1. Figures of Speech

2. Why do we need to study figures of speech?
Knowing figures of speech helps you better understand a poem or story. In other words, it helps you read between the lines.

3. Hyperbole
An obvious exaggeration intended to amuse or used for emphasis.
For example:
I’ve been waiting for ages.
I ate a ton of chips for lunch

4. Alliteration
The repetition of the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words.
For example:
She sells seashells by the seashore .
I am the living legacy to the leader of the band

5. Metaphor
A comparison between two things by saying one thing is another. It does NOT use the words “like” or “as”
For example:
He was a lion in battle.
Her coal-black hair

6. Simile
A comparison between two unlike things using key words such as “like”, “as”, “similar to”, or “than”.
For example:
He is smart as a whip.
She is as cold as ice.

7. Personification
Giving nonhuman things or abstract ideas human qualities.
For example:
The leaves are dancing in the wind.
The rock gurgled.

8. Apostrophe
To address something/someone who is absent, dead or unable to answer
For example:
Little flower, why are you smiling?

9. Metonymy
One word is substituted for another with which it is closely associated.
For example:
"The B.L.T. left without paying.“
(waitress referring to a customer)
The pen is mightier than the sword.
The word “pen” is used for the written word and “sword” is used for military power.

10. How am I going to remember all these terms?
HAMSPAM!
H – Hyperbole
A – Alliteration
M – Metaphor
S – Simile
P – Personification
A – Apostrophe
M - Metonymy

11. More figures of speech
We’re not done yet

12. Oxymoron Two directly opposite words placed together. For example:
Pretty ugly
Bitter sweet

13. Onomatopoeia Words are used to imitate sounds For example: Buzz Hiss
Splat
Thump

14. Practice – Name the figure of speech in each of the following sentences
She was a picture sitting there in her pretty pink dress.
You stupid door, why don’t you just stay shut for a change?
The days of our lives are like the sands slipping through the hourglass.
She’s lost a ton of weight on that new Jenny Craig diet.
I was so hungry I ate the whole refrigerator.
The suits on Wall Street walked off with most of our savings.

15. Answers
She was a picture sitting there in her pretty pink dress. Metaphor, Alliteration
You stupid door, why don’t you just stay shut for a change? Apostrophe
The days of our lives are like the sands slipping through the hourglass. Simile
She’s lost a ton of weight on that new Jenny Craig diet. Hyperbole
I was so hungry I ate the whole refrigerator. Hyperbole
The suits on Wall Street walked off with most of our savings. Metonymy

16. More practice
Oh Shakespeare, I wish you could help me with this poetry.
The buzz saw snarled and snapped in the wind.
He is like a bull in a china shop.
The little dog laughed.
The honeybee buzzed.
I love jumbo shrimp.

17. Answers
Oh Shakespeare, I wish you could help me with this poetry. Apostrophe
The buzz saw snarled and snapped in the wind. Personification, Alliteration, Onomatopoeia
He is like a bull in a china shop. Simile
The little dog laughed. Personification.
The honeybee buzzed. Onomatopoeia
I love jumbo shrimp. Oxymoron

18. Your turn
Write nine sentences. Each sentence should contain one figure of speech.