4.2 FEATURES OF ADVERTISING THE LANGUAGE OF ADVERTISING In order to advise consumers and induce them to purchase a product or use a specific service by showing them in their best light, advertising makes use of some typical linguistic features: the use of the imperative tense and the second person to be more persuasive, direct and personal; the use of ungradable adjectives to reinforce the message; 1 the use of noun compounds to associate creativity and innovation with the product; 2 the use of prefixes like super, , , or to increase the value, quality and importance of the product; hyper ultra extra the use of figures of speech to enrich the message. MORE 1 can show different levels of that quality (e.g., quite beautiful, very beautiful, extremely beautiful). Ungradable adjectives describe absolute qualities (e.g. awesome, terrible). Gradable MORE 2 Combination of a noun + another noun, adjective or adverb to create a new word, for example: . dream sensation Rhetoric and figures of speech Rhetoric is the art of using language as a means of persuasion. It is widely used in advertising since the use of figures of speech in visuals, headlines and texts easily captures the attention of the public, making messages livelier and catchier by evoking mental representations, frames of mind and memories that form part of the public’s cultural and emotional heritage. 3 A figure of speech is an expression that uses words to mean something different from their ordinary meaning, thereby giving a different message for emphasis or greater clarity. MORE 3 The word comes from Greek and means “art of oratory”, that is the art of speaking or writing in an effective way. rhetoric Most common figures of speech exaggeration used to give emphasis, evoke feelings or create a strong impression. Hyperbole: powerful comparison achieved through a figurative use of words. Metaphor: act of referring to something by the name of something else that is closely connected with it. Metonymy: apparently contradictory idea to point out some truth. Paradox: underlying explicit comparison between two things. Simile: 1 DO 1 Can you tell the difference between a metaphor and a simile? Other tools expression which means something different from what it says or has a meaning and is conventionally understood by native speakers. Idiom: hidden when a word or phrase is used in two different senses, deliberately ambiguity between similarly sounding words. Pun: exploiting