TROPS

TROPS

Trope - The use of a word, phrase, or image different from its normal use.

* Tropes are figures of speech with an unexpected twist in the meaning of words, as opposed to SCHEMES, which only deal with patterns of words.

A trope is a figure of speech in which words are used in a way that changes their meaning. Their use is common in a wide range of forms, including fiction, film, and poetry. One of the most well known examples is a metaphor; for example, a beautiful woman in a novel might be described as having hair that is the golden shining of the sun. There are many other types of tropes and, when used well, they can be powerful tools. They are also used extensively in advertising and propaganda, and many rely on cultural or social norms that can make their translation into other languages or cultures very difficult.

The word "trope" comes from the Greek word tropos, which means "to turn or twist," and these figures of speech do indeed twist the meaning of words or phrases. They are so common that many have become cliches, and these overused terms are an important thing for writers to avoid.

Some other examples include irony, metonymy, antanaclasis, and synecdoche. Many people already know what irony means: it refers to a statement in which words are used to express the opposite of their conventional meaning. For example, someone might say that she had a “good time” getting a filling at the dentist in an ironic way, when she really means that she had a terrible time.

I don’t approve of political jokes; I have seen too many get  elected.   

Metaphor -- when something is something else:

The ladder of success (i.e, success is a ladder).

* I was lost in a sea of nameless faces.

* Laughter is the music of the soul. 

* Words are the weapons with which we wound.

* Scars are the roadmap to the soul.

Simile -- when something is like something else:

"Her skin was like alabaster." "He was as unpleasant as a veneral disease."

Click here for discussion of epic similes.

Pleonasm - occurs when the grammar of a language makes certain function words optional. For example, consider the following English sentences:

"I know you are coming."

"I know that you are coming."

In this construction, the conjunction that is optional when joining a sentence to a verb phrase with know. Both sentences are grammatically correct, but the word that is pleonastic in this case. By contrast, when a sentence is in spoken form and the verb involved is one of assertion, the use of that makes clear that the present speaker is making an indirect rather than a direct quotation, such that he is not imputing particular words to the person he describes as having made an assertion; the demonstrative adjective that also does not fit such an example. Also, some writers may use "that" for technical clarity reasons.^[3] In some languages, such as French, the word is not optional and should therefore not be considered pleonastic.
The same phenomenon occurs in Spanish with subject pronouns. Since Spanish is a null-subject language, which allows subject pronouns to be deleted when understood, the following sentences mean the same:

"Yo te amo."

"Te amo."

In this case, the pronoun yo ("I") is grammatically optional; both sentences mean "I love you" (however, they may not have the same tone or intention—this depends on pragmatics rather than grammar). Such differing but syntactically equivalent constructions, in many languages, may also indicate a difference in register.
The process of deleting pronouns is called pro-dropping, and it also happens in many other languages, such as Korean, Japanese, Hungarian, Latin, Portuguese, Scandinavian languages some Slavic languages, and the Lao language.

Metonymy -- using a vaguely suggestive, physical object to embody a more general idea: CROWN for royalty. We use metonymy in everyday speech when we refer to the entire movie-making industry as a mere suburb of L.A., "Hollywood," or when we refer to the collective decisions of the United States government as "Washington," or the "White House."

Metonymy refers to replacing a word or phrase in a statement with a concept that is closely related. For example, pens are associated with writers, and when Thomas Paine wrote that “The pen is mightier than the sword,” he really meant that the power of words and writers was greater than that of military power. Many examples of metonymy rely on the expectation that people will understand the reference, which is why foreign examples of metonymy sometimes seem utterly mysterious or even laughable.

* The PEN is mightier than the SWORD
* If we cannot strike offenders in the heart, let us strike them in the wallet.

Synecdoche -- is related to metonomy; using a part of a physical object to represent the whole object: It involves referring to a whole by one of its parts. For example, in love poetry a woman's eyes could be used to evoke her entire body. Synecdoche can also work in reverse; for example, someone may say “France recently enacted a new law” when they really mean “The French government enacted a new law.”

