Figurative 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

Figurative LanguageThe opposite of literal language is

figurative language. Figurative language is language that means more than what it says on the surface.

• It usually gives us a feeling about its subject.

• A writers tool• It helps the reader to visualize

(see) what the writer is thinking– It puts a picture in the readers mind

Metaphor

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

Examples

All the world is a stage.

Men are dogs.

Her heart is stone.

Simile

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

Examples

The metal twisted like a ribbon.

She is as sweet as candy.

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.

Personification

Giving human traits to objects or ideas.

Examples

The sunlight danced.

Water on the lake shivers.

The streets are calling me.

Hyperbole

• An exaggerated statement used to heighten effect. It is not used to mislead the reader, but to emphasize a point.

Examples: She’s said so on several million occasions.

I will love you forever.

My house is a million miles away.

She’d kill me.

                                                            

Alliteration (continued)

Alliteration: when the first sounds in words repeat.

Example

Peter Piper picked a pickled pepper.

We lurk late. We shoot straight.

• Tiny Tommy Thomson takes toy trucks to Timmy’s on Tuesday.

                                               

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia: When a word’s pronunciation imitates its sound.

Examples

Buzz Fizz Woof

Hiss Clink Boom Beep Vroom Zip

Idiom

• The language peculiar to a group of people

• 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.

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

A reference to another piece of literature or to history.

Example: “She hath Dian’s wit” (from Romeo and Juliet).This is an allusion to Roman mythology and the goddess Diana.The three most common types of allusion refer to mythology, the Bible, and Shakespeare’s writings.

Types of Figurative Language• Simile-A figure of speech comparing two unlike things

often using like or as. • Metaphor-Comparing two things by using one kind of

object or using one in place of another to suggest the likeness between them.

• Personification-Giving something human qualities• Pun-A play on words, sometimes on different senses of

the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.

• Alliteration-The repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables

• Onomatopoeia-Naming a thing or an action by imitating the sound associated with it

• Oxymoron- A figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear side by side.

• Hyperbole-Big exaggeration, usually with humor• Idioms-The language peculiar to a group of people • Allusion-A reference to another piece of literature or to

history.