Page 167 - English_Form_3

Mwami: Not bad, but busy as usual. Did you do the homework Mr Mwendokasi,
our literature teacher, gave us last week?
Mori: Do you mean the homework on the figures of speech?
FOR ONLINE READING ONLY
Mwami: Yes!
Mori: Oh yes, I did! I got a few definitions from the dictionary and some
from the Internet. For example, I found on the Internet that the
word imagery refers to the creation of mental images and sensory
impressions for emotional effect and intensity. It is the choice of
words that makes us see, touch, hear, or even smell what is happening
in the story. For example, when the writer says, “He hadn’t washed
for a week, so anyone coming near him was forced to hold his/her
breath or his/her nose.” This description makes the readers feel the
smell of someone who hasn’t washed himself or herself for a week.
Images also include figures of speech such as similes, hyperboles,
and metaphors.

Mwami: Yes, that’s what I too followed up on the Internet and in the dictionary.
I found there are many figures of speech. For example, a simile
is one of the figures of speech in which two essentially different
things are compared using conjunctions such as ‘like’ and ‘as’. For
example, ‘He is as greedy as a hyena’, or ‘they all ran away like rats’.
A metaphor is also a direct comparison between things, but without
using ‘like’ or ‘as’. For example, ‘Oh! My mother, ‘you are the angel
of God’, or ‘The teacher roared with anger’.
Mori: Wow! You have really done your homework. Let me add that
personification is a literary device in which nonhuman entities or
abstractions are represented with human attributes. For example,
‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ or ‘The car coughed and
spluttered when the engine was started.’ I also learnt that a hyperbole
is an intentional and extreme exaggeration for emphasis or effect. For
example, ‘Millions of people attended my birthday’ or ‘She received
a bundle of kisses’.
Mwami: I can see you have even more definitions than I do.

Mori: I am lucky. You see, my elder sister studied literature as one of her
subjects in high school. I use most of her books for reference.
Mori: Good for you! I wish I had such resources, too.

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