In other words, That is to say.

VI. Elements of Style

When assessing written work we usually consider two aspects of it: what is said, and how is said. It often happens that the content is interesting enough, but the mode of expressing it is poor, and not because there are mistakes in spelling or grammar. The form may be poor even if grammar is correct – in this case we say that the style is bad. The style is bad when the sentences are monotonous, the vocabulary is poor, and the writing is unimaginative. The style is bad, too, when the form does not suit the subject of the composition. The same basic content can be expressed in different ways or styles. Just as a builder can use bricks and mortar to construct almost anything from a shack to a palace, we use the same raw material – English words and grammar – to describe different subjects and to express a wide variety of ideas in appropriate style.

Expressive Means of the English Language.

The English language has its own system of expressive means – words and phrases which help to add vividness to the description and with the help of it to touch the reader’s imagination. These words and phrases are used figuratively (metaphorically) and the basis of such uses is certain relations between things or notions, very frequently on the similarity or resemblance of objects.

Metaphor . A metaphor is a way of speaking or writing in which a word or phrase is used to mean or describe something quite different from what it usually expresses. Such transference of meaning is based on similarity of objects or notions. Personification is a special kind of metaphor in which abstract ideas or inanimated objects are identified with persons, that is, are ascribed human characteristics or actions.

In the sentence ‘The news you’ve brought is dagger to my heart’, the word dagger is used metaphorically, it denotes the striking, painful effect produced by the news, comparable to the cruel pain produced by dagger.

Here are some more examples:

Though he was in the sunset of his days, he was yet strong and coarsely made, with harsh and severe features, indicative of much natural sagacity and depth of thought.

In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the colony, touching one here and one there with icy fingers. (O. Henry)

Metonymy . Metonymy is a case of one word used for another on account of some actual logical relations between things denoted or notions expressed by the two words. Here are some characteristic examples:

I was ready for my knife and fork. (Ch. Dickens) (dinner is meant here)

She liked to read Dreiser and other American authors. (The writer is named instead of his works.)

His mind was alert and people asked him to dinner not for old times’ sake but because he was worth his salt. (S. Maugham)

Simile. Simile is an imaginative comparison of objects belcoing to different classes. It differs from a metaphor in having two elements and thus no transference of meaning. A simile can easily be recognized by the conjunctions as, like, as it, just as joining its two elements.

The old-fashioned brass knocker on the low arched door... twinkled like a sta. (Ch. Dickens)

Quaint little windows, though as old as the hills, were as pure as any snow that ever fell upon the hills. (Ch. Dickens)

A simile should not be confused with a comparison which is a grammatical phenomenon, whereas a simile is a stylistic device.

He is as tall as his brother. (comparison)

He is as tall as a lamp-post (a simile)

Epithets are words or phrases used attributively, which reveal the author’s attitude to a thing or notion; they are usually emotionally coloured, while many attributes are not.

Compare: grey hair (attribute) and golden hair (epithet)

She was a faded white rabbit of a woman. (A. Cronin)

During the past few weeks she had become most sharply conscious of the smiling interest of Hauptwanger. His straight lithe body – his quick, aggressive manner – his assertive, seeking eyes. (Th. Dreiser)

Hyperbole is a stylistic device in which emphasis is achieved through deliberate exaggeration. It is one of the most common expressive means used by all writers. They resort to it when they want to intensify the quantitative aspect of the described objects. Hyperbole can be expressed by all notional parts of speech.

I was scared to death when he entered the room. (J.D. Salinger)

Her family is one aunt about a thousand years old. (F.S. Fitzgerald)

Four loudspeakers attached to the flagpole emitted a shattering roar of what Benjamin could hardly call music, as if it were played by a collection of brass bands, a few hundred fire engines, a thousand blacksmiths’ hammers and the amplified reproduction of a force-twelve wind. (A. Saxton)

But when the size, shape, dimensions, characteristic features of the object are not overrated, but intentionally underrated, we deal with understatement.

She wore a pink hat, the size of a button. (J. Reed)

The little woman, for she was of pocket size, crossed her hands solemnly on her middle. (J. Galsworthy)

She was a sparrow of a woman. (Ph. Larkin)

Oxymoron is a phrase that combines 2 words that seem to be the opposite of each other.

A neon sign reads “Welcome to Reno – the biggest little town in the world.” (A. Miller)

Their bitter-sweet union did not last long. (A. Cronin)

She was a damned nice woman, too. (E. Hemingway)

He behaved pretty lousily to Jan. (D. Cusack)

Irony is a stylistic device by which the words and phrases are used to express a meaning opposite to their direct meaning. The context is arranged so that the qualifying word or phrase reverses the direction of evaluation, and the word positively charged is understood by the reader as a negative qualification.

She turned with the sweet smite of an alligator. (J. Steinbeck)

“I have nothing to add except my thanks for your politeness, ” said Miss Murdstone. “Bah! Stuff and nonsense! ” said my aunt. “Don’t talk to me! ”

“How exquisitely polite, ” exclaimed Miss Nurdstone. “Overpowering, really! ” (Ch. Dickens)

Several months ago a magazine named ‘Playboy’ which concentrates editorially on girls, books, girls, art, girls, music, fashion, girls and girls, published an article about old-time science-fiction. (“Morning Star”)

Pun is based on the interaction of 2 well-known meanings of a words or phrase.

– Did you hit a woman with a child?

– No, Sir, I hit her with a brick.

Zeugma is the use of a word in the same grammatical but different semantic relations to 2 adjacent words in one context, the semantic relations being on the one hand literal, on the other, transferred.

She let him carry umbrella and her impossible character.

Examples

 

Metaphor

1. The clock had struck, time was bleeding away.

2. There had been rain in the night and now all the trees were curtseying to a fresh wind.

3. Another night, the heat of my room sent me out into the streets.

4. The laugh in her eyes died out and was replaced by something else.

5. The slash of sun on the wall above him slowly knifes down, cuts across his chest, becomes a coin on the floor and vanishes.

6. The music came to him across the now bright, now dull, slowly burning cigarette of each man’s life, telling him its ancient secret of all men intangible, unfathomable defying long-winded description.

Personification

1. All the time the big Pacific Ocean suffered sharp pains down below and tossed about to prove it.

2. The moon held a finger to her lips.

Metonymy

1. It was a representative gathering – science, politics, business

2. He drank one more glass (of whisky)

3. She bought some china.

4. We have two Renoirs.

5. He is the sharpest pen in our redaction.

6. They hate skinheads.

Irony

1. It is delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one’s pocket!

2. Stoney smiled the sweet smile of an alligator.

Zeugma

1. There comes a period in every man’s life, but she’s just a semicolon in his.

2. “Have you been seeing any spirits? ” inquired the old gentleman. “Or taking any? ” added Bob Allen.

Pun

1. – What is the difference between a schoolmaster and an engine – driver?

– One trains the mind and the other minds the train.

Epithet

1. The room was old and tired.

2. I-am-not-that-kind-of-girl look.

3. The giant of a man.

4. He gave us a marvelously radiant smile.

Oxymoron

1. He was certain the whites could easily detect his adoring hatred of them

2. Welcome to Reno, the biggest little town

3. Parting is a sweet sorrow (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)

 

VII. PATTERNS FOR PRACTICE

Text № 1.

Aim: present a short summary of the story

Most important hour in a family’s day.

By Harriet Webster. (from reader’s Digest. June. 1995)

 

1. Reading Exercise.

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