Parody 3 (1。0%)

Understatement 17 (5。7%)

From the above table, it can be seen that metaphor and sarcasm occupies a large percentage respectively with 17。1% and 15。3%。 The next three are simile, rhetorical question and parallelism, which cover respectively 13。3%, 11。7% and 10。7%。 Others are not over ten percentages。 Among these rhetorical devices, parody ranks the smallest proportion of 1。0%。 

Figure 1 Distribution of Objects in Samples

From the above figure, it can be seen that 67% rhetorical devices are used to describe Trump, while only 33% are used to describe Hillary。 When describing Trump, many news writers use negative words to show dissatisfaction with him。 文献综述

In order to further study the features of rhetorical devices and the tendency of approval rate, each device will be discussed in detail。 

2。2。1 Simile and Its Function 

A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things。 Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words “like” or “as”。 Therefore, it is a direct comparison。 (https://literarydevices。net/simile/)

40 simile samples are found in the collected data。 The tenor and the vehicle of similes are in essence different, which are linked by connective “as” or “like” to draw the resemblance。 But the vehicles are always familiar things in daily life which are used by news writers to grasp similarities between the tenor and the vehicle。 News writers utilize the vehicles’ characteristics or quality to help readers understand the tenor and further catch the news reports’ deep meaning。 

Example 1 

The Republican convention has been colorful and chaotic, but above all, it has been consumed by a vigilante rage, complete with mock prosecutors, show trials and chanting mobs。 The picture presented to the world has been of America as a banana republic。 (“America would be Trump’s banana republic”, July 21, 2016)

Here “banana republic” is compared with the America under the rule of Trump。 “Banana republic” refers to the third-world developing countries which depend on single-product economies and unstable governments。 If Trump becomes the president, the situation of banana republic will happen。 The political and economic development of America will be restricted greatly, and finally America may not maintain dominance in the world。