Figurative Language“Figuring it Out”

What is figurative language?

• Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, you are using figurative language.

Recognizing Literal Language

“I’ve eaten so much I feel as if I could literally burst!”

• In this case, the person is not using the word literally in its true meaning. Literal means "exact" or "not exaggerated." By pretending that the statement is not exaggerated, the person stresses how much he has eaten.

Literal language is language that means exactly what is said.

Most of the time, we use

literal language.

Figurative and Literal Language

Literally: words function exactly as defined

The car is blue.

He caught the football.

Figuratively: figure out what it means

I’ve got your back.

You’re a doll.

^Figures of Speech

Imagery

• Language that appeals to the senses. Descriptions of people or objects stated in terms of our senses.

–Sight –• Hearing –• Touch –• Taste –• Smell

Simile

Comparison of two things using “like” or “as.”

Examples

The metal twisted like a ribbon.

She is as sweet as candy.

Simile

• A figure of speech which involves a direct comparison between two unlike things, usually with the words like or as. Example: The muscles on his brawny

arms are strong as iron bands.

Important!

Using “like” or “as” doesn’t make a simile.

A comparison must be made.

Not a Simile: I like pizza.

Simile: The moon is like a pizza.

Metaphor

Two things are compared without using “like” or “as.”

Examples

All the world is a stage.

Men are dogs.

Her heart is stone.

Metaphor

• A figure of speech which involves an implied comparison between two relatively unlike things using a form of be. The comparison is not announced by like or as. Example: The road was a ribbon wrapped

through the dessert.

Personification

Giving human traits to objects or ideas.

Examples

The sunlight danced.

Water on the lake shivers.

The streets are calling me.

Personification

• A figure of speech which gives the qualities of a person to an animal, an object, or an idea. Example: “The wind yells while blowing."

The wind cannot yell. Only a living thing can yell.

Alliteration

• Repeated consonant sounds occurring at the beginning of words or within words. Example: She was wide-eyed and wondering

while she waited for Walter to waken.

Hyperbole

Exaggerating to show strong feeling or effect.

Examples

I will love you forever.

My house is a million miles away.

She’d kill me.

Hyperbole

• An exaggerated statement used to heighten effect. It is not used to mislead the reader, but to emphasize a point. Example: She’s said so on several million

occasions.

Understatement

Expression with less strength than expected.

The opposite of hyperbole.

I’ll be there in one second.

This won’t hurt a bit.

Onomatopoeia

• A word that “makes” a sound

• SPLAT

• PING

• SLAM

• POP

• POW

Onomatopoeia

• The use of words that mimic sounds. Example: The firecracker made a

loud ka-boom!

Idiom

• A saying that isn’t meant to be taken literally.

• Doesn’t “mean” what it says

• Don’t be a stick in the mud!

• You’re the apple of my eye.

• I have an ace up my sleeve.

Idioms

• An idiom or idiomatic expression refers to a construction or expression in one language that cannot be matched or directly translated word-for-word in another language.

• Example: "She has a bee in her bonnet," meaning "she is obsessed," cannot be literally translated into another language word for word.

Pun• A form of “word play” in which

words have a double meaning.• I wondered why the baseball was

getting bigger and then it hit me.• I’m reading a book about anti-

gravity. It’s impossible to put it down.

• I was going to look for my missing watch, but I didn’t have the time.

Proverb

• A figurative saying in which a bit of “wisdom” is given.

• An apple a day keeps the doctor away

• The early bird catches the worm

Oxymoron

• When two words are put together that contradict each other. “Opposites”

• Jumbo Shrimp

• Pretty Ugly

• Freezer Burn

Quiz

On a separate sheet of paper…

1. I will put an example of figurative language on the board.

2. You will write whether it is an simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, pun, proverb, idiom, onomatopoeia, oxymoron or understatement.

3. You can use your notes.

1

He drew a line as straight as an arrow.

2

Knowledge is a kingdom and all who learn are kings and queens.

3

Can I see you for a second?

4

The sun was beating down on me.

5

A flag wags like a fishhook there in the sky.

6

I'd rather take bathswith a man-eating shark,or wrestle a lionalone in the dark,eat spinach and liver,pet ten porcupines,than tackle the homework,my teacher assigns.

7

Ravenous and savagefrom its longpolar journey,

the North Wind

is searchingfor food—

8

Dinner is on the house.

9

Can I have one of your chips?

10

Don’t bit the hand that feeds you.

11.

• The clouds smiled down at me.

12.

• SPLAT!

13.

• She is as sweet as candy

14.

• I could sleep forever!

15.

• He drove his expensive car into a tree and found out how the Mercedes bends

16.

• I used to have a fear of hurdles, but I got over it

17.

• The wheat field was a sea of gold.

18.

• The streets called to him.

19.

• POP!

20.

• She was dressed to the nines.

21.

• The early bird catches the worm.

22.

• Old news

23.

• Your face is killing me!

24.

• She was as white as a ghost.

25.

• She has a skeleton in her closet.