Практикум по стилистике английского языка

О.В. Томберг
М.А. Ананьина
ПРАКТИКУМ 
ПО СТИЛИСТИКЕ 
АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА
Москва
Издательство «ФЛИНТА»
2025
1

УДК 811.111’38(076.5)
ББК 81.432.1-5я73
Т56
Ре це нзе нты:
д-р филол. наук, проф. кафедры «Международные отношения,
политология и регионоведение ФГАОУ ВО «Южно-уральский
государственный университет (национальный исследовательский
университет)» Н.Н. Кошкарова;
д-р филол. наук, директор департамента «Филологический факультет»
Уральского гуманитарного института
ФГАОУ ВО «Уральский федеральный университет
имени первого Президента России Б.Н. Ельцина»,
проф. кафедры современного русского языка
и прикладной лингвистики А.М. Плотникова
Т56 
Томберг О.В.
Практикум по стилистике английского языка / О.В. Томберг, 
М.А. Ананьина. — Москва : ФЛИНТА, 2025. — 148 с. — ISBN 
978-5-9765-5542-6. — Текст : электронный.
В книге предлагается система практических заданий по стилистике английского языка. Практикум является дополнением к учебному пособию, рассматривающему теоретические основы стилистики английского языка. Книга структурирована в соответствии с 
уровневым подходом к лингвистическим явлениям; стилистические 
приемы и образные средства иллюстрируются и изучаются на обширном современном материале, взятом из художественных произведений англоязычных авторов; содержит ключи для самопроверки, 
что способствует повышению уровня овладения изучаемым материалом. Диагностический и заключительный тесты практикума позволят оценить и сопоставить навыки идентификации, интерпретации и 
использования стилистических приемов и образных средств в речи.
Для студентов старших курсов языковых факультетов и направлений подготовки, изучающих дисциплину «Стилистика английского языка».
УДК 811.111’38(076.5)
ББК 81.432.1-5я73
ISBN 978-5-9765-5542-6 
© Томберг О.В., Ананьина М.А., 2025
© Издательство «ФЛИНТА», 2025
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Contents
Introduction  
.......................................................................................................4
Diagnostic test in Stylistics  
...............................................................................5
UNIT  1. Identifi
 cation of phonetic and graphical stylistic devices  .........8
1.1. Exercises on phonographical expressive means
and stylistic devices ....................................................................................8
1.2. Testing phonetic and graphical stylistic devices  ......................................16
UNIT  2. Identifi
 cation of expressive means
and lexical stylistic devices  ...........................................................................23
2.1. Exercises on lexical stylistic devices  .......................................................23
2.2. Exercises on lexical and syntactical expressive means
and stylistic devices ..................................................................................38
2.3. Testing lexical and syntactical expressive means
and stylistic devices ..................................................................................45
UNIT  3. Identifi
 cation of syntactical expressive means
and stylistic devices  .......................................................................................64
3.1. Exercises on expressive means and syntactical stylistic devices  .............64
3.2. Testing syntactical expressive means and stylistic devices  
......................74
3.3. Final test on identifi
 cation of expressive means
and stylistic devices ..................................................................................94
UNIT  4. Identifi
 cation of stylistic functions of morphology units
and categories  ..............................................................................................135
4.1. Exercises on the stylistic functions of morphemes  ................................135
4.2. Commenting on the stylistic usage of the categories
of parts of speech  ...................................................................................137
Keys  ..............................................................................................................139
Sources  
..........................................................................................................142
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INTRODUCTION
Practicum in stylistic analysis can be used in the course of 
Stylistics of the English language, Text Interpretation, Foreign 
Literature Studies and other linguistic subjects that demand careful 
attention to the language and its peculiarities at different levels.
