Tropes are figures of speech which give the words a new general meaning. Listed below are a few examples of tropes and what effect they have on the meanings of the words or phrases.
A simile is an explicit comparison of two different topics, by transferring the meaning of the vehicle (donor of meaning) to the tenor (receptor of meaning).
He eats like a pig.
She looks like an angel.
The use of the simile in these phrases explicitly states which area of the tenor (eating habits or looks) is modified in meanings, when using the given vehicles.
The metaphor is an implicit comparison. Unlike the simile, the metaphor does not only modify certain areas of the tenor, it asks us to see the tenor as the vehicle.
He is a pig.
She is an angel.
Compared to the simile, the metaphor completely modifies the meaning of the tenor. However, the given meaning changes depending on the context, as you can rephrase the metaphor in different ways. He can be fat, dirty, vulgar or other attributes of a pig while she can be as pretty, graceful, loving etc.
Unlike a metaphor, the metonymy does not focus on adding new meanings but rather works with meanings within the same frame of reference. This can be an abstract noun standing for an institution, the name of the place replacing its habitants, the cause replacing the effect or vice versa and so on. A synecdoche is a kind of metonymy, which uses the part for the whole (pars pro toto) or the whole for the part (totum pro parte).
New words or phrases that are not used regularly yet are called neologism. There are different ways to create a neologism:
1. Portmanteaus blend two words, creating one single word, which combines the meaning of the two former words
smoke + fog = smog
2. Derived words are words with an ancient Greek or Latin root, modified to match the English language.
Latin word: sub
Meaning: under
Derived words: submarine, subway
An alliteration is a series of words in a row or close together, which all start with the same consonant sound.
She sells sea-shells down by the sea-shore.
Coca-Cola.
In the first example, almost all the words start with the s/sh sound. Not every word must be alliterative. The use of prepositions, such as ‘by’ and pronouns such as ‘his’ do not often have an impact on the alliterative effect. The second example shows that any two-word phrase can also be alliterative.
Assigning the qualities of a human to an inanimate object, an animal or an abstract concept is called a personification. The use of such a device can help to understand described things more easily, emphasise a point and may also help paint a picture in the reader’s mind.
At precisely 6:30am my alarm clock sprang to life.
Although literally, the alarm clock cannot spring to life, the use of the personification in this example emphasises the sudden and vivid ringing, which ripped the lyrical I out of their sleep.
Any image or thing that stands for something else is a symbol. In literature, symbols are often characters, settings, images, or other motifs that stand in for bigger ideas. Symbolism gives a literary work a greater meaning than the events it describes. An allegory is a story within a story containing characters and events, which are symbols that stand for ideas about human life, for a political or historical situation
To express something in a polite, milder way to avoid unpleasantness and harshness, is a euphemism. Euphemisms are often used in everyday speech to soften difficult situations.
She passed away.
The example shows the everyday use of euphemism to soften the message of someone having died.
Other expressions used in the daily routine are exaggerations in forms of hyperboles and understatements as litotes.
There are two types of irony that can be used in literary texts. The first one is verbal irony, where the opposite of what is said is meant and the second type is situational irony, where the opposite of what is expected occurs.