Figurative Language/Figures

of Speech

Figures of Speech

Figures of speech are words or phrases

that depart from straight-forward,

literal language. Figures of speech

are often used and crafted for

emphasisemphasis, freshness, expressionexpression, or

clarity.

Figurative

Adjective

- of the nature of or involving a figure of speech, especially a metaphor; metaphorical and not literal, as in figurative language .

My Definition:

- a comparison to something

- not real

Literal

adjectivetrue to fact; not exaggerated; actual or

factual: a literal description of conditions.

in accordance with, involving, or being the primary or strict meaning of the word or words; not figurative or metaphorical: the literal meaning of a word.

MY definition: FOR REAL!

Figurative or Literal

• ____ 1. Eric thinks doing schoolwork is one big video game.• ____ 2. Lauren has made up her mind to volunteer every Tuesday after school.• ____ 3. Thinking about summer camp makes me feel like a bundle of sunshine.• ____ 4. As I delivered my speech, my voice sounded as if I’d swallowed rocks and sand.• ____ 5. Emma may seem clumsy, but onstage she dances like a gazelle.• ____ 6. Jacob expresses many feelings through his photography.• ____ 7. My favorite tennis shoes have grown tired and weary.

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L Jonah forgot about the field trip, so some of the kids called to see if he was all right.

What Is a Figure of Speech?

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A figure of speech is a word or phrase that describes one thing in terms of something else and is not literally true.

•All he thought about was money. His eyes were dollar signs.

Uses of Figures of SpeechFigures of speech can …

• create images in a reader’s mind.

• establish moods.

• express feelings and ideas in interesting and

surprising ways.

• As I slept beneath the stars, a white blanket of fog covered me in its misty folds.

What do these sayings

mean?Discuss/write

down with your partner.

1) They were as busy as bees.

2) My love is deeper than the ocean.

3) The room looks like a pig sty.

4) The announcement was music to my ears.

5) It’s a jungle out there.

6) Pretty as a picture

7) Sly as a fox

8) Smooth as silk

9) Slow as molasses

10) Burns like fire

12) Mad as a hornet

13) Dark as midnight

14) Thorn in my side

* Choose 6 and draw a picture for each.

Why might figures of speech be confusing for

people whose first language is not

English?

Kinds of Figures of Speech

FIVE types of figurative language we will use in fiction are…

• similes

• metaphors

• idioms

• hyperboles

• personification

Understanding Figures of SpeechUnderstanding Figures of Speech

When you read a figure of speech, use what you know about one thing to help you understand more about the other.

In the water, Mark was a dolphin.

Dolphins are good swimmers.

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In the water, Mark was a dolphin.

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What Are Similes?

Similes are comparisons between two unlike things, using a word such as like, as, than, or resembles.

• The city lights twinkle like stars in the night sky.

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What Are Similes?

•Phoebe ran like a cheetah.

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What Are Metaphors?

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Metaphors are imaginative comparisons between two unlike things in which one thing is said to be another thing. A metaphor does not use like or as.

• The city lights are stars that

twinkle in the darkness.

What Are Metaphors?Metaphors are comparisons between two unlike things in which one thing becomes another thing.

•A metaphor says that one thing is something else.

•A metaphor does not use the words like, as, than, or resembles.

•The dog’s bark was thunder.

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The flood waters rose, and the river became a ravenous monster. Raging on for hours, it consumed everything in its sight.

Metaphor

What kind of sentence is the first one?

What kind of sentence is the second one?

The second sentence begins with a ________________.

compound

simple

Gerund

A direct metaphor directly compares two things using a verb such as is.

His ideas were a flock of birds in flight.

An indirect metaphor implies or suggests the comparison.

His ideas spread their wings and soared freely.

Metaphor

Identify Identify each each metaphor as metaphor as either direct either direct or indirect. or indirect.

Metaphor

Quick Check

This computer is a dinosaur.

