Figures of speech are also known as rhetorical devices or literary devices.
Used to increase the rhetorical effect and makes the way you speak more memorable.
Chiefly, they can be divided into two categories:
Repetition
Comparison
Anaphora [uh·na·fuh·ruh]
Repetition of a phrase at the beginning of paragraphs.
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood."
- Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963
Epizeuxis [ep·i·seu·ksis]
Repetition of words in sequence.
"Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy"
- Winston Churchill, 1941
Epistrophe [ih·pis·truh·fee]
Repetition of the last words or phrase in a sentence.
‘I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.’
Antimetabole [an·tee·muh·tab·uh·li]
Repeating phrases, but in the reverse order.
(“A-B-B-A”)
“Ask not what your country can do for you;
ask what you can do for your country.”
- John F. Kennedy
Alliteration [uh·li·tuh·rei·shn]
Repetition of consonants in adjacent words.
‘She sells seashells by the sea shore.’
Asyndeton [uh·sin·di·ton]
Deliberately remove conjunctions.
“I came, I saw, I conquered.”
- Caesar, 47 BC
Hyperbole [hai·puh·buh·lee]
Exaggeration
‘I am so hungry that I could eat a horse.’
‘I died laughing!’
Metaphor [meh·tuh·faw]
Compare two objects that are similar or dissimilar, however not literally, by using a direct statement.
‘You have a heart of gold.’
‘She is a walking encyclopedia.’
Euphemism [yoo·fuh·mi·zm]
To change a rude or unpleasant expression into another with a more agreeable or softer image.
Going to the toilet ➜ ‘visit the restroom’
To die ➜ ‘pass away’
You are ugly ➜ ‘unique’
Simile [si·muh·lee]
Compare two things using like or as.
‘Blind as a bat’
"Life is like a box of chocolates."
- Forrest Gump
Antithesis [anti·thuh·sis]
Contrasting two different or opposing objects or ideas.
‘Go big or go home’.
‘To err is human; to forgive, divine.’ (Err = error)
‘No pain, no gain.’
Analogy [uh·na·luh·jee]
Compare two things - give more information.
"What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called…"
(William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene 2)
(Meaning: A rose will still smell sweet even if it goes by another name, her love for Romeo is the same even if he changes his name.)