Lexico-semantic expressive means and stylistic devices: figures of substitution

Theoretical questions for discussion:

1. What two groups of figures of substitution are there?

2. Give the definition of hyperbole and the way of its expression by different parts of speech. Supply examples.

3. Give the definition of meiosis and the way of its expression by different parts of speech. Supply examples.

4. Give the definition of litotes and the way of its expression by different parts of speech. Supply examples.

5. Give the definition of metonymy and the way of its expression by different parts of speech. Supply examples.

6. What two main types of metonymy are there? Supply examples.

7. What varieties of metonymy are there?

8. Give the definition and speak about main types of synecdoche. Supply examples.

9. Give the definition and speak about the main types of periphrasis. Supply examples.

10. Give the definition and speak about the main types of euphemism. Supply examples.

11. Give the definition of metaphor and supply examples.

12. Speak about the classification of metaphors according to the pragmatic effect.

13. Speak about the classification of metaphors according to the degree of their stylistic potential.

14. Speak about the classification of metaphors according to their structure.

15. Give the definition and speak about the main types of epithet. Supply examples.

16. Give the definition and speak about the main types of epithet. Supply examples.

17. Give the definition and speak about the difference between antonomasia and allegory. Supply examples.

18. Give the definition and supply examples of personification.

19. Speak about irony and its main features. Supply examples.

Основна література до теми: 1, с. 46-62; 2, с. 164-186.

Додаткова література до теми: 1, с. 74-93; 2, с. 13-27; 35-36; 38-41; 3, с. 139-148; 169-177; 246-248.

Practical assignments for seminar № 5:

Assignment 1.

Decide if these statements are ironic or not.

“So you've lost the books I lent you? Well, that's wonderful!”

“She gave us a two-hour lecture on how to make a cup of tea. It was really fascinating.”

“We can't select you for the play. It doesn't feature simpletons.”

“Yes, put the baby next to the fire. That will be the safest place.”

“Don't look at me in that way – unless you want a thick ear!”

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possessions of a fortune must be in want of wife.

Assignment 2.

Indicate separately the cases of: a) hyperbole; b) meiosis; c) litotes:

1. English and American hands were as hen's teeth in this unhealthy place. (W. Foster). 2. He would give the world for her fair eyes. 3. Dear aunt, you frightened me out of my senses. (H. Fielding). 4. A smile crossed Nat's face from ear to ear. (H. Ciane). 5. An unfortunate man would be drowned in a tea-cup. 6. A watched pot never boils. 7. He said: “I thought I'd come up and have a word with you, father.” (A. Cronin). 8. I have not seen you for ages. 9. To write a novel is as simple for him as falling off a chair, I suppose. 10. You make noise enough to wake the dead. 11. We'll be back in three shakes of a dead lamb tail. (J. Conroy). 12. He seemed to me to be frightened all to pieces. (A. Doyle). 13. I don't speak empty words. 14. It hadn't been for nothing after all. 15. No man is indispensable. 16. These cabins aren't half bad. (H. Wells). 17. Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. 18. I've had such a lot of worry lately that I don't know whether I'm on my head or heels. (H. Lawson). 19. And the floors! They haven't seen water for ages. (J. Steele). 20. An old dog barks not in vain. 21. “Well, that's not a bad idea,” he said finally. (J. London). 22. He was a good-for-nothing fellow. 24. I wouldn't say It is beyond your purse to buy that book.

Assignment 3.

Supply the missing words from the list below. Define the types of metaphor: 1) dead / original; 2) nominative / cognitive / imaginative; 3) simple / sustained:

1. Then we’ll … an hour in the lounge. 2. Hunger … stone walls. 3. When … enters the door, love will fly out of the window. 4. His heart was … with sympathetic tenderness. 5. In a little district west of Washington Square the streets ... and broken themselves into small strips called “places”.

a) poverty; b) kill; c) have run crazy; d) melting; e) breaks.

Assignment 4.

Define types (associated / unassociated; simple / compound / phrasal / clausal) and paraphrase the epithets in the context:

1. She gave him a penny-in-the-slot smile. (D. Bullett) 2. Does he really think that I will follow his hole-in-the-head advice? 3. Europe’s new dead-end generation has lost faith in the future. 4. She didn’t like his gin-and-water voice. 5. The baculine method was a quite common mode of argument in those days.

Assignment 5.

State the kind of the periphrasis: a) logical; b) metonymic; c) metaphoric. Explain what is implied: 1. Learning is the eye of the mind. 2. I am desperately fond of her: she is the light of my eyes. 3. The woman was a walking corpse. 4. Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune. 5. He is an open book. 6. She is the skeleton in the family cupboard. 7. I know she has a sweet tooth still in her head. 8. He had a warm place in his heart for dogs. 9. I thought it wise to keep that sum for a rainy day. 10. Here in Montreal she was a fish out of water.

Assignment 6.

Match the periphrases with the notions they represent:

1) a gentlemen in brown; 2) a gentlemen in black; 3) a gentleman / knight of industry; 4) a gentleman of the robe; 5) the Father of Lights; 6) the Father of Rivers; 7) a daughter of Eve; 8) a son of Mars; 9) the king of birds; 10) the king of beasts.

a) Satan; b) a bug, bed-bug, clinch; c) God; d) a swindler; e) a lawyer, judge; f) a soldier military man; g) a woman; h) the Nile; i) lion; j) an eagle.

Практичне заняття №6