Figurative
Language
Use your imagination!
Two types of Language
Literal Language
●
means exactly what it
says.
●
is explicit, obvious, out
in the open and plainly
stated.
●
communicates an
ideas clearly and
plainly
Figurative Language
●
infers or suggests
rather than stating
directly.
●
makes you use your
imagination to figure
out the author’s
meaning
●
helps a reader relate
to what the author is
trying to say.
Types of Figurative
Language
● Imagery
● Simile
● Metaphor
● Alliteration
● Personification
● Onomatopoeia
● Hyperbole
Imagery
● Language that appeals to the
senses. Descriptions of people or
objects stated in terms of our
senses.
• Sight
• Hearing
• Touch
• Taste
• Smell
Idioms
● An idiom or idiomatic expression refers to a
construction or expression in one language that
cannot be matched or directly translated wordfor-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.
Simile
●
Definition: a comparison between two things we
don’t usually think of as similar by connecting them
with the words "like" or "as."
●
Example: "The way you grow old is kind of like an
onion or like rings inside a tree trunk." ["Eleven" by
Sandra Cisneros]
●
What is the author trying to say?
●
How does this simile accomplish
the author’s purpose?
Simile
WARNING
Just because you see “like” or “as” does not mean you
have found a simile!
Ask yourself: What 2 unlike things are being compared?
Not a simile: Sometimes you cry like you did when you
were three.
Simile: The red sweater is still sitting there like a big red
mountain.
Hyperbole
●
●
Definition (pronounced: hi-PER-bow-lee): an extremely
exaggerated description or statement that proves a point.
Example: “Today I wish I was one hundred and two
instead of eleven.” ["Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros]
●
What is the author trying to say?
●
How does using hyperbole accomplish
the author’s purpose?
●
What effect does this Figurative
Language have on you as the reader?
Hyperbole
WARNING
Hyperbole is EXTREME exaggeration to prove a point.
Ask yourself: Is this an over the top exaggeration?
Not hyperbole: I will never ride a roller coaster.
Hyperbole: I could smell the pizza from a mile away
Alliteration
●
Definition: a group of words that start with the
same consonant sound.
●
Example: Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout would not take
the garbage out.
●
●
What is the author’s purpose for writing this way?
How does alliteration accomplish the author’s
purpose?
Alliteration
WARNING
●
Alliteration is done on purpose.
●
Pay attention to SOUNDS, not LETTERS
●
Not alliteration: My dog is buried beside the tree.
●
Alliteration: The frigid flakes fell softly on the frozen
field
Personification
●
●
●
●
Definition: Giving human characteristics to nonhuman or inanimate objects (things that aren’t
alive).
Example: “But sometimes the prodigy in me
became impatient. ‘If you don’t hurry up and get me
out of here. I’m disappearing for good,’ it warned.”
What is the author’s purpose for writing this way?
How does alliteration accomplish the author’s
purpose?
Personification
Personification in Advertising
The toilet tissue that really
cares for
Downunder. (Bouquets
toilet paper, Australia)
What do you feed a machine
with an appetite this
big? (Indesit washing
machine and Ariel Liquitabs,
laundry detergent, UK)
The car that cares (Kia cars)
Kleenex says bless
you. (Kleenex facial tissues)
"Personification permits us to use knowledge about
ourselves to comprehend other aspects of the world,
such as time, death, natural forces, inanimate objects,
etc."
Allusion
●
●
Definition: Making casual reference to a famous
historical or literary figure or event, or to another
work of literature that the author expects you to
know.
Example: “At first my mother thought I could be a
Chinese Shirley Temple.” [“Two Kinds” by Amy Tan]
●
What is the author trying to communicate?
●
How does this allusion communicate that?
Metaphor
Definition: A direct comparison between two unlike things
stating that one thing IS another.
Example: “And after I played them both a few times, I
realized they were two halves of the same song.
“I was Cinderella stepping from her pumpkin carriage with
sparkly cartoon music.”
What is the author trying to say?
How does this metaphor accomplish what the author is
How does Figurative Language
Affect a Text?
● Figurative Language Creates Mood
● Figurative Language Develops Characterization
● Figurative Language Advances the Plot
● Figurative Language Enhances Everyday
Language
Video of Effect
● https://learnzillion.com/lessons/4465-analyzeauthor-s-use-of-figurative-language