Figurative Language
“Figuring it Out”
Yay Videos!
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Figurative and Literal Language
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 as sweet as candy.
Important!
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.
Metaphor
Two things are compared without using
“like” or “as.”
Examples
All the world is a stage.
Men are dogs.
Her heart is stone.
Personification
Giving human traits to objects or ideas.
Examples
The sunlight danced.
Water on the lake shivers.
The streets are calling me.
Hyperbole
Exaggerating to show strong feeling or effect.
Examples
I will love you forever.
My house is a million miles away.
She’d kill me.
Understatement
Expression with less strength than expected.
The opposite of hyperbole.
I’ll be there in one second.
This won’t hurt a bit.
Onomatopoeia
• A word that “makes” a sound
• SPLAT
• PING
• SLAM
• POP
• POW
Idiom
• A saying that isn’t meant to be taken
literally.
• Doesn’t “mean” what it says
• Don’t be a stick in the mud!
• You’re the apple of my eye.
• I have an ace up my sleeve.
Pun
• A form of “word play” in which
words have a double meaning.
• I wondered why the baseball
was getting bigger and then it
hit me.
• I’m reading a book about anti-
gravity. It’s impossible to put it
down.
• I was going to look for my
missing watch, but I didn’t
have the time.
Proverb
• A figurative saying in which a bit of
“wisdom” is given.
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away
• The early bird catches the worm
Oxymoron
• When two words are put together that
contradict each other. “Opposites”
• Jumbo Shrimp
• Pretty Ugly
• Freezer Burn
Alliteration
• It is a stylistic device in which a number of
words, having the same first consonant
sound, occur close together in a series.
– But a better butter makes a batter better.
– A big bully beats a baby boy.
Assonance
• Assonance takes place when two or more
words close to one another repeat the
same vowel sound but start with different
consonant sounds.
– “Men sell the wedding bells.”
– Go and mow the lawn.
Consonance
• Consonance is repetition of consonant
sounds at the beginning, middle, or end of
at least two words in a verse.
– The ship has sailed to the far off shores.
– She ate seven sandwiches on a sunny
Sunday last year.
– Shelley sells shells by the seashore.
WHITE BOARD PRACTICE
1. I will give you an example of figurative
language.
2. You will write whether it is an simile,
metaphor, personification, hyperbole,
pun, proverb, idiom, onomatopoeia,
oxymoron or understatement.
3. You can use your notes.
1
He drew a line as straight as an arrow.
2
Knowledge is a kingdom and all who learn
are kings and queens.
3
Can I see you for a second?
4
The sun was beating down on me.
5
A flag wags like a fishhook there in the sky.
6
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.
7
Ravenous and savage
from its long
polar journey,
the North Wind
is searching
for food—
8
Dinner is on the house.
9
Can I have one of your chips?
10
Don’t bit the hand that feeds you.
11.
• The clouds smiled down at me.
12.
• SPLAT!
13.
• She is as sweet as candy
14.
• I could sleep forever!
15.
• He drove his expensive car into a tree and
found out how the Mercedes bends
16.
• I used to have a fear of hurdles, but I got
over it
17.
• The wheat field was a sea of gold.
18.
• The streets called to him.
19.
• POP!
20.
• She was dressed to the nines.
21.
• The early bird catches the worm.
22.
• Old news
23.
• Your face is killing me!
24.
• She was as white as a ghost.
25.
• She has a skeleton in her closet.
Let’s see if you can figure it out when
hearing it instead of reading it.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7wY
KVwsJ64
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LzMT
jAqYd4
Additional Figurative Language
Terms
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5krMN
0K7_E
