Figurative Language A Tutorial

Figurative Language vs. Literal Language

Why Use Figurative Language? To help readers visualize characters and settings To provide amusement and make writing more interesting To familiarize readers with unknown terms

Types of Figurative Language Simile Metaphor Personification Hyperbole Alliteration

Simile A figure of speech that uses like or as to make a direct comparison between two unlike ideas.

Simile Mom’s Christmas cookies were like lumps of sand. What is being compared? Mom’s Christmas cookies were like lumps of sand.

Metaphor A figure of speech in which something is described as though it were something else; points out a similarity between two unlike things. Uses the words is, are, was, or were

Metaphor Full of ups and downs, life is a roller coaster. What is being compared? Full of ups and downs, life is a roller coaster.

Which is a more powerful comparison, a simile or a metaphor?

Personification A figure of speech in which a non human subject is given human characteristics.

Personification The small chair peered out from behind the big desk.

Hyperbole A figure of speech that exaggerates an idea so vividly that the reader has instant picture.

Hyperbole I am so sad I could cry a river. Ask yourself: Can someone really cry a river?

Alliteration The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginnings of several words in a sentence or line of poetry.

Alliteration Cindy sent seven cards to her sisters.