The following are
examples of figurative
language and literary
devices:
Imagery
 Language that appeals to the senses.
Descriptions
• Sight of people or objects
stated
in terms of our senses.
• Hearing
• Touch
• Taste
• Smell
Simile
 A figure of speech which involves a
direct comparison between two
unlike things, usually with the words
like or as.
Example: The muscles on his brawny
arms are as strong as iron bands.
Metaphor
 A figure of speech which involves an
implied comparison between two
relatively unlike things using a form
of be. The comparison is not
announced by like or as.
Example: The road was a ribbon
wrapping through the desolate
desert.
Personification
A figure of speech which gives the
qualities of a person to an animal, an
object, or an idea.
Example: “The wind screamed its
fury as it pushed us down the road
with the strength of a bull.”
The wind cannot yell. Only a living
thing can yell.
Personification
Examples:
The sleeping water reflected
the evening sky.
Humidity breathed in the girl's
face and ran its greasy fingers
through her hair.
The tree arrested the oncoming
car.
Joyet
2004
7
Onomatopoeia
The use of words that mimic
sounds.
Example: The firecracker made a
loud ka-boom!
Alliteration
Repeated consonant sounds
occurring at the beginning of
words or within words.
Example: She was wide-eyed
and wondering while she
waited for Walter to waken.
Hyperbole
An exaggerated statement used to
heighten effect. It is not used to
mislead the reader, but to emphasize a
point.
Example: She’s said so on several million
occasions.
Sports
• “When you get on that field I want you to be a
tank- roll through everything on the field to get
that touchdown, no matter who’s in your way.”
• “His team is the underdog in this game.”
• “The coach encouraged his players to make
mincemeat of the other team.”
• “The batter knocked the stuffing out of the ball.”
Business
• “That project was a total bomb.”
• “I want you to go out there and hit a homerun with this
presentation.”
• “Putting him in charge is like having the blind lead the
blind.”
• “Your plan is as easy to follow as a map.”
• “The instructions you wrote me were as clear as mud.”
• I found an article for business people about using
metaphors to motivate your team: comparing selling a
product to baking a cake, playing a sport, or running a
marathon.
In the movies
• Forrest Gump: “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know
what you’re gonna get.”
• Mean girls: “I have this theory, that if you cut off all her hair she'd
look like a British man.”
• Toy Story: “That wasn't flying; that was falling with style.”
• Many movies are even built around a metaphor or personification,
like Finding Nemo, where fish are like people.
And comedy
• “My sister wore so much makeup she had to use a chisel to get it
off every night.”
• There’s an article for comedians about making jokes, and two of
the tips were about using similes and metaphors.
And music
• Nelly- “I’m like Sprint and Motorola… no service, out of
your range.”
• ‘N Sync- “Your love is like a river, peaceful and deep.
Your soul is like a secret that I could never keep”
• Outkast- “Shake it like a Polaroid picture”
• Switchfoot- “Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead.
Yesterday is a promise that you've broken.”
Music
• Nelly- “I’m like Sprint and Motorola… no
service, out of your range.”
• ‘N Sync- Your love is like a river, peaceful and
deep. Your soul is like a secret that I could
never keep”
• Outkast- “Shake it like a Polaroid picture”
• Switchfoot- “Yesterday is a wrinkle on your
forehead. Yesterday is a promise that you've
broken.”
What techniques did we learn first in writing descriptive
paragraphs?
– Using our Senses
•
•
•
•
•
Sight
Sound
Smell
Taste
Touch/ Feeling
– Using Onomatopoeia
• Oooh!
• Tick Tock
• Kaboom!
The dog is carrying a stick.
The German Shepherd is
carrying a big stick.
As he carries the small tree he
has just uprooted, the lopeared German Shepherd tilts
his head and walks unsteadily,
dragging his heavy burden
back to his master and looking
like a proud athlete who has
just won a trophy.
Similes and Metaphors
– Making comparisons between two very
different objects, feelings, or situations
Hyperbole
– Using exaggeration
Show-Don’t-Tell
– Using descriptive writing to show what
happens rather than telling the reader
Simile
– Using the words like or as to compare one object or person to
another object or person (The 2 things must be very different)
• Examples:
– DJ was as fast as a cheetah.
– The news hit Estevan like a ton of bricks.
Metaphor
– Applying a word or phrase to somebody or something that is
not meant literally but to compare.
• Examples:
– Joe was an animal on the football field.
• It was a cold day.
• Chris was so cold that he
felt like his nose was frozen
and his fingers were going
to fall off.
• Vincent’s mom said,
“There’s no way you’re
going out there, It’s as cold
as ice!”
• Cindy’s Dad told her she’d
be walking into an icebox
when she walked outside.
Using exaggeration to describe a scene
– Examples:
• Ms. Crane was so sad she could have cried a river.
• Irvin was so hungry he could have eaten a horse.
• Adelene had a million things to do that day.
• The person was happy to get a
letter.
• When Chris got his birthday
money in the mail he thought he
would burst with joy.
• Amber was so happy she was
walking on air after she read the
letter from her best friend.
• Anessa was so happy she felt
like she was on the top of the
world.
Using descriptive language to paint a picture of the
scene rather than telling the reader what is
happening.
– Examples
• Instead of “Benito was angry…”
• “Benito stomped up the steps to his room, slammed the door,
and sat fuming at his desk.”
• Instead of “It was a hot day…”
• “You couldn’t go down the slide unless you wanted to get a third
degree burn on your backside. Everyone in Mr. Derose’s class
ended up sitting under the trees in the shade.”
• The Boy was frustrated.
• Santos crumpled up his third
attempt at a descriptive
paragraph and threw his
pencil down in disgust.
• Alonso had been writing for
the past hour and a half and
all he had to show for it was
a bad headache and two
sentences. “I give up!” he
cried.
Please rewrite the sentences
on your worksheet so that
they show, rather than tell,
the main point. I would like
everyone to share their best
one with the class.