"Figurative language" gets its name from the Latin word figura, meaning form, shape, or ornament. Figures of speech are the "special effects " of language – they make ordinary words do extraordinary feats.

5 Types of Figurative Language

Type:Definition:Example:

A simile is a comparison using likeor as. It usually compares two dissimilar objects.

Examples: • Those girls are like two peas in a pod.

• The baby was like an octopus, grabbing at all the cans on the grocery store shelves.

• Ted was as nervous as a cat with a long tail in a room full of rocking chairs.

• As the teacher entered the room she muttered under her breath, "This class is like a three-ring circus!"

See Simile School Video on Edmodo

A metaphor states that one thing IS something else. It is a comparison, but it

DOES NOT USE like or as to make the comparison.

Examples:• The abandoned house was a silent tomb.

• The two lone trees were sentinels guarding the empty house.

• The bar of soap was a slippery eel during the dog’s bath.

• A blazing sun plowed across the sky.

Can you find all six metaphors in the passage below?

Last week my brother and I were playing checkers one rainy afternoon. He was a crab and no matter what I did he complained that it was wrong. Suddenly he smiled a half moon smile, and I knew something was going to happen. "What are you hiding?" I asked. He just kept smiling at me but wouldn‘t answer. I looked at him carefully but he just stared back at me. I began to get nervous and squirmed like an earthworm in a bait jar.I looked at the board very carefully and noticed there was an extra black crowned checker. "You've been cheating," I yelled. His face turned to stone. “I don't need to cheat to beat you, you weasel!" he said through clenched teeth.

My brother can be nice, but sometimes his mind is a black hole and no one better bother him. This was one of those times, so I was a mummy and didn‘t say anything else.

Just for fun, try developing extended metaphors from one of the following sentences. Think about the basic comparison, then write at least two more sentences to develop it. (Notice that the first sentence is a simile and the other two use a verb.)

Night came on like a burglar.

The forest whispered as I started down the path.

A row of racecars pawed the starting line, ready to go.

What makes these metaphor/similies bad?

Personification is giving human qualities, feelings, action, or characteristics to inanimate (non-living) objects.

The sun smiled down from the sky.

The flowers suffered in the intense heat.

The wind sang her mournful song through the

falling leaves.

Try it yourself: Complete each sentence by writing a human action next to each object listed below.

My cell phone…The jet engine…

The river…The toaster…

Her hair…

Hyperbole is an exaggeration. It may be used due to strong feelings or is used to create a strong impression and is not meant to be taken literally.

I nearly died laughing.

I tried a thousand times.

I could eat a horse.

Onomatopoeia is the imitation of natural sounds in word form.

These words help us form mental pictures about the things, people, or places that are described.

Sometimes the word names a thing or action by copying the sound.

For example:

Splash! Hiss! Flush….