IXL | Analyze the effects of figures of speech on meaning and tone

Select the antithesis in the passage.

Armstrong: I'm at the foot of ladder. The LM footpads are only depressed in the surface about one or two inches, although the surface appears to be very, very fine-grained as you get close to it. It's almost like a powder. Down there, it's very fine.

Armstrong: I'm going to step off the LM now.

Armstrong: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

McCandless: Neil, this is Houston. We're copying.

Adapted from the National Archives and Records Administration, "The Eagle Has Landed"

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Learn with an example

question

Select the paradox in the passage.

My dear Lucy,

I wrote this story for you, but when I began it, I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result, you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound, you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand, a word you say, but I shall still be

your affectionate Godfather,

C. S. Lewis

key idea

Figures of speech are words or phrases that use language in a nonliteral or unusual way.

An allusion is a brief reference to something or someone well known, often from history or literature.

The patriot, Barsad, was a hired spy and traitor, an unblushing trafficker in blood, and one of the greatest scoundrels upon earth since accursed Judas—which he certainly did look rather like.

—Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Antithesis involves contrasting opposing ideas within a parallel grammatical structure.

To err is human; to forgive, divine.

—Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism

Hyperbole is an obvious exaggeration that is not meant to be taken literally.

The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could.

—Edgar Allan Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado"

A paradox is a statement that might at first appear to be contradictory, but that may in fact contain some truth.

Much Madness is divinest Sense -

To a discerning Eye -

—Emily Dickinson

A simile uses like or as to compare two things.

A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them.

—Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

Verbal irony involves saying one thing but implying something very different. People often use verbal irony when they are being sarcastic.

Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years.

—Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

solution

It appears contradictory to say that some day an adult will be old enough to read fairy tales, which are written for children. This is a paradox.

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