English Rhetoric_英语修辞.docVIP

English Rhetoric 英语修辞 “Rhetoric is the art of using language effectively.” from Modern Rhetoric by Brooks and Warren. Differences between grammar and rhetoric: “Grammar maps out the possible; rhetoric narrows the possible down to the desirable and effective.” By Francis Christensen “Grammar is the law of language, considered as language; rhetoric is the art of language, considered as thought. Grammar tells what is correct; rhetoric tells what is effective and pleasing.” By 伍海伦 Figures of speech 修辞格 Figures of speech are forms of expression that depart from normal word or sentence order or from the common literal meanings of words, for the purpose of achieving a special effect. In everyday speech and writing and in literature the chief functions of figures of speech are probably to embellish, to emphasize or to clarify. They are used to give tone or atmosphere to discourse, to provide vivid example, to stimulate thought by startling the reader or listener, to give life to inanimate objects, to amuse, or to ornament. Simile明喻: a figure that involves an expressed comparison, almost always introduced by the word “like” or “as”. The two things compared must be dissimilar and the basis of resemblance is usually an abstract quality. Examples: Like soft, watery lightning went the wandering snake at the crowd. (D.H. Lawrence) He bellowed like a bull seeking combat. More examples: Who is to blame but her tyrant of a father? He had no more idea of money than a cow. Love and cough cannot be hid. Metaphor 暗喻：the substitution of one thing for another, or the identification of two things from different ranges of thought. It is often loosely defined as “an implied comparison,” “a simile without ‘like’ or ‘as’. Metaphor is considered by many the most important and basic poetic figure and also the commonest and the most beautiful. Examples: Snow clothes the ground. Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. (Bacon) This is not the time to