Figurative Language

Imagery Metaphor

Simile Personification

Hyperbole Idioms

Two Main Types of Language: Literal and Figurative

• Literal language is explicit, obvious, out in the open and plainly stated. It is a major part of non-fiction texts, but can also be found in fiction.

• Figurative language infers or suggests things rather than stating them. It creates a picture in your mind, it is imagery. Figurative language can give a text more richness and depth. It is often found in fiction texts and autobiographies, but can also be found in non-fiction.

Figurative Language • Literary tool for writers

• Helps the reader or audience to visualize what the writer is thinking

• It places a picture in the readers mind

What is Figurative Language?

O Figurative language is a way of saying something other than what you actually say.

“It’s pouring out there…”

The writer is saying that it’s pouring rain outside, but it is not actually water being poured out of a cup or dish.

What is figurative

language? • Whenever you describe something by

comparing it with something else, you are using figurative language.

Types of Figurative

Language

• Imagery

• Simile

• Metaphor

• Personification

• Hyperbole

• Idioms

• Understatement

• Onomatopoeia

• Pun

• Proverb

• Oxymoron

Imagery

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

• Sight • Hearing • Touch • Taste • Smell

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.

Metaphor

• A metaphor compares two unlike things, a form of comparison that directly compares two unlike things. A metaphor wastes no time in getting to the point.

• Metaphors are used to compare two things. A metaphor says that one thing IS another thing.

• Examples:

That child is a bear when he is sleepy.

The dancer was a graceful eagle taking flight.

This pie is heaven!

You are my sunshine!

The book was an addiction-I couldn't put it down.

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.

Similes Do you remember who said, "Life is like a box of chocolates?" Forrest Gump was comparing life to a box of chocolates. He meant that we never know what life has planned for us.

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.

Personification

• One of the most familiar kinds of comparison is personification---that is, speaking of something that is not human as if it had human abilities and human reactions.

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

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.

Oxymoron

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

• Jumbo Shrimp

• Pretty Ugly

• Freezer Burn

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

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.