* Twenty eyes watched our every move (i.e., ten people watched our every move).
* A hungry stomach has no ears" (La Fontaine).
* France recently enacted a new law. (The French government)                  

Puns -- A pun twists the meaning of words.

* Johnny B. Good. (is a pun for "Johnny be good")

Homonymic Puns -- "." Sound similarities --

Personification -- giving human qualities to inanimate objects:

* The ground thirsts for rain.
* The wind whispered secrets to us.
* The clouds sailed across the sky.

Apostrophe -- (not to be confused with the punctuation mark): addressing someone or some abstraction that is not physically present: "Oh, Death, be not proud" (John Donne). "Ah, Mr. Newton, you would be pleased to see how far we have progressed in physics."

Erotema -- asking a rhetorical question to the reader:

* What should honest citizens do?"

Onomatapoeia -- echoic words or words that create an auditory effective similar to the sound they represent:

* Buzz; Click; Rattle; Clatter; Squish; Grunt.

Hyperbole -- exaggeration:

* His thundering shout could split rocks.
* Yo' mama's so fat. . . ."

Meiosis -- understatement (opposite of exaggeration):

* I was somewhat worried when the psychopath ran toward me with a chainsaw.
(I was terrified).

Litotes (especially popular in Old English) is a type of meiosis in which the writer uses a statement in the negative to create the effect: "You know, Einstein is not a bad mathematician." (i.e., Einstein is a good mathematician.)

Anthimeria -- using a different part of speech to act as another, such as a verb for a noun, or a noun for a verb, or an adjective as a verb, etc.:
In rhetoric, anthimeria, traditionally and more properly called antimeria involves using one part of speech as another part of speech. Using a noun as a verb has become so common that many nouns have actually become verbs also. For example, "Let's book the flight." The noun "book" is now often used as a verb, as in this example. Other noun-as-verb usages include "I can keyboard that for you," "We need to scissor expenses," and "Desk him." Other substitutions could include an adjective used as a noun, as in "She dove into the foaming wet," interjection as verb, as in "Don't aha me!" a verb as a noun, as in "Help! I need some eat!" and so on.

* The little old lady turtled along the road. (using a noun as if it were a verb)
* Don't aha me!
* I am going in search of the great perhaps

Catachresis -- A completely impossible figure of speech, especially one breaking the limits of realism or grammar. For example, many figures of speech describe something biologically or physically impossible: "Joe will kittens when he hears this!" "I will sing victories for you." Or as Milton so elegantly phrased it, catachresis is all about "blind mouths."

For a more recent example, consider the disturbingly cheerful pop song by Foster the People, "Pumped Up Kicks," which deals with a school shooting. Here, the shooter/narrator states, "I've waited for a long time. Yeah, the sleight of my hand is now a quick-pull trigger. / I reason with my cigarette." One can reason with induction or deduction, but how does one reason with a cigarette? Here, the catachresis might evoke the idea of the "cool" kid using personal style instead of a persuasive argument, or it might evoke the imagery of torture--burning victims with a cigarette-butt to make one's point. This sort of evocative, almost nonsensical language is the heart of good catachresis.

Catachresis is closely related to hyperbole and synaesthesia.

Synæsthesia -- Mixing one type of sensory input with another in an impossible way, such as speaking of how a color sounds, or how a smell looks: "The scent of the rose rang like a bell through the garden." "I caressed the darkness with cool fingers."

Aporia -- Talking about not being able to talk about something: "I can't tell you how often writers use aporia."

Aposiopesis -- Breaking off as if unable to continue: "The fire surrounds them while -- I cannot go on."

Oxymoron (plural oxymora also called Paradox)-- Using contradiction in a manner that oddly makes sense. Examples of oxymora include jumbo shrimp, sophisticated rednecks, and military intelligence. The best oxymora seem to reveal a deeper truth through their contradictions. For instance, "without laws, we can have no freedom." Shakespeare's Julius Caesar also makes use of a famous oxymoron: "Cowards die many times before their deaths" (2.2.32).

For an excellent website about rhetoric, see The Forest of Rhetoric. Also see the list at Rhetorical Figures and Rhetorical Figures in Sound.