Figurative Language

Language based on comparisons

Meaning must be figured out:

She is a doll --> this means that she is sweet (she is not literally a plastic doll).

​Figurative

Words function EXACTLY as stated:

The car was blue --> there is nothing to figure out

Literal

Figurative vs. Literal

Types of Figurative Language (the meanings have to be figured out)

1. She is brighter THAN the sun.

2. The metal twisted LIKE a ribbon.

3. He is AS fast AS a rabbit.

​Examples

​A comparison between two unlike things using like, as, or THAN

Simile

Just because the key words are used, it doesn't make a simile. A comparison MUST be made.

​"I LIKE pizza" is NOT a simile.

"The pizza is round LIKE the moon" is a simile - comparing pizza to moon

1. His eyes were the ocean.

2. Her heart is stone.

3. Peter is a giraffe!

Examples

​A comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be"

Metaphor

​I AM

He/She/ It IS

We/ They ARE

​I WAS

He/She/ It WAS

We/ They WERE

Just because the key words are used, it doesn't make a metaphor. A comparison MUST be made.

​"His eyes WERE blue" is NOT a metaphor

"His eyes WERE the ocean" is a metaphor - comparing eyes to ocean

Giving human traits to nonhuman things

Example:

1. The chair groaned when I sat in it.

2. The streets are calling my name.

​

Personification

An extreme exaggeration

Examples:

1. My house is a million miles away.

2. I will love you forever.

​

​Hyperbole

-Figurative Language Statements

-Words not meant to be taken literally

Example:

1. Don't be a stick in the mud!

​

Idiom

When opposites are put together

Examples:

1. Jumbo Shrimp

2. Pretty Ugly

Oxymoron

​Examples

Her hair is darker than the night.

The chair groaned when I sat in it. 

I will die if this secret gets out.

His heart’s an ocean.

He said he would love her forever.

He is stone.

It’s old news.