The textbook consists of four units, based on the level 
approach to linguistic phenomena, including the identifi
 cation of 
phonographical, lexical, morphological and syntactical expressive 
means and stylistic devices. The units are preceded by a diagnostic 
test in stylistics which may help students examine their knowledge 
of Stylistics which could have been acquired at the previous stages 
of language study as it is well-known that stylistics is supposed to be 
one of the fi
 nal disciplines that crowns all the linguistic knowledge 
received by university students during their study at the language 
department. At the end of the manual, a fi
 nal test is offered to assess 
students’ knowledge as a result of the study of expressive means and 
stylistic devices and their identifi
 cation. The material of the manual 
is characterised by novelty, variety and richness of expressive means 
and language in general. The assignments, taken from classic and 
contemporary works of fi
 ction by English-speaking authors, will 
contribute to the development of the reader’s stylistic culture and 
philological outlook. The tasks are aimed not only at recognising a 
stylistic device, but also at determining its stylistic function and the 
principle of its action, decoding the subtext.
The manual is a supplement to modern textbooks on English 
language stylistics and contains tasks to be performed after 
familiarisation with the relevant theoretical provisions.
Studying the materials of the manual will help the students to 
learn how to philologically analyse a fi
 ction text, to professionally 
approach the issues of its interpretation. Fulfi
 lment of the proposed 
tasks will contribute to the development of skills in identifying 
hidden meanings in the text, understanding the mechanisms of 
realisation of stylistic devices and their correct generation in their 
own speech.
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DIAGNOSTIC TEST IN STYLISTICS
1. The term ‘stylistics’ derives from the Latin word ...
1) style;
2) stilos;
3) stylization.
2. Stylistics is concerned with the study of ...
1) phonemes;
2) morphemes;
3) units of different hierarchical levels and their interaction in the 
context.
3. The main category of stylistics is ...
1) modality;
2) divisibility;
3) style.
4. Insert the correct word: “According to Prof. Skrebnev, 
style is a complex of ... units of a certain sublanguage”.
1) neutral;
2) relatively specifi
 c;
3) absolutely specifi
 c.
5. A national language as a general system comprises:
1) foreign languages;
2) sublanguages / susbsystems.
6. Identify the stylistic device:
“Tiger! Tiger! Burning bright
In the forest of the night”
1) rhyme;
2) alliteration.
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7. Match the corresponding parts.
1) bookish words
a) It’s cool; she is cute.
2) colloquial words
b) An impoverished person, 
highly improbable.
8. Words like ‘kid’, ‘daddy’, ‘mummy’ have ...
1) positive connotation;
2) negative connotation.
9. Match the corresponding parts.
1) neutral words
a) child, father, continue.
2) bookish words
b) infant, male parent, proceed.
10. Match the corresponding parts.
1) American variant of English
a) think, medicine, post, petrol.
2) British variant of English
b) guess, drug, mail, gas.
11. Match the corresponding parts.
1) grammatical peculiarities
of American English
a) favorite, theater, center, color.
2) grammatical peculiarities
of British English
b) favourite, theatre, centre, 
colour.
12. Mark the foreignisms.
1) bonjour;
2) word;
3) book;
4) de facto.
13. Mark the archaic word.
1) while;
2) whilst;
3) here.
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14. Mark the neologism.
1) fashionable clothes;
2) bikini;
3) short clothes.
15. Match the corresponding parts.
1) informal phrases
a) A high level consensus, fossil 
fuel burning.
2) formal phrases 
b) We got home late, I’ll get you, 
just you wait!
16. Identify the stylistic device: “He is not a man, he is just a 
machine”.
1) metaphor;
2) epithet.
17. Identify the stylistic device: “Oh, my love is like a red, red 
rose”.
1) metonymy;
2) simile.
18. Identify the stylistic device: “Washington and London 
agree on most issues”.
1) metonymy;
2) simile.
19. Identify the stylistic device: “O dreamy, gloomy, friendly 
trees!” (Trench)
1) simile;
2) epithet.
20. Identify the stylistic device: “Oh, No, John, No, John, No, 
John, No!” (from a folk song).
1) metaphor;
2) repetition.
