Editing Figure of speech (section)

{{Short description|Non-literal word or phrase used for effect}}
{{Rhetoric}}

A '''figure of speech''' or '''rhetorical figure''' is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from straightforward language use or [[Denotation|literal meaning]] to produce a [[rhetoric]]al or intensified effect (emotionally, aesthetically, intellectually, etc.).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YWBgAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA113 |title=A Grammar of the English Language .. In a series of familiar lectures, etc |access-date=2015-12-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508135920/https://books.google.com/books?id=YWBgAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA113 |archive-date=2016-05-08 |last1=Mar |first1=Emanuel del |year=1842 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite Dictionary.com|figure of speech}}</ref> In the distinction between [[literal and figurative language]], figures of speech constitute the latter. Figures of speech are traditionally classified into ''[[scheme (linguistics)|schemes]]'', which vary the ordinary sequence of words, and ''[[trope (literature)|tropes]]'', where words carry a meaning other than what they ordinarily signify. 

An example of a scheme is a [[polysyndeton]]: the repetition of a conjunction before every element in a list, whereas the conjunction typically would appear only before the last element, as in "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"—emphasizing the danger and number of animals more than the [[Prose|prosaic]] wording with only the second "and". An example of a trope is the [[metaphor]], describing one thing as something it clearly is not, as a way to illustrate by comparison, as in "All the world's a stage."