Figurative Language

• compares unlike things

• ​USES like or as

  • Juliet is​ like the sun.

​Simile

• compares unlike things

• DOESN'T use like or as

• usually states one thing is something else

  • ex) Juliet is the sun.

​Metaphor

• Gives human qualities to inanimate (non-living) things

  • The tree branches waved at me through the car window.

    • This is personification, because trees cannot actually wave.

• An extreme exaggeration for effect

  • ​My backpack weighs a ton.

    • Obviously your backpack doesn't way 2,000 pounds.

• A brief reference to an important person, place, event, or literary work

  • I felt like I must have spidey senses, as I anticipated the trouble brewing in the hallway.

    • This is a reference to Spider-Man.

• A phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative meaning

  • It's raining cats and dogs out there!

    • This phrase means it is raining hard, not that dogs and cats are falling from the sky.