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UNI T  1. IDENTIFICATION 
OF PHONETIC AND GRAPHICAL
STYLISTIC DEVICES
1.1. Exercises on phonographical expressive means
and stylistic devices
A. Indicate the causes and effects of the following cases of 
alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia:
1. Streaked by a quarter moon, the Mediterranean shushed gently 
into the beach. (I. Shaw)
2. He swallowed the hint with a gulp and a gasp and a grin. 
(R. Kipling)
3. External heat and cold had little infl
 uence on Scrooge. No 
warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. (Ch. Dickens)
4. He’s refusing to speak to a single soul. (A. Smith)
5. Never in his life had he seen a river before — this sleek, 
sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things 
with a gurgle and leaving them with a laugh, to fl
 ing itself on the 
fresh playmates that shook themselves free, and were caught and 
held again. All was a-shake and a-shiver — glints and gleams and 
sparkles, rustle and swirl, chatter and bubble. (K. Grahame)
6. “Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide World,” said the Rat. 
(K. Grahame)
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7. To sit in solemn silence in a dull dark dock, In a pestilential 
prison, with a life-long lock, Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp 
shock From a cheap and chippy chopper On a big black block. 
(W. Collins)
8. A young man married is a man that’s marred. 
(W. Shakespeare)
9. “Luscious, languid and lustful, isn’t she?” “Those are not 
the correct epithets. She is — or rather was — surly, lustrous and 
sadistic.” (E. Waugh)
10. Then, with an enormous, shattering rumble, sludge-puff, 
sludge-puff, the train came into the station. (A. Smith)
11.
Nature’s fi
 rst green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
(R. Frost)
12. “We are going to get caught, probably, and when we do, just 
let me talk. You just let me talk. You just look cute and be that weird 
mix of innocent and confi
 dent, and we’ll be fi
 ne. (K. Grahame)
B. Indicate the kind of additional information about the 
speaker which is supplied by graphon. Think of the causes 
originating graphon (young age, a physical defect of speech, 
lack of education, the infl
 uence of dialectal norms, affectation, 
intoxication, carelessness in speech, etc.):
1. Jess looked at me. “You just said that.”
“I haven’t said it often enough. I want my band back and my girl 
back. I WANT MY BAND BACK AND MY GIRL BACK. What do 
you want, Martin?” (N. Hornby)
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2. He snuffed his way back to the library shelves, but could fi
 nd 
nothing that might interest him.
“What are you interested in, actually?”
“Nuffi
 nk, really.”
“Nothing at all?”
“I quite like fruit. My mum says I’m a champion fruit-eater.” 
(N. Hornby)
3. No, massa, dey ain’t bin noffi
 n onpleasant since den — ’t was 
fore den I’m feared — ’t was de berry day you was dare. (E. Poe)
4. “I dare say not,” said Mr. Gradgrind. “What thall it be, 
Thquire, while you wait? Thall it be Therry? Give it a name, 
Thquire!” said Mr Sleary, with hospitable ease. “Nothing for me, 
I thank you,” said Mr. Gradgrind. “Don’t you thay nothing, Thquire. 
What doth your friend thaty? If you haven’t took your feed yet, have 
a glath of bitterth.” (Ch. Dickens)
5. I remembered Master Chiffi
 nch’s words when I had told him 
that Alderley was dead: Well, Marwood, I always say it’s an ill wind 
that blows no man good. “I wonder, madam, was Master Chiffi
 nch 
among these debtors?” (A. Taylor)
6. No need to examine this passing specimen too closely. But 
I — I — felt it as contempt at the time, remembered it as such, and 
delivered the feeling back. (J. Barnes)
7. “I had a coach with a little seat in fwont with an iwon wail for 
the dwiver.” (Ch. Dickens)
8. “Nos-tal-gic,” Akira said, as though it were a word he had 
been struggling to fi
 nd. Then he said a word in Japanese, perhaps the 
Japanese for ‘nostalgic’. “Nos-tal-gic. It is good to be nos-tal-gic. 
Very important.” (K. Ishiguro)
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