She stared at me with venomous eyes and hissed out her reply.

The old motorcycle barked and yipped before it started up with a howl.

Today my mind is the wind blowingacross rolling hills.

Quick CheckThis computer is a dinosaur.

She stared at me with venomous eyes and hissed out her reply.

The old motorcycle barked and yipped before it started up with a howl.

Today my mind is the wind blowing across rolling hills.

Direct

Direct

Indirect

Indirect

- On a small piece of paper, number to five. - - Write your answers and put them in the slot.

1. Her cheerful laugh was a rainbow in a stormy sky.

2. Birds streamed across the sky like black ribbons.

3. The baby’s skin was as soft as rose petals.

4. A librarian’s mind is a treasure chest.

5. His smile was brighter than sunshine.

What Have You Learned EXIT SLIP?

Simile Metaphor

Metaphor

Simile

Metaphor

Simile

Simile

Personification A figure of speech which gives the

qualities of a person to an animal, an object, or an idea.

EXAMPLE:

“The wind yells through the trees."

• The wind cannot yell. Only a living thing

can yell.

The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might:

He did his very best to makeThe billows smooth and bright.

—from “The Walrus and the Carpenter” by Lewis Carroll

The sun has come to life and is acting as if he/she is a person.

Personification

1) Hunger sat shivering on the road.

2) Flowers danced about the lawn.

Personification

Understanding Personification

Write down the word that gives a quality of a person.

1.  The sun stretches its

warmth across the land.

2.  The chair danced as the

baby bounced to and fro.

3.  The darkness wrapped

its arms around me.

Using Personification

Look at the words below. With your partner, discuss how to give

each word a quality of a human and write a sentence for each.frog ___________________________

table __________________________

grass __________________________

night __________________________

EXIT SLIP Review of Simile, Metaphor, and PersonificationQuick Check

Spring caresses the earth and sky with her warm, delicate hands.

Identify each figure of speech.

• Simile

• Metaphor

• PersonificationOur friendship is as comfortable as a pair of flannel pajamas.

The old factory had become a heaving, grunting beast.

Personification

Simile

Personification

HyperboleAn exaggerated statement used to

heighten effect.

It is not used to mislead the reader, but to emphasize a point.

Examples: -She said, “Marvelous” on several million occasions.-You’ve grown like a bean sprout.You’ve grown like a bean sprout.-I’m older than the hills.I’m older than the hills.-They They ran like greased lightning.ran like greased lightning.-Her brain is the size of a pea.Her brain is the size of a pea.

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is exaggeration.

It puts a picture into the reader’s mind.

Example: You could have knocked me over with a feather.

Hyperbole is used for emphasis (makes that part more important) or humorous effect. With hyperbole, an author makes a point by overstating it.

HYPERBOLE

His feet are as big as boats.

I almost died laughing.

=

Hyperbole makes qualities of people or things stand out by exaggerating them.

Examples: The skin on her face was as thin and drawn as tightly as the skin of an onion.

She’s the funniest girl I’ve ever met.

Create five of your own examples.

Hyperbole can also be used to describe a person’s emotions (feelings).

In the following selection, a boy is pulling a man up from a deep hole.

“It was not a mere man he was holding, but a giant; or a block of granite. The pull was unendurable. The pain unendurable.”—James Ramsey Ullman, "A Boy and a Man"

What makes this hyperbole? Write down your answer.

There did not seem to be brains enough in the entire nursery, so to speak, to bait a fishhook with.—Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

People moved slowly then. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.

—Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Hyperbole:

-is exaggeration-is used for emphasis

-is used for humorous effect

-is used in descriptions

-of people

-of emotions

Idioms An idiom (or idiomatic expression) refers to

a construction or expression in one language that cannot be matched or directly translated word-for-word in another language.

Example: “She has a bee in her bonnet," meaning "she is obsessed," cannot be literally translated into another language word for word.

