Climax/
gradation
| Suddenly there was a big cheer… .Then the cheering stopped, there was chattering, then it got quieter and then it was completely silent (C.A.).
There are drinkers. There are drunkards. There are alcoholics. But these are only steps down the ladder. Right down at the bottom is the methsdrinker – and man can’t sink lower than that (W.D.).
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Antithesis
| In life there is always balance. Life and death,male and female, good and bad,
beautiful and ugly, win and lose, love and hate, lost and found (C. A.).
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity. It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, … (D.).
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Litotes
| But if I was puzzled and disconcerted, I was not unimpressed ( W.S.M.).
They were not criminals or outcasts (M.W.).
Mr. Fussy doesn’t look too happy either,’ whispered Amber (J.C.).
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Simile
| Aunt’s Phoebe’s voice rang out like a bugle; a call to battle (N.B.).
Remarks of this kind being as natural from his sister as breathing (N.B.).
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Periphrasis
| The hospital was crowded with thesurgicallyinterestingproductsofthe
fighting in Africa (I. Sh.).
Jean nodded without turning and slid between two vermillion-coloured buses so the two drivers simultaneously used the same qualitative word (G.).
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Reported speech
| She hadn’t wanted to marry him or anyone else, for that matter, unless it was someone like her father. But there was no one like her father. No one she had ever seen. So, oh, well, what’sthediff! You have to get married some time (E. F.).
The tingling stopped. She plunged into guilt, feeling as cold and hard as the glass vase. She was a wife and mother; whatrightdidshehavetofreedom? Responsibilities pulled at her, and attachments. Whathadhappenedtothem? Whywasn’tshelonely, worried, anxioustogetbackwhereshebelonged? (J.M.)
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