Figures of Speech

A figure of speech is an expression that uses words imaginatively (rather than literally) to make abstract ideas concrete. Most often, figures of speech compare two seemingly unlike things to reveal surprising similarities.

Used effectively, figures of speech can add colour and emphasis to your writing and enrich meaning!!!

Simile: A comparison between two different ideas or objects, using like or as. “His heart is like a stone.”

Metaphor: A comparison made between two otherwise unlike ideas or objects; here, the comparison does not use like or as. “His heart is a stone.”

Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds, particularly at the beginning of words close to one another.

Personification: when human traits are assigned to something that is not human.

Hyperbole: Exaggeration to achieve dramatic or comic effects.

Repetition: Use of a word over and over again to exaggerate a meaning.

Figurative Language Group Assignment

A writer chooses words carefully so that the reader can “see” clear images in their mind as they read. Figurative language includes the use of similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, and hyperbole.

Some examples of figurative language from “Penny in the Dust” are as follows:

a.  “This one was as bright as gold.”
______

b.  “….an inarticulate man a little at sea with an imaginative child.” ______

c.  It was as if his sure footed way in the fields forsook him…” ______

d.  “the moment he came near the door of my child’s world…”
______

e.  “…the magical cylinder of ‘Long Tom’ popcorn…”
______

f.  “The sun drowsed, like a kitten curled up on my shoulder.”
______

g.  “The deep flour-fine dust…puffed around my ankles warm and soft as sleep.”
______

h.  “You almost scared the life out of us.”
______

i.  “It was like daylight shredding the memory of a silly dream.”
______

j.  “…I could only succeed in tangling tighter and tighter.”
______

k.  “Drew his fingers carefully through the dust like a harrow.”
______

Examine the above lines. Can you determine which figure of speech is represented in each line?