ALLITERATION

A series of words that begin with the same letter.
Example:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

EUPHEMISM

Substitution of a less offensive or more agreeable term for another.
Example:
Rest room –toilet
Correctional facility- prison
Underprivileged- poor

HYPERBOLE

Use of exaggerated terms for emphasis
Example:
I had so much homework; I needed a pickup truck to carry all my books home!
I nearly died laughing
I heard that a million times.

MALAPROPISM

Using a word through confusion with a word that sounds similar.
Example:
"The police are not here to create disorder; they're here to preserve disorder."
"He was a man of great statue."

METAPHOR

An implied comparison of two things
Example:
He has the wild stag's foot
You are my sun
The news was a dagger to his heart.

ONOMATOPOEIA

Words that sound like their meaning

Example:
Bang
Beep
Hiccup

OXYMORON

Using two terms together, that normally contradict each other
Example:
A Fine Mess
A new classic
Act Naturally
Agree to disagree
All alone
Alone in a crowd
Awfully good
Awfully nice

Bad luck
Bitter Sweet
Calculated Error
Close distance
Cold fever

Consistently inconsistent
Constant change
Going nowhere
Inside out
Liquid metal
Modern history
Only choice
Perfect screw-up

Positively negative
Recorded live
Same difference
Terribly good
Terribly nice

Tragic comedy
Whole part
Whole piece

PARADOX

Use of apparently contradictory ideas to point out some underlying truth
Example:
If this sentence is true, the world will end in a week."
“Man learns from history that man learns nothing from history."

PERSONIFICATION

Attributing a personality to some impersonal object
Example:
The wind whispered to them as they ran through the woods
The heat ripped the breath from her lungs
The leaves danced in the wind

SIMILE

An explicit comparison between two things
Example:
The deer ran like the wind
As good as gold
Busy as a bee

PUN

When a word or phrase is used in two different senses
Example:
She quit her job as a stenographer as she hated being dictated to.
The annoying dermatologist was beginning to get under my skin.

IRONY

The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
Example : saying ‘you’re a pretty sigh’t to a mud-splattered child is an illustration of irony.