Question

Study these emphatic sentences. Comment on the expressive means and stylistic devices used :

1. The corporate ecosystem of the 21st century will be characterized by a blurring of once-distinct boundaries: between public and private, foreign and domestic, insider and outsider, friend and foe.

2. Late paychecks, costly health insurance, the distractions of a home office – it’s not all cushy.

3. Nonetheless, the rise of the Internet and the global economy does mean that government could look quite different in the future.

4. Visionaries say today’s integrated companies are lumbering dinosaurs.

Answer 1

1. The corporate ecosystem of the 21st century will be characterized by a blurring of once-distinct boundaries: between public and private, foreign and domestic, insider and outsider, friend and foe.

Alliteration: repetition of initial consonant sound. The initial sound or letter is repeated in neighboring words for emphasis.

2. Late paychecks, costly health insurance, the distractions of a home office – it’s not all cushy.

Euphemism: replacing a word or combination of words with lighter equivalents. (Instead of saying it's extremely unpleasant - it's not all cushy)

3. Nonetheless, the rise of the Internet and the global economy does mean that government could look quite different in the future.

Litotes: understatement, or downplaying a statement.

4. Visionaries say today’s integrated companies are lumbering dinosaurs.

Metaphor: figurative expression that compares two different things (not to be confused with simile, which uses the word "like" - "A is like B")