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Figurative Language versus Literal Language

Introduction

Figures of speech are phrases or words that are used to make the speech more figurative in appearance rather than opting for straight, blunt or literal adaptation or meaning of words. It can either be a comparison between two objects, direct or indirect. It can either be an arrangement that is used to give a figurative aspect to the language. It can also be addition or subtraction of words to create a figurative aspect in language. They can be phrases that might be saying something on the surface, but their deeper meaning is different from the meaning that is being depicted.

Discussion

Idioms are one of the most important parts of speech that are used to express a situation or a scenario. The expressions used are interesting, but the issue is that the choice of words is not at related to the scenario in action. For example; 'it is no good crying over spilt milk' is an idiom that means it is useless to regret over things that have took place. One cannot revert them, so one may not keep regretting the situation. This is the figurative meaning of the idiom, but a misconception may occur when a person might think that it really means that one should not cry over spilt milk, creating confusion that why would a person ever cry over spilt milk. Amphiboly is basically a false statement that uses an ambiguous word or a structure from grammar that misleads the reader. The usage of an ambiguous word in the sentence makes the reader think in another direction, creating a misconception at times. For example, an advertisement says that an apartment is available with 3 rooms, bathroom, kitchen, a good view of the river and other ...