Two Examples Of Figurative Language
English
Parts of speech 2
The Simile
A simile is an direct comparison that always contains the words “as” or “like”
A simile compares one thing with another and in the process suggests some degree of similarly between things that are not the same.
Example: The carpet felt like sandpaper under her feet
(Here the carpet, which is usually soft, is being compared to sandpaper, which suggests that either there is something wrong with this carpet or it is uncomfortable to walk on.
Identifying the similarity and the reason the writer has created this comparison is what you are often asked to do in questions that require you to unpack or explain a figure of speech, like a simile. Writers uses similes to create an effect or impression of danger, …show more content…
you would compare the sea with something dangerous.
Example: The Sea was crouching and fawning like a wolf
If you wanted to give the impression of a calm and peaceful scene you might compare it to something motionless or harmless.
Example: The Sea was like a flat, blue plate.
The metaphor
A metaphor is a comparison that does not use the words “as” or “like”
A metaphor makes a comparison as a simile does. It makes a comparison but it does not use the words “as or “like”
The metaphor says something is something else, not like something else.
Example: The Ocean was like a flat, blue plate (simile) The Ocean was a flat, blue plate (metaphor)
Personification
Personification gives human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.
Personification and metaphors are similar in that they bother indirect comparisons. We use personification when we want to give something not human a human quality.
(We give objects human qualities/emotions)
Example: The moon gazed sadly on the cemetery
(Emotions such as sadness are usually associated with humans, not inanimate objects like the moon)
We give objects human body parts or actions.
Example: The frog tip-toed around the town
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repletion of constant sounds at the beginning of the words.
Example: The slippery, slosh and slide of slimy shimmering salmon
Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds. The trick is not to think of it as the same letter, but the same
sound.
Example: The eagle swoops with a whoosh on an inspecting prey
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia uses the words that imitate and reproduce real life sounds and actions
Example: “splash” is supposed to capture the exact sound of something (also…boom, and crunch)
Rhyme
Rhyme is the repetition of final vowel and consonant sounds of words
Parts of speech 2
The Simile
A simile is an direct comparison that always contains the words “as” or “like”
A simile compares one thing with another and in the process suggests some degree of similarly between things that are not the same.
Example: The carpet felt like sandpaper under her feet
(Here the carpet, which is usually soft, is being compared to sandpaper, which suggests that either there is something wrong with this carpet or it is uncomfortable to walk on.
Identifying the similarity and the reason the writer has created this comparison is what you are often asked to do in questions that require you to unpack or explain a figure of speech, like a simile. Writers uses similes to create an effect or impression of danger, …show more content…
you would compare the sea with something dangerous.
Example: The Sea was crouching and fawning like a wolf
If you wanted to give the impression of a calm and peaceful scene you might compare it to something motionless or harmless.
Example: The Sea was like a flat, blue plate.
The metaphor
A metaphor is a comparison that does not use the words “as” or “like”
A metaphor makes a comparison as a simile does. It makes a comparison but it does not use the words “as or “like”
The metaphor says something is something else, not like something else.
Example: The Ocean was like a flat, blue plate (simile) The Ocean was a flat, blue plate (metaphor)
Personification
Personification gives human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.
Personification and metaphors are similar in that they bother indirect comparisons. We use personification when we want to give something not human a human quality.
(We give objects human qualities/emotions)
Example: The moon gazed sadly on the cemetery
(Emotions such as sadness are usually associated with humans, not inanimate objects like the moon)
We give objects human body parts or actions.
Example: The frog tip-toed around the town
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repletion of constant sounds at the beginning of the words.
Example: The slippery, slosh and slide of slimy shimmering salmon
Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds. The trick is not to think of it as the same letter, but the same
sound.
Example: The eagle swoops with a whoosh on an inspecting prey
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia uses the words that imitate and reproduce real life sounds and actions
Example: “splash” is supposed to capture the exact sound of something (also…boom, and crunch)
Rhyme
Rhyme is the repetition of final vowel and consonant sounds of words