FABULOUS FIGURES OF SPEECH
by Lois Donovan
TONGUE TANGLING TWISTERS – alliteration
Begin with a basic sentence to build on, especially for younger students.
e.g. Lucy likes lollipops.
Have students expand the sentence. (A good place to tie in parts of speech.)
Little Lucy likes licking lollipops.
Lazy little Lucy likes licking lemon lollipops.
Lazy little Lucy likes lying on the lawn, licking little lemon lollipops.
Lazy Luke and little Lucy like lying on the lawn, licking limey-lemon lollipops.
After working through an example, students create their own tongue twisting
alliterations. Is there a prize for the longest tongue-tangling alliteration?
MAKE A PICTURE BOOK
Alphabet book
As a class or individual, depending on grade level, choose a theme for the alphabet
book. If it will be a class book, each student is assigned a letter of the alphabet. The
student draws the letter at the top of the page. On the page the student must draw a
scene with as many words that begin with that letter of the alphabet. It can be an “I
Spy” kind of page, or a scene, but it must fit with the theme.
CRAZY CHARACTERS – simile, metaphor, personification
1. Students draw a slip of paper out of the tub. On that paper is a
noun. Students are to print that word on their papers and then
brainstorm all the words that come to mind when they think of that word.
(Can be a list or a web)
Do an example together as a class first, then have students work in partners or
individually to create their own list or web.
2. Simile. Using one or more descriptors from the web, students write a couple of
sentences comparing a character to the noun selected in #1. The comparison
should include the word like or as and the noun.
Fabulous Figures of Speech © Lois Donovan 2013
3. Metaphor. Now the students will write a second description omitting like or as.
4. Personification. The tables are turned. Now give the object (animal) a quality
of your character and write that in a sentence or paragraph.
WHAT I MEANT WAS… metonymy/synecdoche
The best way to motivate reluctant writers to write is to ask them not to write. (And
that is not synecdoche!)
1. Give an example of synecdoche.
e.g. In the 2010 Olympics, Canada won 14 gold medals.
Ask students if they find anything funny or unusual about that statement.
Show a picture of the literal translation and ask if that is the intended meaning.
Then show the picture of the actual meaning. Have the students suggest other
examples and introduce or refresh the term synecdoche.
2. Students create an example of synecdoche. The student draws a picture of the
literal translation with the synecdoche written as a caption. The second picture
illustrates the meaning of the synecdoche, with the title “What I Meant Was…”
3. Share the mini-posters with the class, then bind them into a book for students
to refer to when writing.
IDIOMS
An idiom is a construction of words or a phrase that means something different than
what the words are literally saying.
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A storm in a teacup
To let a situation get out of hand
To pay through the nose
To bang your head against a brick wall
To pull your weight
To throw in the towel
Fabulous Figures of Speech © Lois Donovan 2013
ADVERTISING ANTICS and Figures of Speech
1. Show students a collection of ads in which various figures of speech are utilized.
Have students determine the figure of speech.
2. Students create their own advertisement using one of the figures of speech.
3. Share ads with the class and /or bind the ads into a classroom reference book.
Create punny business names
1. Students are to come up with a name for a fictitious business using a pun.
Give some examples. e.g. Grate Expectations (fireplace and
chimney services), Wreck-A-Mended Towing, Tiecoon men’s
clothing.
2. Make a sign for the fictitious business illustrating the duel meaning.
JOKING AROUND: Hyperbole
1. Intelligence jokes: He was so dumb, he couldn’t empty water out of his boot if the
instructions were written on the heel.
He was so smart that…
2. Age jokes
3. Size jokes: He was so tall that…
She was so short that…
She was so big that… so small that…
4. Rich/poor jokes: He was so rich that…He was so poor that…
5. She was so strong that… She was so weak that…
Fabulous Figures of Speech © Lois Donovan 2013
Hyperbole Hijinks
The first student writes a hyperbole on a sheet of paper.
There are a million people standing in line in front of me.
The second person rewrites the sentence adding an adjective.
There are a million crazy people standing in line in front of me.
The next person to get the paper rewrites that sentence and adds an adverb.
There are a million crazy people standing happily in line in front of me.
The fourth person draws a picture of the hyperbole.
Collect the pages and bind them into a class Hyperbole Hijinks book.
Fabulous Figures of Speech © Lois Donovan 2013