Mastery
362 self-paced lessons: Style and figures of speech, humour and wordplay, proverbs and cultural references, poetry and song, translation and mediation, rhetoric, specialist registers, sociolinguistics and near-native precision.
0 of 362 required lessons completed · 31 units
Already know this? Test out to skip the unit.
Metáfora and Metonímia
Spot, name and use the metaphors and metonymies of everyday Brazilian speech and of literature, from "tomar um copo" to "ler Machado".
Ironia, Hipérbole, Eufemismo
Exaggerate, soften and say the opposite in Portuguese with hipérbole, eufemismo, lítotes and ironia, and pick up the cues that tell you which tone you're hearing.
Antítese, Paradoxo, Gradação
Set opposites side by side, fuse them into paradox and oxymoron, and build gradations up or down, from Camões and Gregório de Matos to political speeches.
Aliteração, Assonância, Anáfora
Use repeated consonants, repeated vowels and repeated openings the way Brazilian poets, songwriters, speechwriters and copywriters do.
Elipse, Zeugma, Pleonasmo
Leave words out for speed and focus with elipse and zeugma, and tell expressive pleonasm from the vicious kind like "subir para cima" and "elo de ligação".
Analyzing Style
Describe a Portuguese text's style precisely: its register and tone, its rhythm, and what its figures of speech do to the reader.
Contrast Clinic: Literal or Figurative?
Compare plain and figurative versions of the same idea and learn when clarity wins and when an image earns its place.
Error Hunt: Style
Find and fix the mixed metaphors, clichés, vicious pleonasms and register clashes that slip into otherwise polished Portuguese prose.
Real-World Mission: A Campaign
Plan, write and polish a slogan and a short blood-donation campaign text for Recife, using deliberate figures of speech one at a time.
Spiral Review: Style
Mix every figure of speech from the unit in fresh sentences, analyze what each one does and edit prose the way a Brazilian editor would.
Unit 1 review: Figures of Speech & Style
Listen, speak and write with what you learned in "Figures of Speech & Style", then translate three sentences.
Your progress in Mastery
0%
0m / 101h 31m