5. Synecdoche
Synecdoche involves the substitution of the part for the whole, or the whole for the part. Some experts also use synecdoche to refer to the substitution between the abstract and the concrete.
The part for the whole
1)They counted 50 sails in the harbor.
2)He paid the workers $5 per head.
3)Yet there were some stout hearts who attempted resistance. (Ceril Scott Forester)
4)Alas, that spring should vanish with the Rose! (Edward Fitzgerald)
5. Synecdoche
The whole for the part
1)The birds sang to welcome the smiling year.
2)The doctor cut me open and took out the appendix.
3)She was dressed in silks.
4)Cotton suits you.
The abstract for the concrete
All the rank came out to see the sight.
The concrete for the abstract
He has a smooth/ glib/rough/sharp/silver/ an evil tongue.
give sb. the cold shoulder

10. Transferred epithet
A transferred epithet is, as its name implies, a figure of speech where an adjective or descriptive phrase is transferred from the noun it should rightly modify to another which it does not really belong to. Generally, the epithet is transferred from a person to a thing or idea.
1)Roosevelt listened with bright-eyed smiling attention.
Point out the transferred epithets in the following sentences.
2)The merriest month in all the year is the merry month of May.
10. Transferred epithet
3)It was the end of my exhausting first day as tutor.
4)(0304 Yu Cui) Tears quietly rolled down my cold face, only to leave two sad trails.
5)He is not an easy poet.
Try to interpret the following expressions which consist of transferred epithet.
purposeless days; a murderous knife; angry fist; an understanding smile; a sympathetic look; nervous hours;  a sleepless bed
Transferred epithet: association of contiguity
Personification/metaphor: association of similarity

1. Simile
1)As cold water is to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. (Proverbs 25—the Bible)
2)He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow. (George Eliot)
3)He arose joint by joint, as a carpenter’s rule opens, and beat the dust from his clothes. (The Cop and the Anthem)
4) Della’s beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters.
5)And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel and shining morning face, creeping like snail unwillingly to school… (Shakespeare)

The use of allusion
And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel and shining morning face, creeping like snail unwillingly to school… (Shakespeare)
Introduction: Around 400 years ago, Shakespeare wrote about children “creeping like snail unwillingly to school.” Then how about the school experience today? Is it still so disagreeable/unpleasant? (My answer is negative, positive, yes, no, not exactly so…)
Conclusion: So Shakespeare’s schoolboy won’t be running to school yet. But he may decide to creep a little faster.
Homework: Write out the body part of an essay according to the above introduction and conclusion. You should provide a title for your article and write at least 300 words.
1. Simile
6)The ruby shall be redder than a red rose, and the sapphire shall  be as blue as the great sea. (Oscar Wilde)
7)A man without knowledge is like               .
8)Air to us is what                            .
9)Reading is to the mind what                      .
10)Wisdom is to the mind what                      .
1. Simile
7)A man without knowledge is like a house without foundation.
8)Air to us is what water is to fish.
9)Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
10)Wisdom is to the mind what health is to the body.
For my part, physical education is to our life what salt is to dishes. (0401 彭涛）

11. Oxymoron
Oxymoron is a contradiction in terms, a compressed paradox, formed by the joining of 2 contrasting or contradictory terms.
A paradox contains a deliberately created contradiction. Below are some examples:
2)Juliet: My only love sprung from my only hate.                                       (Romeo and Juliet)
3)For a moment after she spoke, the silence was deafening. Then the audience erupted in cheers.
An example of oxymoron:
The government’s response to the report has been a deafening silence.

Different forms of oxymoron:
1)adj.+n. careful carelessness, orderly chaos,
tearful joy, honest thief, sweet torment/pain, thunderous silence, jarring concord, proud humility, luxurious poverty, noble lie, cold welcome, a generous miser
2)adj.+adj. cold pleasant manner, poor rich guys, bitter-sweet memories, bad good news
3)ad.+adj. mercifully fatal, falsely true,
splendidly alone, disagreeably pleasant laugh
4)v.+ad. hasten slowly, shine darkly, groan loudly
5)n.+n. a love-hate relationship
6)v-ing+n. a living death, loving hate
 

3. Personification
1)The ship sailed into the teeth of the hurricane.
2)The wind whistled/ was moaning through the trees.
3)If not always in a hot mood to smash, the sea is always stealthily ready for a drowning. (Joseph Conrad)
4)The sky rejoices in the morning’s birth. (Wordsworth Resolution and Independence)
Examples made by some students:
5)The rose blushes in the morning breeze.
6)The leaves are trembling in the wind.
7)Please water the thirsty flowers.
8)Look at the smiling moon. How bright it is!

9. Understatement
Traditionally it is divided into litotes and meiosis.
Litotes is understatement by the use of negatives.
1)The face wasn’t a bad one; it had what they called charm. (John Galsworthy)
2)That was no mean achievement.
3)It’s no laughing matter.
4)I know he is no fool.
5)I lost not a little over cards.
6)This piece of work is nothing to be proud of.
9. Understatement
Meiosis is understatement without the use of negatives. Instead, it uses expressions like a little, a bit, kind of, sort of, almost, hardly, scarcely, etc.
1)The little boy broke a vase and was a little upset.
2)The girl is a bit slow for her age.
3)He was a little too previous in making the decision.

4. Metonymy
Metonymy is a figure of speech which involves the substitution of the name of one thing for that of another. In other words, it involves a “change of name”; the substituted name suggests the thing meant.
1)He must have been spoiled from the cradle.
2)You can get a good cup at Black’s café.
3)The whole town went out to welcome him.
4)The pen is mightier than the sword.
5)We are reading Dickens/listening to Beethoven.
6)Grey hair should be respected.
4. Metonymy
1>He was on the bottle for 5 years.
2>Her heart ruled her head.
3>Uncle Sam
4>the press
5>Whitehall refused to confirm the reports.
6>the Pentagon; Wall Street; Hollywood; Madison Avenue

2. Metaphor
1)Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player. (Shakespeare, Macbeth)
2)If music be the food of love, play on. (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night)
3)Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. (Francis Bacon, Of Studies)
4)All the world’s a stage,
And all men and women merely players;
They have their exits and entrances, …
                                   (Shakespeare As You Like It)
2. Metaphor
5)He was strangled in the net of gossip.
6)His life became a whirlwind of design meetings, client conferences, and last-minute decisions.
7)Variety is the spice of life/writing.

Avoid illogical and amusing association
1>I skimmed over the book to taste the tone of it.
2>He rode towards us like the shuttle of a loom.
3>His eyes are as dark as night.
4>At last he felt a ray of hope.
5>Death is to human beings what development is to history. (On Mercy Killing 0404 郑爱华）
6>If we choose to irrigate life as rainbow does, life can be beautiful and colorful. (0401 高寅寅）
7>Physical Education Course—The Blood of College
Physical education course is to college life what air is to human beings. (0405 蒋倩）

Try to be idiomatic
as strong as a horse
work like horses
as stupid as a goose
as dry as sawdust
spend money like water
like a drowned rat
a black sheep
fish in the air

7. Irony
Irony is the use of words to mean the opposite of what they seem to mean on the surface.
“Fatty”; “Skinny”
1)This hard-working boy seldom reads over an hour every week.
2)It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one’s pocket.
3)Robbing an old widow of her money was certainly a noble act.

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