1. Figurative Language/Figures of Speech

2. 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
emphasis, freshness, expression, or
clarity.

3. 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

4. Literal
adjective
true 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!

5. 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. F L F F F L F

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

7. What Is a Figure of Speech?
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.
© clipart.com

8. Uses of Figures of Speech
Figures 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.

9. 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

10. * Choose 6 and draw a picture for each.
Why might figures of speech be confusing for people whose first language is not English?

11. Kinds of Figures of Speech
FIVE types of figurative language we will use in fiction are…
similes
metaphors
idioms
hyperboles
personification

12. Understanding 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.
Corbis Images/HRW
Dolphins are good swimmers.
Mark was a good swimmer.

13. In the water, Mark was a dolphin.
What Do You See?
In the water, Mark was a dolphin.
© 2002 marinethemes.com/Mark Conlin
Corbis Images/HRW OR

14. 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.
CORBIS Images/HRW
CORBIS Images/HRW

15. Phoebe ran like a cheetah.
What Are Similes?
Phoebe ran like a cheetah.
Corbis Images/HRW
Corbis Images/HRW

16. The city lights are stars that twinkle in the darkness.
What Are Metaphors?
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.
CORBIS Images/HRW

17. A metaphor says that one thing is something else.
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.
© Chris Collins/Corbis

18. Metaphor
The flood waters rose, and the river became a ravenous monster. Raging on for hours, it consumed everything in its sight.
What kind of sentence is the first one?
compound
What kind of sentence is the second one?
simple
The second sentence begins with a ________________.
Gerund

19. Metaphor His ideas were a flock of birds in flight.
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.

20. Metaphor This computer is a dinosaur.
Quick Check
Identify each metaphor as either direct or indirect.
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 blowing across rolling hills.

21. Quick Check Direct This computer is a dinosaur. Indirect
She stared at me with venomous eyes and hissed out her reply.
Indirect
The old motorcycle barked and yipped before it started up with a howl.
Direct
Today my mind is the wind blowing across rolling hills.

22. What Have You Learned EXIT SLIP?
On a small piece of paper, number to five.
- Write your answers and put them in the slot.
Simile Metaphor
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.
Metaphor
Simile
Simile
Metaphor
Simile

23. 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.

24. Personification
The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make The 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.

25. Hunger sat shivering on the road.
Personification
Hunger sat shivering on the road.
2) Flowers danced
about the lawn.

26. 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.

27. 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 __________________________

28. EXIT SLIP Review of Simile, Metaphor, and Personification
Quick Check
Identify each figure of speech.
Simile
Metaphor
Personification
Spring caresses the earth and sky with her warm, delicate hands.
Personification
Our friendship is as comfortable as a pair of flannel pajamas.
Simile
The old factory had become a heaving, grunting beast.
Personification

29. Hyperbole I’m older than the hills. They ran like greased lightning.
An 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.
I’m older than the hills.
They ran like greased lightning.
Her brain is the size of a pea.

30. 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.

31. HYPERBOLE =
His feet are as big as boats.
I almost died laughing.

32. Descriptions
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.

33. Exaggeration!
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.

34. Show me the exaggeration!
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

35. Quickest Review EVER! Hyperbole: -is exaggeration
-is used for emphasis
-is used for humorous effect
-is used in descriptions
-of people
-of emotions

36. 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.

37. IDIOMS
By: Michelle Gaines
Michelle Gaines

38. 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

39. It’s raining cats and dogs means:
Cats and dogs are falling from the sky.
It’s raining very hard.
It’s not raining much at all.
The weather is horrible. a. b. c. d.
HINT: I can’t go outside because
it’s raining cats and dogs and I
would get soaked!
Michelle Gaines

40. SORRY, Try Again!
Michelle Gaines

41. CORRECT!
Michelle Gaines

42. SORRY, Try Again!
Michelle Gaines

43. SORRY, Try Again
Michelle Gaines

44. Skeletons in Your Closet
Skeletons in your closet means:
Your closet is full of skeletons.
You are hiding something in your closet.
You have secrets or something that you don’t want anyone to know.
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 skeletons
in your closet!
Michelle Gaines

45. Sorry, Try Again!
Michelle Gaines

46. Sorry, Try Again!
Michelle Gaines

47. CORRECT!
Michelle Gaines

48. Sorry, Try Again!
Michelle Gaines

49. Shake a Leg!! Shake a leg means: A dance move used in the Shag. a.
Shake your leg to get a bug off of it.
Hurry up!
You are doing the Hokey Pokey. a. b. c. d.
Hint: We’re going to be late
for the plane if you don’t
shake a leg!
Michelle Gaines

50. Sorry, Try Again!
Michelle Gaines

51. Sorry, Try Again!
Michelle Gaines

52. CORRECT!
Michelle Gaines

53. Sorry, Try Again!
Michelle Gaines

54. Common Idioms and Their Meanings:
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
Michelle Gaines

55. Additional References About Idioms:
has fun idiom games.
has an a to z list of idioms with categories and quizzes.
is a site about a software program you can buy about idioms.
is another idioms review site .
has practice quizzes.
tells where specific idioms originated.
All pictures found at: (If not from Clip Art)
Sounds from:
(Audio Browser)
Other material used:
Raining Cats and Dogs by Myra Shulman Auslin
Michelle Gaines

56. Idioms Practice

57. 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

58. Practice = HOMEWORK
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.