

We succeeded, we were victorious, we accomplished the feat!

• Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers,
• children
• that deal corruptly. --Isaiah 1:4

• But there is one thing these glassy-eyed idealists forget: such a
• scheme
• would be extremely costly, horrendously expensive, and require a ton of
• money.

• Wendy lay there, motionless in a peaceful slumber, very still in the
• arms
• of sleep.

• (also called praeteritio
• or occupatio) asserts or emphasizes something by pointedly seeming to
• pass
• over, ignore, or deny it. This device has both legitimate and
• illegitimate
• uses. Legitimately, a writer uses it to call attention to sensitive or
• inflammatory facts or statements while he remains apparently detached
• from
• them:

• We will not bring up the matter of the budget deficit here, or how
• programs
• like the one under consideration have nearly pushed us into bankruptcy,
• because other reasons clearly enough show . . . .

• Therefore, let no man talk to me of other expedients: of taxing our
• absentees
• . . . of curing the expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and
• gaming
• of learning to love our country . . . .--Jonathan Swift

If you were not my father, I would say you were perverse. --Antigone

• (correctio) qualifies
• a statement by recalling it (or part of it) and expressing it in a
• better,
• milder, or stronger way. A negative is often used to do the recalling:

Fido was the friendliest of all St. Bernards, nay of all dogs.

• The chief thing to look for in impact sockets is hardness; no, not so
• much
• hardness as resistance to shock and shattering.

• And if I am still far from the goal, the fault is my own for not paying
• heed to the reminders--nay, the virtual directions--which I have had
• from
• above. --Marcus Aurelius

• expresses doubt about an idea
• or conclusion. Among its several uses are the suggesting of
• alternatives
• without making a commitment to either or any:

• I am not sure whether to side with those who say that higher taxes
• reduce
• inflation or with those who say that higher taxes increase inflation.

• I have never been able to decide whether I really approve of dress
• codes,
• because extremism seems to reign both with them and without them.

• is a comparison between
• two different things that resemble each other in at least one way. In
• formal
• prose the simile is a device both of art and explanation, comparing an
• unfamiliar thing to some familiar thing (an object, event, process,
• etc.)
• known to the reader.

I see men, but they look like trees, walking. --Mark 8:24

• After such long exposure to the direct sun, the leaves of the
• houseplant
• looked like pieces of overcooked bacon.

The soul in the body is like a bird in a cage.

• compares two things, which
• are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or
• clarifying
• some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or
• object is similar to some familiar one. While simile and analogy often
• overlap, the simile is generally a more artistic likening, done briefly
• for effect and emphasis, while analogy serves the more practical end of
• explaining a thought process or a line of reasoning or the abstract in
• terms of the concrete, and may therefore be more extended.

• You may abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one. You may scold a
• carpenter
• who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not
• your trade to make tables. --Samuel Johnson

• He that voluntarily continues ignorance is guilty of all the crimes
• which
• ignorance produces, as to him that should extinguish the tapers of a
• lighthouse
• might justly be imputed the calamities of shipwrecks. --Samuel Johnson

• . . . For answers successfully arrived at are solutions to difficulties
• previously discussed, and one cannot untie a knot if he is ignorant of
• it. --Aristotle

• compares two different
• things by speaking of one in terms of the other. Unlike a simile or
• analogy,
• metaphor asserts that one thing is another thing,
• not just that
• one is like another. Very frequently a metaphor is invoked by the to
• be verb:

• Affliction then is ours;
• / We are the trees whom shaking
• fastens more.
• --George Herbert

• Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life." --John 6:35 [And compare
• the use of metaphor in 6:32-63]

• Thus a mind that is free from passion is a very citadel; man has no
• stronger
• fortress in which to seek shelter and defy every assault. Failure to
• perceive
• this is ignorance; but to perceive it, and still not to seek its
• refuge,
• is misfortune indeed. --Marcus Aurelius

• is an extravagant,
• implied metaphor using words in an alien or unusual way. While
• difficult
• to invent, it can be wonderfully effective:

• I will speak daggers to her. --Hamlet [In a more
• futuristic metaphor,
• we might say, "I will laser-tongue her." Or as a more romantic student
• suggested, "I will speak flowers to her."]

• One way to write
• catachresis is to substitute an associated idea for
• the
• intended one (as Hamlet did, using "daggers" instead of "angry words"):

• "It's a dentured lake," he said, pointing at the dam. "Break a tooth
• out
• of that grin and she will spit all the way to Duganville."

• is a type of metaphor
• in which the part stands for the whole, the whole for a part, the genus
• for the species, the species for the genus, the material for the thing
• made, or in short, any portion, section, or main quality for the whole
• or the thing itself (or vice versa).

Farmer Jones has two hundred head of cattle and three hired hands.

• is another form of metaphor,
• very similar to synecdoche (and, in fact, some rhetoricians do not
• distinguish
• between the two), in which the thing chosen for the metaphorical image
• is closely associated with (but not an actual part of) the subject with
• which it is to be compared.

The orders came directly from the White House.

• metaphorically
• represents an animal or inanimate object as having human
• attributes--attributes
• of form, character, feelings, behavior, and so on. Ideas and
• abstractions
• can also be personified.

• The ship began to creak and protest as it struggled against the rising
• sea.

• We bought this house instead of the one on Maple because this one is
• more
• friendly.

This coffee is strong enough to get up and walk away.

• the counterpart of understatement,
• deliberately exaggerates conditions for emphasis or effect. In formal
• writing
• the hyperbole must be clearly intended as an exaggeration, and should
• be
• carefully restricted. That is, do not exaggerate everything, but treat
• hyperbole like an exclamation point, to be used only once a year. Then
• it will be quite effective as a table-thumping attention getter,
• introductory
• to your essay or some section thereof:

• There are a thousand reasons why more research is needed on solar
• energy.

• Or it can make a
• single point very enthusiastically:

• I said "rare," not "raw." I've seen cows hurt worse than this get up
• and
• get well.

• is a short, informal
• reference to a famous person or event:

• You must borrow me Gargantua's mouth first. 'Tis a word too great for
• any
• mouth of this age's size. --Shakespeare

• If you take his parking place, you can expect World War II all over
• again.

Plan ahead: it wasn't raining when Noah built the ark. --Richard Cushing

• substitutes for a particular
• attribute the name of a famous person recognized for that attribute. By
• their nature eponyms often border on the cliche, but many times they
• can
• be useful without seeming too obviously trite. Finding new or
• infrequently
• used ones is best, though hard, because the name-and-attribute
• relationship
• needs to be well established. Consider the effectiveness of these:

• Is he smart? Why, the man is an Einstein. Has he suffered? This poor
• Job
• can tell you himself.

That little Caesar is fooling nobody. He knows he is no Patrick Henry.

When it comes to watching girls, Fred is a regular Argus.

• is a paradox reduced
• to two words, usually in an adjective-noun ("eloquent silence") or
• adverb-adjective
• ("inertly strong") relationship, and is used for effect, complexity,
• emphasis,
• or wit:

• I do here make humbly bold to present them with a short account of
• themselves
• and their art.....--Jonathan Swift

• The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, / With loads of learned lumber
• in
• his head . . . .--Alexander Pope

• He was now sufficiently composed to order a funeral of modest
• magnificence,
• suitable at once to the rank of a Nouradin's profession, and the
• reputation
• of his wealth. --Samuel Johnson