What is figurative language?
- Can describe something through the use of unusual
comparisons.
- Figurative language is not intended to be interpreted in
a literal sense.
- Appealing to the imagination, figurative language
provides new ways of looking at the world.
- Using figurative language helps you write with
expression and feeling.
- Figurative language helps us turn words and ideas
into vivid images in our minds.
Examples of Figurative
Language
Simile
Personification
Alliteration
Hyperbole
Metaphor
Idiom
Onomatopoeia
Let’s Start with Similes:
A simile makes a comparison
between two unlike things.
A simile always uses the words
“like” or “as”
in the comparison.
Let’s take a closer look at a
simile:
“Her eyes are like stars!”
What two things are being compared?
and
What does this mean?
It could mean that her eyes are beautiful, bright,
mysterious, shining, glittering, or bedazzling. What do
you think?
For more practice:
What is a Metaphor?
It’s not just something to keep
the cows in!
A Metaphor:
Makes a comparison between two
unlike things
BY
Suggesting that one thing is
something else.
Let’s look at a metaphor:
“My love is a rose.”
What two things are being compared?
AND
What does this mean?
It could mean that the feeling of love is beautiful
like a rose, or that the person is like a rose in
some way. What do you think?
Compare Similes and Metaphors
Simile
Both
Metaphor
In her book Owl Moon, Jane Yolan uses
many different examples of figurative
language.
Can you identify the similes & metaphors?
“The trees stood still as giant statues.”_________
“But I was a shadow as we walked home.”________
“The moon made his face into a silver mask.”_______
“Somewhere behind us a train whistle blew long
and low, like a sad, sad song.”_____________
“And when their voices faded away it was as quiet
as dream.” _______________
-Jane Yolen, Owl Moon, 1987
Can you find the similes in the poem?
“Drumpp the Grump”
I’m Drumpp the grump of the garbage dump,
I’m mean as a bear that’s burned his hair,
I’m a contradictory cuss,
I’ve nothing nice to say,
I’m grubby and gruff, and just as rough
I don’t like you…or you…or YOU!
as an old rhinoceros.
You’d better go away.
I never wash, and like to squash
I’m Drumpp, the grump of the garbage dump,
my fingers into worms,
I’m hard as a battering ram,
I’m full of fleas and smelly cheese
but I want you to know before you go…
and fifty million germs.
I LIKE THE WAY I AM!
I swallow food before it’s chewed,
I belch an awful lot,
I smell like a goat, and wear a coat
that swarms with slime and rot.
-James Stevenson,
The New Kid on the
Block, 1984
What is Alliteration?
Alliteration is a form of figurative
language that accentuates or
unites words or concepts through
a kind of repetition.
Alliteration is the repetition of
initial sounds in a phrase or
sentence.
Here are some examples of
Alliteration:
Alphabetically aware alligators always
address audiences adequately.
Silly Suzy Snodgrass sneezes in a
series of seven.
Terrible ________ tries to _______
ten _______ at a _______.
“Bulgy Bunne”
Find the alliterative words in the poem.
Bulgy Bunne (the wonder builder)
When his work was finally finished,
built a boat of brass and wood,
Bulgy studied it with pride,
Bulgy chose the finest lumber,
for he knew his stalwart sailboat
and the brass was just as good.
was prepared to face the tide.
Every plank he picked was perfect,
Bulgy Bunne made but one blunder,
there was not a knot in one,
Bulgy’s boat will not leave shore,
for the best was barely suited
Bulgy built it in his bedroom
to the boat of Bulgy Bunne.
…it won’t fit through Bulgy’s door.
Bulgy scraped and sawed and sanded,
Chiseled, hammered, planed, and drilled,
As he built the grandest sailboat
It was possible to build.
Bulgy buffed and Bulgy burnished,
Bulgy raised a sturdy mast,
Bulgy stitched the strongest fabrics
into sails designed to last.
- Jack Prelutsky, The New Kid on
the Block,1984
What is Personification?
Figurative language in which human
qualities or powers are assigned to:
An Animal
An Idea
A Natural Force
An Object
In The Little House, Virginia Lee
Burton uses many examples of
personification.
What makes the house seem human?
“The Little House was happy as she sat on the hill and
watched the countryside around her” (p.2)
What words are used to describe
the house as a human?
“ ‘This must be living in the city,’ thought the
Little House, and didn’t know whether she liked
it or not. She missed the field of daisies and the
apple trees dancing in the moonlight” (p.20)
What things are personified in this
passage?
- Virginia Lee Burton, The Little
House, 1942
What is hyperbole?
Hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration used to
produce an effect.
Hyperbole is an exaggeration that is so dramatic
that no one would believe the statement is true.
Tall tales are hyperboles.
Some examples include:
I could sleep for a thousand years.
I could eat a horse.
That box weighs a ton.
You try it! Complete the statements:
If I have told you once, I have told you. . .
I laughed my . . .
I nearly died . . .
Create your own hyperbole. Remember, you
need to think of an extreme exaggeration
Oh, you Idiom!
A set expression of two or more words that
means something other than the literal
meaning of the words.
In other words…
An idiom is an expression that means
something different from what the
words actually mean.
A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush:
Having something that is certain is much better
than taking a risk for more, because chances are you
might lose everything.
A Blessing In Disguise:
Something good that isn't recognized at first.
A Chip On Your Shoulder:
Being upset for something that happened in the
past.
A Slap on the Wrist:
A very mild punishment.
Match the idioms with their meanings
A very small part of something big or whole.
A Dime A Dozen:
A Doubting Thomas:
A Drop in the Bucket:
A Fool And His Money Are Easily Parted:
A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand:
A Leopard Can't Change His Spots:
It's easy for a foolish person to lose
his/her money.
Everyone involved must unify and function
together or it will not work out.
You cannot change who you are.
By not spending money, you are saving money
(little by little).
A visual presentation is far more
A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned:
Anything that is common and easy to get.
A Picture Paints a Thousand Words:
A skeptic who needs physical or personal
evidence in order to believe something.
A Piece of Cake:
More descriptive than words.
A task that can be accomplished very easily.
Onomatopoeia
Figurative Language
• as alike as two peas in a pod
• water plops into pond
• Dan’s dog dove deep in the dam, drinking dirty water
as he dove
• To say the sun is smiling
• •We are so poor; we don’t have two cents to rub
together
• The snow is a white blanket
• It’s raining cats and dogs
Links for games and
exercises
similes
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/cet/flashactivities/similes.html
Review fig language
http://www.quia.com/hm/80390.html
Alliteration or simile
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/quizzes26/gumbie7/PoetryPieces.html