Types of figurative language METAPHORS AND IDIOMS Types of figurative language

Metaphors and idioms Used to create imagery Not taken for their literal meanings Used to create more vivid and life-like qualities in your words

Metaphor An expression that describes a person or object by referring to something that is considered to possess similar characteristics. It links two unrelated things that are not normally linked. This linking is not an open, or simple, comparison, but a hidden one where you are saying something is equal to something else, even though the two are clearly not the same thing. 

The road was a ribbon wrapped through the desert. Metaphor The road was a ribbon wrapped through the desert. The road = the ribbon

Metaphor

Metaphor vs. simile Metaphors are different from similes which highlight a similarity and suggest that one thing is like another. This connect is an open, simple one (explicit). Similes are normally identified by the word “like” or “as.” 

Metaphor vs. simile

Idiom A group of words whose meaning considered as a unit is different from the meanings of each word considered separately. The context can help you understand what an idiom means. Many idioms are also considered cliches because they are used so frequently.

Idiom "She has a bee in her bonnet," meaning "she is preoccupied or obsessed with an idea," cannot be literally translated into another language word for word. Break a leg!

Here are some examples of idioms... Kick the bucket Hear it on a grapevine Add insult to injury Sit on the fence Once in a blue moon Tie the knot The whole nine yards Out of the blue Off the hook Let sleeping dogs lie Raining cats and dogs Smell something fishy Third time’s a charm Go the extra mile Tongue-in-cheek Flip the bird All bark and no bite A slap on the wrist Beat around the bush....

...but there are many more... Some of them can be found in your Student’s book, p 85! Thank you!