1. Figurative Language

2. Hyperbole
Obvious exaggeration used to make a point

3. I’m buried in a mountain of paperwork.
I can smell that pizza from a mile away.
Everybody knows that.
That was the easiest question in the world!
I called you a million times.
I could listen to this song forever.
This lesson is taking forever.
These shoes are killing me

4. Your turn!
Think of your own hyperbole. You may choose one that you have heard before, or you can create your own.
With a partner, share your example of a hyperbole.

5. Personification
Giving a nonhuman thing human qualities or actions.

6. The wind howled.
The ocean waves lashed out at a boat
Time never waits for anyone.
The avalanche devoured everything in its path.
Opportunity knocked at the door.
The camera loves me.
The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.
The fire ran wild.

7. Hey Diddle, Diddle, the cat and the fiddle
Hey Diddle, Diddle, the cat and the fiddle. The cow jumped over the moon; the little dog laughed to see such a sport. And the dish ran away with the spoon.- Mother Goose

8. Idiom
An expression or phrase that has figurative meaning, usually understood by a particular group or culture.
Idioms don’t mean exactly what the words say.

9. It’s raining cats and dogs
Kick the bucket
Something like this happens once in a blue moon.
The early bird gets the worm.
It’s a piece of cake!
He is the apple of my eye.
There was a frog in her throat.
Don’t spill the beans.

10. Pun
A play on words, due to either the definition of the word or the sound of the word.
Most often, puns are intended to be humorous.

11. Which president is least guilty? Lincoln. He is in a cent.
Where do you find giant snails? On the ends of giants’ fingers.
Santa’s helpers are subordinate Clauses.
ENERGIZER BUNNY ARRESTED! He was charged with battery.
An elephant’s opinion carries a lot of weight.
Without geometry, life is pointless.

12. Metaphor and Simile
A type of comparison between two objects that are not thought of to be the same.
I am a rock
She is a shining star.
He is the sun to my sky.
A comparison between two unlike objects using the words “like” or “as.”
Life is like a box of chocolates.
She is as cute as a bunny.
I am as happy as a clam.
Metaphor
Simile

13. Extended Metaphor
A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph, or lines in a poem.
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.” ‘As You Like It” by William Shakespeare.

14. Onomatopoeia
A word that imitates a sound.

15. Imagery
Imagery language describes something in detail, but it appeals to the senses.
As Max opened the door, he was hit in the face with a smell that was similar to rotting pumpkins.

16. Sight
Hearing
Moon
Smell
Taste
Touch

17. Alliteration
The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of the words.
Sally sells seashells by the seashore. The shells Sally sells are surely from the sea.

18. Allusion
A reference to a well known piece of literature, art, song, event, or person in a work of literature.
Example:
His Goliath frame seemed to dwarf the other football players
“Goliath” is a reference to the character in the Bible named Goliath. He was a giant who was defeated by a small boy named David wielding a sling-shot and a few stones. This allusion tells the readers that the boy in the sentence above is a large boy-larger than those around him.

19. Examples!
The kindergartners were frightened of the new principal who reminded them of Cruella DeVille.
He poured his heart out in the love letter to his girlfriend. The letter was as poetic as if Shakespeare himself had written it.
Although the earthquake did a great deal of damage, it was nothing compared to 9/11.
When I taught kindergarten, I often felt like Little Bo Peep as I tried to herd five year olds down the hall.