Trope Rhetorical Devices in Advertisements
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Onomatopoeia This member of trope is described as the use of a word whose sound
echoes a sense Corbett, 1990. Further, onomatopoeia imitates natural sounds of a thing which creates a sound effect which mimics the thing described. Moreover,
onomatopoeia helps readers to set emotional or ethical tone of the text they read Corbett, 1990.
Example [39]: Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far G.K. Chesterton,
Lepanto .
6 Oxymoron
Oxymoron is a rhetorical figure that combines two contradictories in a phrase, clause, and sentence Corbett, 1990. By combining those contradictories,
the sentence can produce a startling effect.
Example [40]: Still waking sleep, that is not what it is This love I feel, that feel no love is this. William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
7 Rhetorical Question
Rhetorical question is a pattern of words which function is to ask a question, but the question does not require an answer Corbett, 1990. The
purpose of asking the question is to assert or deny something obliquely. This figurative device can be an affective persuasive device and subtly influences the
audience Corbett, 1990, p. 445. Example [41]: If it is not us, who else?
How did this idiot get elected? Corbett, 1990
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Personification Personification is presenting abstractions and inanimate objects with
human qualities or abilities. Moreover, personification can give emotional appeals to the sentences Corbett, 1990.
Example [42]: Like the night holds the moon Miley Cyrus
―When I look at you.
When well-appareled April on the heel of limping winter treads
Taken from Act I, Scene II of Romeo and Juliet. 9
Periphrasis Referring to Corbett 1990, periphrasis is a substitution of a descriptive
word or phrase for a proper name or of a proper name for a quality associated with the name. The proper names are considered as the proper nouns in which people
are already familiar with the names. Example [43]:
When you’re out of Schlitz, you’re out of beer Ad slogan for
Schlitz beer. 10
Anthimeria This rhetorical device occurs when the writers does not find any single
word which can represent what they want to express. Thus, the writers create words of their own to express the feeling Corbett, 1990, p. 442.
Example [44]: The thunder would not peace at bidding Shakespeare, King Lear,
IV, vi, 103. 11
Synecdoche This rhetorical device is a figure of speech in which a part stands for the
whole or the general terms for the particular Corbett, 1990.
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Example [45]: creature for man, bread for food, hands for helpers, and steel for sword.
12 Metonym
Metonym refers to a practice of not using a formal word for an object or subject and instead referring to it by using another word that is intricately linked
to the formal name or word Corbett, 1990. Likewise, this rhetorical device is captured as a practice of substituting a main word with a word that is closely
linked to it.
Example [45]: White house for the US president ’s house or the US government
Uncle Sam for United States
13 Homonym and Polysemy
Corbett 1990 declares that homonym and polysemy are just the same. They are defined as a word that has two or more meanings that are at least
va guely related to each other O’Grady Dobrovolsky, 1989.
Example [45]: The word iron can have two meanings, firstly as type of metal and secondly as an instrument for pressing clothes.
14 Pun
This rhetorical device focuses on creating a play on words. A pun twits a meaning of word or words. Puns often create humorous effect by using a word
that suggests two or more meanings or by exploiting similar sounding words having different meanings Corbett, 1990.
Example [46]: When a vulture flies he takes carrion luggage.
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In this pun, the words carrion and carry on are homonyms.
Peopla take carry on luggage when we fly on planes, while vultures eat carrion and may take it with them when they fly
Corbett, 1990.