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Figurative
Language
Figuring it Out
Figurative Literal
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
Simile
Comparison of two things using “like” or “as.”
Examples: The metal twisted like a ribbon. She is sweet as candy.
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
Simile Example
Flint
An emerald is as green as grass,
A ruby red as blood;
A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;
A flint lies in the mud.
A diamond is a brilliant stone,
To catch the world’s desire;
An opal holds a fiery spark;
But a flint holds fire.
By Christina Rosetti
4
Metaphor
Two things are compared without using “ like ” or “ as .”
Examples
All the world is a stage.
Men are dogs.
She has a stone heart.
Metaphor Example
The Night is a Big Black Cat
The Night is a big black cat
The moon is her topaz eye,
The stars are the mice she hunts at night,
In the field of the sultry sky.
By G. Orr Clark
6
Personification
Giving human traits to objects or ideas.
Examples
The sunlight danced.
Water on the lake shivers.
The streets are calling me.
Onomatopoeia
Words that represent the actual sound of something are words of onomatopoeia.
Examples
Dogs “ bark ,” cats “ purr ,” thunder “ booms ,” rain
“ drips ,” and the clock “ ticks .”
Appeals to the sense of sound.
Onomatopoeia Example
Listen
Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Frozen snow and brittle ice
Make a winter sound that’s nice
Underneath my stamping feet
And the cars along the street.
Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
by Margaret Hillert
8
Personification Example
From “ Mister Sun ”
Mister Sun
Wakes up at dawn,
Puts his golden
Slippers on,
Climbs the summer
Sky at noon,
Trading places
With the moon.
by J. Patrick Lewis
9
Hyperbole
Exaggerating to show strong feeling or effect.
Examples:
•
I will love you forever.
•
My house is a million miles from here.
•
She’d kill me.
Yo dog is so ugly that her shadow ran away from her.
Yo dog is so dirty that when she tried to take a bath, the water jumped out and said “I’ll wait.”
Understatement
Expression with less strength than expected.
The opposite of hyperbole.
I’ll be there in one second.
This won’t hurt a bit.
The repetition of the first consonant sound in words, as in the nursery rhyme “ P eter
P iper p icked a p eck of p ickled p eppers.”
Alliteration
This Tooth
I jiggled it jaggled it jerked it.
I pushed and pulled and poked it.
But –
As soon as I stopped,
And left it alone
This tooth came out
On its very own!
by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Expressions that don’t mean what exactly what they say.
.
Its raining cats and dogs outside.
Quiz
On a separate sheet of paper…
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2.
3.
I will put an example of figurative language on the board.
You will write whether it is an simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, or understatement.
You can use your notes.
He drew a line as straight as an arrow.
Knowledge is a kingdom and all who learn are kings and queens.
Can I see you for a second?
The sun was beating down on me.
A flag wags like a fishhook there in the sky.
I'd rather take baths with a man-eating shark, or wrestle a lion alone in the dark, eat spinach and liver, pet ten porcupines, than tackle the homework, my teacher assigns.
Ravenous and savage from its long polar journey, the North Wind is searching for food—
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Can I have one of your chips?
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
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Simile
Metaphor
Understatement
Personification
Simile
Hyperbole
Personification
Metaphor
Understatement
Metaphor
Tom is seven years old. He loves to pretend he is an Indian in the woods. When Tom is sneaking through the woods he knows he has to be as quiet as a mouse. Otherwise, the cowboys might hear him! Tom's sister, Jane can't pretend to be an Indian sneaking through the woods because she is loud as a train coming through the woods. Sometimes Tom will as
Jane to be the "cowboy", but not very often because she is like a regular Annie Oakley with the slingshot! Tom knows this because the last time Jane got Tom with the slingshot he jumped like a scalded cat. Now, when Tom and Jane play cowboys and Indians, their mom watches them like an owl because she is afraid someone is going to get hurt! Tom doesn't mind because his mom's heart is soft as butter and she just doesn't want to see her children get hurt, even if they are as tough as nails !