Michelle Gaines

By: Michelle Gaines

Michelle Gaines

What is an idiom?What is an idiom?

words, phrases, or expressions that are not interpreted logically or literally

unusual expressions that are either grammatically incorrect or have a meaning that cannot be comprehended through contextual clues

Michelle Gaines

It’s Raining Cats and Dogs!!!!

It’s raining cats and dogs means:

a. Cats and dogs are falling from the sky.

b. It’s raining very hard.

c. It’s not raining much at all.

d. The weather is horrible.

a.

c.

d.

b.

HINT: I can’t go outside because it’s raining cats and dogs and I

would get soaked!

Michelle Gaines

SORRY, Try Again!

Michelle Gaines

CORRECT!

Michelle Gaines

SORRY, Try Again!

Michelle Gaines

SORRY, Try Again

Michelle Gaines

Skeletons in Your Closet

Skeletons in your closet means:

a. Your closet is full of skeletons.

b. You are hiding something in your closet.

c. You have secrets or something that you don’t want anyone to know.

d. You are not afraid of anything.

a.

b.

c.

d.

Hint: Why shouldn’t you be able to answer all of my questions? Don’t tell me you have skeletonsin your closet!

Michelle Gaines

Sorry, Try Again!

Michelle Gaines

Sorry, Try Again!

Michelle Gaines

CORRECT!

Michelle Gaines

Sorry, Try Again!

Michelle Gaines

Shake a leg means:

a. A dance move used in the Shag.

b. Shake your leg to get a bug off of it.

c. Hurry up!

d. You are doing the Hokey Pokey.Hint: We’re going to be late

for the plane if you don’t shake a leg!

a.

b.

d.

c.

Michelle Gaines

Sorry, Try Again!

Michelle Gaines

Sorry, Try Again!

Michelle Gaines

CORRECT!

Michelle Gaines

Sorry, Try Again!

Michelle Gaines

•To break the ice •To be the first to say or do something hoping that others will join you

•To have a chip on your shoulder

•Describes a person who is angry and defensive or who is always ready to argue or fight

•Hold your horses •Be patient; wait a minute

•Over the hill •Old or too old to do something

•On cloud nine •Very happy or excited

•Pulling your leg •Teasing you

Common Idioms and Their Meanings:

Michelle Gaines

•www.funbrain.com/idioms/ has fun idiom games.

•www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6720/ has an a to z list of idioms with categories and quizzes.

•www.idiomagic.com/dgl is a site about a software program you can buy about idioms.

•http://a4esl.org/q/h/idioms.html is another idioms review site .

•www.english-zone.com/idioms/ has practice quizzes.

•www.idiomsite.com/-history tells where specific idioms originated.

http://a4esl.org/q/h/idioms.html

Idioms Practice

Simile, metaphor, idiom, hyperbole, or personification

____ 1. Eric thinks doing schoolwork is one big video game.

____ 2. Lauren has made up her mind to volunteer every Tuesday after school.

____ 3. Thinking about summer camp makes me feel like a bundle of sunshine.

____ 4. As I delivered my speech, my voice sounded as if I’d swallowed rocks and sand.

____ 5. Emma may seem clumsy, but onstage she dances like a gazelle.

____ 6. Jacob expresses many feelings through his photography.

____ 7. My favorite tennis shoes have grown tired and weary.

____ 8. Before the soccer match, both teams attended a sportsmanship program.

____9. I have a ton of paperwork to do before I can enjoy the sun this summer.

____ 10. Sometimes I have to be my little brother’s brain.

_____11. Some students are getting swept out of the library.

_____12. Her brain is the size of a pea.

_____13. That joke went right over my head.

_____ 14. The students caught him with his pants down on Monday. I forgot about the field trip.

_____15. It was a group project, but everyone rode Andrew's coattails

•Figures of speech are widely used. Look through a newspaper or magazine, including the advertisements, and gather at least six figures of speech. Look for examples of similes, metaphors, and personification.

Practice = HOMEWORK