1. What is Figurative Language?
Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, or using phrases you don’t mean LITERALLY, you are using figurative language!
Objective: You will be able to…
Use various kinds of figurative language to enhance a piece of writing to make it more unique, vivid, and enjoyable.

2. Why Figurative Language
What value does it have?
How does it affect the reader?
What tools of figurative language should we be able to decipher and use?

3. What is figurative language?
Write a definition for figurative language in your notes
Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, or using phrases you don’t mean LITERALLY or ACTUALLY, you are using figurative language!
Definition: Figurative language is language that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation.
When a writer uses literal language, he or she is simply stating the facts as they are.

4. LITERAL FIGURATIVE
Explain the difference between literal and figurative in your notes.
DENOTATION
CONNOTATION

5. Positive Effects Why Use it?
It paints a more vivid picture in the reader’s mind
Details become more alive and relatable to readers
It adds action instead of stopping the plot to give details
It expresses complex things that are hard to describe, like emotions and feelings

6. Example - He wouldn't let it go. - He was like a dog with a bone.
It allows much more creativity and can invoke different feelings than straight talk can. It can also create very powerful feelings because it helps create pictures that your mind can relate with more than just a couple words.
- He wouldn't let it go He was like a dog with a bone.
They both have the same basic meaning, but the second creates a great visual that people can relate to. If you know anything about dogs, when they have a bone that they like, and your try to take it away, they won't let go. They thrash their head back and forth, pull back and growl. They won't give it up.
Can you see how one sentence can create a mini scene? Now which one are you going to remember, going to relate to best?
Write your own example in your notes.

7. Definition
Example
A simile uses the words “like” or “as” to compare one object or idea with another to suggest they are alike.
Write one of your own about a silly or dynamic friend!
It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
Simile

8. More Simile Examples
He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
He was as tall as six- foot, three-inch tree.
His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like the sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

9. Definition
Example
The metaphor states a fact or draws a verbal picture by the use of comparison. A simile would say you are like something; a metaphor is more positive - it says you are something.
Write one of your own about a family member!
The young girl was a train wreck waiting to happen as she walked through the high school doors for the first time.
He was a lost puppy, wandering aimlessly with no guide to stand out in the darkness to light his way.
Metaphor

10. Definition
Example
A figure of speech in which human characteristics are given to non-human objects or animals.
Write one of your own about a favorite family pet!
My teddy bear gave me a hug.
My stack of papers waiting to be graded sat in the corner of the desk, glaring at me with hot eyes that broke into a sweat on my guilty forehead.
My dog looked at me, telling me she loved me with her deep, brown eyes.
Personification

11. Definition
Example
An exaggeration that is so dramatic that no one would believe the statement is true. Tall tales are hyperboles.
Write one of your own about your least favorite class!
All of a sudden, a thousand firefighters showed up on the scene!
I was so hungry, I could eat a whole elephant!
My 2-week-old relationship was life or death!
Hyperbole

12. Definition
Example
A cliché is an expression that has been used so often that it has become trite (worn, corny, stale) and sometimes boring
Over-used saying or expression
Many hands make light work
Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today
There’s no place like home
Snowball’s chance in hell
Play favorites
Cliché

13. Definition
Examples
Phrases with meanings that do not fit exactly the definitions of the words in them
These are popular phrases and are known by most people in a culture.
Get someone’s goat
Pitch dark
Taste of your own medicine
Walking on eggs
A dime a dozen
Piece of cake
Easy as pie
Raining cats and dogs
Idiom

14. Definition
Example
A figure of speech by in which two contradictory words are used in conjunction
Living Dead
A Cruel Kindness
A Poor Little Rich Girl
Awfully Good
Alone Together
Oxymoron

15. Connotation Vs. Denotation
Definition: the literal meaning of a word of phrase
Examples:
I love you with all my heart
I love you with the organ in my chest that pumps blood.
It’s raining cats and dogs!
There are animals falling from the sky. Very messy.
I’m buried with homework!
Homework is covering my body.
Definition: the figurative, emotional or implied meaning of a word or phrase
Examples:
I love you with all my heart
I love you with everything I have.
It’s raining cats and dogs!
It’s raining heavily!
I’m buried with homework!
I have too much homework!
Connotation Vs. Denotation

16. Definition
Example
A reference to a famous or historically significant piece of art or literature
Piece referenced should be popular enough for educated readers to understand.
I hope that your future allows you to bravely go where no man has gone before! (Star Trek).
Taylor Swift- “Romeo save me I’ve been feeling so alone/ I’ve been waiting for you but you never come” (Romeo and Juliet)
One Direction- “Shot me out of the sky, you’re my krpytontie…” (Superman)
Allusion

17. Onomatopoeia A word that represents a sound Used as a sensory detail
Definition
Example
A word that represents a sound
Used as a sensory detail
Meow!
BOOM!
Moooooo
Onomatopoeia

18. Definitions Simile- comparison using “like” or “as”
Metaphor- comparison w/o like or as; something IS something else
Personification- giving non-human things human characteristics
Hyperbole- extreme exaggeration
Cliché- over-used saying
Idiom- saying that does not make literal sense

19. Definitions
Allusion-A reference to a famous or historically significant piece of art or literature
Onomatopoeia- A word that represents a sound
Connotation- the figurative meaning, meaning beyond the literal
Phrases and sayings we do not actually mean.
Denotation- the literal meaning
If we looked up the words in the dictionary, what would it mean?