Simile Definition 101: Bold as Brass and Sweeter Than Sugar
I grew up in Bloomington, Illinois, the home of State Farm Insurance. Living in the shadow of its worldwide headquarters…
Figures of Speech
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What Is a Rhetorical Question?
Wouldn’t it be great to understand why someone asks a rhetorical question? How many times a day do you ask…
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Why and When To Use a Euphemism
Have you ever been drinking an adult beverage in a colorful bar while discussing a coworker who was recently let…
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Analogy Definition With Detailed Examples
If you’ve ever watched a 20th-century teen comedy set in a high school, then you’ve likely learned the following three…
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3 Famous Poems That Have Allusion
Poems that have allusion are more common than you may think. Allusion is a literary device that briefly references another…
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What Is a Rhetorical Ploy?
What is a rhetorical ploy? To answer that, we first need to understand what “rhetoric” means. Rhetoric is the art…
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Henchmen With Terrible Aim: A Guide to Understanding Tropes
Mistaken identity is one of the most common tropes in all of storytelling. From “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” to…
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Using Epistrophe To Get A Response, Get A Response
One of the most memorable scenes in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 gangster opus “Goodfellas” features Henry Hill showcasing all the mobsters…
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Common Clichés To Avoid in Writing
I began cutting common clichés, a type of figure of speech, from my writing after spending several years teaching English…
