Recently I wrote about "Allusions." Allusions are just one of the many kinds of figures of speech.

One article I found online lists over 115 kinds of figures of speech! Most of these have exotic, uncommon names (although the figures themselves might be quite familiar).

But also there are quite a few common figures of speech known by most people from their high school English classes. For example, there is also a common group of figures of speech based on sound: alliteration, assonance, dissonance, and onomatopoeia.

Taking the last first, onomatopoeia describes a word that sounds (allegedly) like its meaning. "Bang" and "pop" are common examples. Digging deeper, we might find "buzz," "slap," "crash," and so on. Animal sounds ("the cat meowed," "the bird chirped") are often onomatopoetic.

Alliteration, assonance, and consonance are all based on use of repeated sounds. There is something pleasing to English users when sounds are repeated. Perhaps that's why they are commonly used in company names and advertising slogans.

Alliteration is when the initial (first) sound of a word is the same. Companies in my hometown include "Best Buys," "Midas Muffler," and "Super Speedy Car Wash." The Yellow Pages can help us "Find help fast," and the Wall Street Journal calls itself, "The daily diary of the American dream."

Consonance is easy to catch: It's the repetition of consonant (non-vowel) sounds, as in "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." Note that this is not strictly alliteration, since there are "p"s in the middle of "pepper." The name of my favorite drink uses consonance: Coca-Cola.

Assonance is tougher to find. It is the repetition of vowel sounds within words. Perhaps we like to say "Sesame Street" because of the repeated "ee" sound. A local traffic helicopter in Los Angeles is called "The Eye in the Sky."

All of these are helpful if you are making a slogan or naming a company. Next time we'll look at some common figures of speech, as well as a few uncommon ones, that you can use to make yourself more expressive.