The function of simile is specifying and illustrating.

There exist a lot of trite (hackneyed, familiar) similes in the English language.

E.g. as clear as a day, as black as a crow, to behave like a lamb.

Like metaphors similes can be sustained or extended.

E.g. Her tranquillity was like the sullen calm that broods over an island which has been swept by a hurricane. (Maugham)

Simile must be distinguished from logical comparison or comparison proper, which brings together two things belonging to one class, i.e. deals with what is logically comparable, while in simile there is usu. a bit of fantasy.

E.g. He is as clever as his father (the same class of objects – human beings).

EPITHET.

The epithet (Gk. epitheton ‘addition’) is an attributive (or adverbial) word or phrase used to characterise an object, i.e. to express an individual perception and evaluation of its features and properties. E.g. a giant moustache, a pessimistic rumble. (Priestley)

I.V. Arnold believes that it is a lexico-syntactical trope for it is usu. materialized in a sentence as an attribute, an adverbial modifier or a predicative.

The epithet can be expressed by an adjective, an adverb, a noun, a participle, etc. E.g. ‘What have I done now?’ she began indignantly (an adv., an adv. mod.). (Priestley)

The epithet differs from the logical (= descriptive) attribute, which shows the inherent property of a thing, thus being objective and non-evaluating. E.g. a middle-aged man, bluey-green walls. (Priestley)

Compositionally epithets fall into:

1) simple or word-epithets, e.g. Happiness for him had a feminine shape. (Priestley)

2) compound epithets (formed by compound adjectives), e.g. a crescent-shaped object; wild-looking young fellows (Priestley).

3) two-step epithets (supplied with intensifiers), e.g. … fatally second class … public school … (Priestley)

4) phrase epithets (also called hyphenated epithets when written through a hyphen), e.g. Now he was practically a four-hundred-a-year man instead of a three-hundred-a-year man. (Priestley) …

5) reversed epithets (composed of two nouns linked by an of-phrase where theattributive relation between the members of the combination shows that the SD is an epithet), e.g. a thick figure of a man (Priestley)

According to I.R. Galperin, semantically epithets may be divided into 2 groups:

a) associated underlining the essential feature of the object, e.g. tremendous moustache. (Priestley)

b) unassociated with the noun, unexpected and striking, e.g. the inhuman drawing-room. (Priestley)

V.A. Kukharenko splits epithets into:

1. fixed (trite, traditional, conventional, standing), e.g. a devoted friend, magic weather.

2. figurative (transferred)that can be metaphorical, metonymic, ironical, etc., e.g. bushy eyebrows. (Priestley)

From the point of view of the distribution of epithets in the sentence, there can be distinguished a string of epithetswhose function is to give a multisided characterization. E.g. That she was not really a creature of that world only made her more fascinating, mysterious, romantic … (Priestley)

PERIPHRASIS.

Periphrasis (Gr. periphrazein ‘to express in a roundabout way’: peri – round + phrazein – ‘to show, to say’) is a roundabout way used to name some object or phenomenon. The other term for it is circumlocution.

E.g. the attacking force (for a gang, a band). (O’Henry)

Periphrasis is a description of what could be named directly by a possible shorter and plainer wording;
it is naming the characteristic features of the object instead of naming the object itself.

Thus, it is akin to metonymy.

The difference between periphrasis and metonymy is that the former is always a phrase, i.e. consists of more than one word.

E.g. a thriller (for an exciting book) – metonymy, two hundred pages of blood-curdling narrative (for an exciting book) – periphrasis.

Periphrases can also be genuine (real, artistic, etc.), and trite (traditional, stereotyped, dictionary, etc.).

E.g. instruments of pleasure (for women). (Maugham)

The stylistic effect (function) of periphrasis varies from elevation to humour and irony.

Periphrasis can be divided into 3 types:

1. Logical periphrasis – based on inherent properties of a thing.

E.g. He looked again at the poor dead thing that had been man, and then he started back in dismay. (Maugham)

2. Figurative (imaginative) periphrasis – based on imagery (usu. a metaphor or a metonymy).

E.g. a chevalier of fortune or chevalier of industry (for all sorts of adventurers and swindlers; for bandits). (O’Henry),

3. Euphemistic periphrasis.

The origin of the term 'euphemism' discloses the aim of the device very clearly, i.e. ‘speaking well’ (Gr. eu – ‘well’ + pheme ‘speaking’).

It implies the social practice of replacing the tabooed words or coarse expressions by conventionally more acceptable words and phrases that seem less categoric, milder, more harmless (or at least less offensive).

E.g. the word to die has the following euphemisms: to pass away, to expire, to be no more, to depart, to join the majority, to be gone, to kick the bucket, to give up the ghost, to go west.

Euphemism is a term of speech ethics that is sometimes figuratively called ‘a whitewashing device’.

Euphemisms may be divided into several groups according to their spheres of application.

The most recognized types are the following: 1 ) religious, 2) moral, 3) medical, and 4) parliamentary and political.

E.g. a garbage man – is today substituted for a sanitation worker;

having sexual intercourse with – making love to, sleeping with;

crippled and handicapped – disabled;

undeveloped countries – developing.

The abundant use of periphrastic and euphemistic expressions is a sign of periphrastic or euphemistic style of expression which at times becomes a norm and a requirement.

E.g. a colourful personality (for an excessively eccentric person).

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