2. Figures of contrast: oxymoron, antithesis, paradox.

Oxymoron is the figure of contrast. It is a combination of words which are semantically incompatible, a combination of two contradicting ideas. One of the components reveals some objectively existing feature or quality, while the other one serves to convey the speaker’s subjective attitude. It gives rise to opposition, a new meaning appears. As a result, the object under description obtains characteristics contrary to its nature,

e.g., hot snow, loving hate, horribly beautiful, nice blackguard.

His voice, when it came, was politely ironic and ironically well-bred.

Взимку сонце крізь плач сміється.

І від солодких слів буває гірко.

Холодним жаром запалало серце.

A genuine oxymoron is a free combination of words. Trite oxymoron is used in colloquial English, e.g., awfully well, pretty bad, ужасно умный.

The structural patterns of oxymoron are:

• adjective + noun, e.g., hot snow, adoring hatred;

• adverb + adjective, e.g., pleasantly ugly;

• predicative relations are also possible, e.g.,shouted silently; Sofia's beauty is horrible; doomed to liberty;

• free syntactic patterns, such as up the down staircase.

Oxymoron has great expressive potential. It is normally used in cases when there is a necessity to point out contradictory and complicated nature of the object under description. It is the sort of playful and often witty effect used by those who wish to draw attention to their command of language.

The oxymoron is closely related to antithesis and paradox. Both of these are figures of speech. An oxymoron is 'a contracted paradox'. That is, the paradox is an apparently contradictory statement; whereas the contradiction in an oxymoron is reduced to just two antithetical terms.

Antithesis is the figure of contrast which stands close to oxymoron. The major difference between them is structural: oxymoron is realized through a single word-combination, while antithesis is a confrontation of at least two separate phrases semantically opposite. Antithesis is an opposition of ideas. Compare:

"wise foolishness" is an oxymoron;

"... the age of wisdom, the age of foolishness" is an antithesis.

It is often based on the use of antonyms and is aimed at emphasizing the difference in the nature of things described. E.g., Too brief for our passion, too long for out peace

Were these hours – can their joy and their bitterness cease? (Byron)

Syntactic structures expressing the meaning of antithesis are quite various: a simple extended sentence, a composite sentence, a paragraph or even chain of paragraphs.

The main lexical means of antithesis formation is antonyms (words opposite in meaning): danger – security, life – death, empty – occupied, to hurry – to go slow.

Antithesis may be expressed by different antonymous means:

- morphological, e.g., underpaid and overworked

- contextual antonyms, e.g., It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

- antonymous expressions, e.g., It seemed that two worlds were meeting: the world of worry about rent, and rates and groceries and the world of Rolls and the Black Market clothes and perfume and the career ahead.

However, the use of antonyms is not strictly obligatory. Antithesis may also be formed through situational confrontation of two notions expressed by non-antonymous words. For example: Isabel's salary was high; Isabel's work was light.

It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness.

I had walked into that reading-room a happy, healthy man. I crawled out a decrepit wreck.

Gilbert wears fine clothes, while I go in rags.

While I am weak from hunger. Denis suffers from overeating.

Янгольський голосок, та чортова думка.

Слова одні нам тішать слух і зір, А інші нас відштовхують раптово.

Paradox is a figure of speech in which a statement appears to be self-contradictory, but contains something of a truth, e.g., The child is father to the man.

Cowards die many times before their death.

Paradoxically speaking, language study can be fun.

Paradox is used for emphasis or stylistic effect.