Rhetorical Devices Review Synecdoche Metonymy Personification Hyperbole Synecdoche

Rhetorical Devices Review Synecdoche, Metonymy, Personification, Hyperbole

Synecdoche 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).

Examples ● Get in here this instant or I'll spank your body. [Whole for part--i. e. "body" for "rear end"] ● Put Beethoven on the turntable and turn up the volume. [Composer substituted for record] ● A few hundred pounds of twenty dollar bills ought to solve that problem nicely. [Weight for amount] ● He drew his steel from his scabbard and welcomed all comers. [Material for thing made] ● Patty's hobby is exposing film; Harold's is burning up gasoline in his dune buggy. [Part for whole] ● Okay team. Get those blades back on the ice. [Part for whole]

Uses ● Rhetorical Variation, avoids repetition of the same word ● Fixed phrases (e. g. head of cattle, not tail of cattle) ● Vivid use of language

Metonymy 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.

Examples ● ● You can't fight city hall. This land belongs to the crown. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. . --Genesis 3: 19 Boy, I'm dying from the heat. Just look how the mercury is rising. ● His blood be on us and on our children. --Matt. 27: 25 ● The checkered flag waved and victory crossed the finish line.

Uses ● Rhetorical Variation, avoids repetition of the same word ● Associate ideas

Personification 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.

Examples ● ● ● The ship began to creak and protest as it struggled against the rising sea. We bought this house instead of the on Maple because this one is friendlier. This coffee is strong enough to get up and walk away. I can't get the fuel pump back on because this bolt is being uncooperative. Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. --Genesis 4: 10 b (NIV) That ignorance and perverseness should always obtain what they like was never considered as the end of government; of which it is the great and standing benefit that the wise see for the simple, and the regular act for the capricious. --Samuel Johnson ● Wisdom cries aloud in the streets; in the markets she raises her voice. . --Psalm 1: 20

Uses ● Vivid use of language ● Humanizing a thing or concept to make it more relatable to the audience

Hyperbole, 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.

Examples ● There a thousand reasons why more research is needed on solar energy. ● I said "rare, " not "raw. " I've seen cows hurt worse than this get up and get well. ● This stuff is used motor oil compared to the coffee you make, my love. ● If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple

Uses ● Add emphasis ● Comedy ● Be very careful! Hyperbole does not always come across well in text. Also, it is very easy to overuse!