Words ud in their original meanings are ud literally, while words ud in extended meanings for the purpo of making comparisons or calling up pictures in the reader’s or listener’s mind are ud figuratively. In “a colorful garden” the word colorful is ud in its literal n, but in the “a colorful life” and “a colorful career” the word is ud in its figurative n. Neither life nor career has any color; colorful here has a new extended or figurative meaning: exciting, interesting, and rich in variety. The word suggests a comparison between life or career and something that has different colors, like a garden, and becau of this association the word is more impressive than a word ud in literal n, such as interesting and exciting.
There are various ways of using words figuratively. They are called figures of speech. Among the common of them are:
1. Simile: it is a comparison between two distinctly different things and the comparison is indicated by the word as or like:
● my love’s like a red, red ro.
a) Robert Burns
● That man can’t be trusted. He’s as slippery as an eel.
● That old man’s hair is as white as snow.
In the above three examples people and things of different categories are compared: a woman and a ro, a man and an eel, and hear and snow. But each pair have one similarity: loveliness, slipperiness and whiteness. The discrepancy between the two things compared makes their similarity all the more striking.
2. Metaphor: it is the u of a word which originally denotes one thing to refer to another with a similar quality. It is also a comparison, but the comparison is implied, not expresd with the word as or like. If Robert Burns had written “O, my love’s a red, red ro” with the word like omitted, he would have ud a metaphor instead of a simile. In the changed line, “my love” is also compared to a red ro, but there is no word to indicated the comparison; hence ro is a metaphor. Similarly, in ntences like “ He is th
e soul of the team” and “Irrigation is the lifeblood of agriculture”, soul and lifeblood are ud metaphorically.
Metaphors are ud not only after verb to be, and not only nouns can be ud metaphorically. Study the following examples:
● The picture of tho poor people’s lives was carved so sharply in his heart that he could never forget it.
● There was a medieval magnificence about the big dinning-hall.
过年祝福领导
● The street faded into a country road with 环保宣言straggling hous by it.
● There were a few lordly poplars before the hou.
● All his former joy was drowned in the embarrassment and confusion he was feeling at the moment.
驻跸● He often preface his remarks by “I can’t help thinking …”
● The charcoal fire glowed and dimmed rhythmically to the stokes of the bellows
● As is shown in the ntences, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs can all be ud in a metaphorical way. There is always a comparison implied. Take ntence 4, for instance. The word lordly suggests that the poplars before the hou were tall, straight and stately, just like ancient aristocrats. The verb preface in ntence 6 compares that man’s way of beginning every remark with “I can’t help thinking …” to providing a preface to a book.
A metaphor or a simile has to be fresh to be effective. One that has been frequently ud over a long period of time will become dull and stale, and cea to function as a metaphor or simile. “the leg of a table” must have been a metaphor when it was first ud, but today we feel that leg is ud in its literal n.
3. Personification: it is to treat a thing or an idea as if it were human or had human qualities. In poetry personification is very common:
● Youth is hot and bold,
Age is weak and cold,
Youth is wild, and Age is tame.
William Shakespeare
In the lines Youth and Age are described like two persons. In pro personification is also ud, though not so often as in poetry.
鸢尾花花期
卖废品● The match will soon be over and defeat is staring us in the face.
● This time fate was smiling to him.
● Thunder roared and a pouring rain started.
● Dusk came stealthily.
● The storm was raging and 分手个性签名angry a was continuously tossing their boat.
4. Metonymy: it is substituting the name of one thing for that of another with which it is clo
ly associated. Thus the crown can stand for a king, and the White Hou for the American government, the bottle for wine or alcohol, and the bar for the legal profession. When metonymy is well ud, brevity and vividness may be achieved:
● Sword and cross in hand, the European conquerors fell upon the Americans.
● When the war was over, he laid down the sword and took up the pen.
● His pur would not allow him that luxury.
5. Synecdoche: when a part is substituted for the whole or the whole is substituted for a part, synecdoche is applied:
做好意识形态工作● The farms were short of hands during the harvest time.
● He had to earn his daily bread by doing odd jobs.
● Germany beat Argentina 2 to 1 in this exciting football match.
● The poor creature could no longer endure her sufferings.
● In the above ntences hands 荡秋千英语stands for men, bread for food or living expens, the names of the two countries for the two teams, and creature for a woman.
Metonymy and synecdoche are similar as both involve substitution. Sometimes they can hardly be distinguished from metaphor, which in a way is also substitution.
