1. Figurative Language
Mrs. Reinhart

2. Simile
A comparison of two unlike things that uses words such as “like” or “as”
Example: He was hungry as a hippo.
Purpose: to create imagery by comparing two unlike things
Ask yourself: Is it comparing two things that are not normally alike?

3. Metaphor
A comparison of two unlike things that doesn’t use words such as “like” or “as”
Example: He was a hungry hippo
Purpose: to create imagery by comparing things that have few similarities
Ask yourself: Is it comparing two things that are not normally alike?

4. Alliteration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGJu 6LzUfYM
Example: He had heavy, hungry hippos helping him hop.

5. Personification
Definition: giving human characteristics or traits to non-human things.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Purpose: help the reader relate to the concept being presented

6. Hyperbole Definition: figure or speech that uses exaggeration
I’m so hungry I could eat a horse
Purpose: to express strong emotion or to create a comic effect

7. Gathering Leaves (by Robert Frost)
Onomatopoeia
Definition: words that sound like their meaning
Gathering Leaves (by Robert Frost)
Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.
Purpose: Describe a sound and make it more interesting

8. Idiom
Definition - A phrase or expression who’s meaning cannot be understood from the ordinary meanings of the words in it.
Purpose – make language more interesting, typically used when you are VERY familiar with the language, sometimes used as slang
Example: He kicked the bucket.

9. Cliché
Definition: a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought
Live and learn
What goes around comes around
One foot in front of the other
Absence makes the heart grow fonder
All that jazz
Purpose: to be used when an original thought or metaphor would be overkill

10. Allusion
Definition: an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference – drawing attention to something without explicitly describing it
“Then Eden sang to grief.”
Calling someone Romeo
Purpose: to simplify a concept by referring it or comparing it to something that is more easily understood

11. Analogy Definition: a comparison of how things are related
Puzzles
Pencil is to paper as paint is to canvas
Stanza is to poetry as paragraph is to prose
Black is to white as good is to evil
Literature – Romeo and Juliet
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,”
Purpose: to create deeper meaning and clarify relationships by comparing them to more commonly known relationships

12. Symbolism
Definition: the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities
We could think literally…
This is a symbol that tells
us to what?
It doesn’t say to do that but
we know that when we see
this symbol we better stop!
Purpose: to add depth and interest to your writing – add a second meaning to your writing other than the literal meaning