7 th Grade Language Arts

Figures of Speech Figures of speech are words or phrases that describe one thing in terms of something else. Figures of speech are not meant to be taken literally.

Figures of Speech

Metaphor A metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things not using like or as. Example: Time is money Example: “Your world is as big as you make it. I know, for I used to abide In the narrowest nest in a corner, My wings pressing close to my side.” from “Your World” By Georgia Douglas Johnson

Simile A simile is a comparison of two different things or ideas through the use of the words like or as. Example: “Talk of your cold! through the parka’s fold it stabbed like as driven nail.” from “Cremation of Sam McGee” By Robert Service

Personification Personification is a kind of metaphor that gives inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics. Example: “The desert says: feel the sun luring you from your dark, sad waters, burst through the surface…” “Lesson 2” By Pat Mora

Pun A pun is a play on words that are similar in sound but have very different meanings. Example: I used to have a fear of hurdles, but I got over it. Example:Police were called to a daycare where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.

So Punny!

Oxymoron An oxymoron combines a pair of opposite words into a single, unusual expression. Example: “sweet sorrow” “jumbo shrimp” “act naturally” “clearly confused”

Idiom An idiom is a saying or expression that does not mean literally what it says. Idioms are some of the most difficult things to learn in a new language. Example: You are the “apple of my eye” ! That only happens once in a “blue moon”!