The A-Z of Correct English 2e by Burch

The A-Z of Correct English 2e by Burch is the 2nd edition of the book authored by Angela Burch and published by How To Books Ltd, Oxford, United Kingdom in 2002.

The copyright belongs to Angela Burt.

• Alliteration. The repetition of sounds at the beginning of words and syllables. Example: "Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran."
• Climax. Example: "I came; I saw; I conquered!"
• Epigram. A short pithy saying.

  Truth is never pure, and rarely simple. -- Oscar Wilde

• Euphemism. An indirect way of referring to distressing or unpalatable facts. Examples: "I've lost both my parents." (= they've died) and "She's rather light-fingered." (= she's a thief)
• Hyperbole. Exaggeration. Examples: "Jack cut his knee rather badly and lost gallons of blood.", "What's for lunch? I'm starving." and

  I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers
  Could not, with all their quantity of love,
  Make up my sum. -- Shakespeare, Hamlet

• Irony. Saying one thing while clearly meaning the opposite.

  For Brutus is an honourable man. -- Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

• Litotes. Understatement. Example: "He was not exactly polite." (= very rude) and "I am a citizen of no mean city." (= St Paul boasting about Tarsus and hence about himself)
• Metaphor. A compressed comparison. Examples: "Anna flew downstairs." (i.e. her speed resembled the speed of a bird in flight),

  Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care. -- Shakespeare, Macbeth

  , and

  No man is an island, entire of itself. -- John Donne

• Metonymy. The substitution of something closely associated. Examples: "The bottle has been his downfall." (= alcohol), "The kettle's boiling." (= the water in the kettle), and "The pen is mightier than the sword."
• Onomatopoeia. Echoing the sound. "Bees buzz; sausages sizzle in the pan; ice-cubes tinkle in the glass." Frequently, alliteration, vowel sounds and selected consonants come together to evoke the sounds being described:

  Only the monstrous anger of the guns
  Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
  Can patter out their hasty orisons. -- Wilfred Owen, Anthem for Doomed Youth

• Oxymoron. Apparently contradictory terms which make sense at a deeper level. Example: "The cruel mercy of the executioner bought him peace at last."
• Paradox. A deliberately contradictory statement on the surface which challenges you to discover the underlying truth. Example:

  If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing badly. --G. K. Chesterton

• Personification. Describing abstract concepts and inanimate objects as though they were people. Examples: "The wind sobbed and shrieked in impotent rage." and

  Death lays his icy hand on kings. --James Shirley

  Often human feelings are also attributed. This extension of personification is called the pathetic fallacy.
• Pun. A play on words by calling upon two meanings at once. Example: "Is life worth living? It depends on the liver."
• Rhetorical question. No answer needed! Example: "Do you want to fail your exam?"
• Simile. A comparison introduced by 'like', 'as', 'as if' or 'as though'. Examples: "You look as if you've seen a ghost.",

  O, my Luve's like a red red rose
  That's newly sprung in June. -- Robert Burns

  and

  I wandered lonely as a cloud. -- William Wordsworth

• Synecdoche. Referring to the whole when only a part is meant, or vice versa. Examples: "England has lost the Davis Cup." (= one person) and "All hands on deck!"
• Transferred epithet. The adjective is moved from the person it describes to an object. Examples: "She sent an apologetic letter." and "He tossed all night on a sleepless pillow."
• Zeugma. Grammatical play on two applications of a word. Examples: "She swallowed her pride and three dry sherries." and

  She went straight home in a flood of tears and a sedan chair. -- Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers