Stylistic Devices

Onomatopoeia

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain (E. A. Poe).

Onomatopoeia

And now there came the chop-chop of wooden hammers.

Alliteration

Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before (E. A. Poe).

Alliteration

The possessive instinct never stands still (J. Galsworthy).

Assonance

Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before (E. A. Poe).

Assonance

Nine nice night nurses nursing nicely (English language tonguetwister)

Assonance

Nutter Butter (American cookie brand)

Assonance

I do not like green eggs and ham.

Hyperbole

This loss upon loss has left me feeling sad and brittle and about seven thousand years old" (E. Gilbert).

Hyperbole

"I had lain in my gigantic bed, simply thinking" (E. Gilbert)

Hyperbole

What a catastrophe. How could I be such a criminal jerk as to proceed this deep into a marriage, only to leave it?" (E. Gilbert)

Litotes

not disrespectful

Meiosis

half-afraid.

Meiosis

a little bit of a temper.

Meiosis

one-minute walk

Meiosis

cat - size pony

Metonymy

the press (instead of people writing for newspapers)

Metonymy

grave (instead of death)

table's leg.

Synecdoche

hands wanted

Synecdoche

the hall applauded

Synecdoche

the school went to the picture gallery

Synecdoche

under the same roof.

Periphrasis

a gentleman of the long robe - lawyer

Periphrasis

the better (fair) sex - women

Periphrasis

a man about town, the men in the street - ordinary person

Periphrasis

my better half - wife

Periphrasis

two hundred pages of blood-curdling narrative - an exciting book

Euphemism

I am thinking an unmentionable thing about your mother (I. Shaw)

Euphemism

They think we have come by this horse in some dishonest manner [= have stolen it] (Ch. Dickens)

Metaphor

the apple of one's eye

Metaphor

a good book is the best friend

Personification

Lie is a strange creature.

Personification

The night was creeping towards the travelers

Personification

"In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the colony, touching one here and there with his icy fingers. Over on the east side this ravager strode boldly, smiting his victims by scores, but his feet trod slowly through the maze of the narrow and moss-grown "places" (O'Henry).

Epithet

iron lady

Epithet

poor day

Epithet

blank face

Epithet

burning eyes

Antonomasia

Peter is a real Romeo.

Antonomasia

Today I've seen Miss Careless in the street.

Antonomasia

The Lion came into the room.

Irony

Nice to see you. I thought you wouldn't accept the invitation.

Irony

Very kind of you to write me a letter like this.

Irony

Thank you very much for coming too late.

Simile

Unhappiness was like a hungry animal waiting beside the track for any victim (G. Greene).

Simile

She was like a tightly coiled spring (M. Abom).

Simile

She relaxed, sinking closer to the earth as to a mother (A. Marshall).

Synonymic repetition

But he had no words to express his feelings and to relieve them would utter an obscene jest

it was as though his emotions was so violent that he needed vulgarity to break the tension. Mackintosh observed this sentiment with an icy disdain (W.S. Maugham).

Climax

Like a well, like a vault, like a tomb, the prison had no knowledge of the brightness outside (Ch. Dickens).

Anticlimax

Fledgeby hasn't heard anything. "No, there's not a word of news," Lammle says. "Not a particle," adds Boots. "Not an atom," chimes in Brewer (Ch. Dickens).

Zeugma

If the country doesn't go to the radicals, we shall have Prime minister someday (O. Wilde).

Zeugma

A girl who had a yellow smock and a cold in the head that did not go on too well together, was helping an old lady ... (J. Priestley)

Pun

Visitor, to a little girl:
- Is your mother engaged?
- Engaged? She is already married.

Antithesis

Some people have much to live on, and little to live for (O. Wilde).

Antithesis

I had walked into that reading room a happy healthy man, I crawled out a decrepit wreck (J. Jerome).

Antithesis

If we don't know who gains by his death, we do know who loses by it. (A. Christie)

Oxymoron

He was sure the whites could detect his adoring hatred to them (R. Wright).

Oxymoron

Sara was a menace and tonic, my best enemy

Rozie was a disease, my worst friend (J. Cary).

Paradox

Cowards die many times before their death.