Go Figure!

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Go Figure!

• Figurative Language

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Recognizing Figurative Language

• The opposite of literal language is figurative
  language.
• To be figurative is to not mean what you say but
  to imply something else.
• Poets use figurative language almost as
  frequently as literal language. When you read
  poetry, you must be conscious of the difference.
  Otherwise, a poem may make no sense at all.

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Recognizing Figurative Language

• For example, if I tell you Lets go chill! Im
  not suggesting we get into the freezer.
• Lets go chill! means lets relax together and
  do something fun.
• Or, you may have heard someone say, Chill out!
  What does this really mean?
• Neither of these examples have anything to do
  with temperature.

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Recognizing Literal Language

• To be literal is to mean what you say.
• For example, if I told you, Sit down! I mean it
  literally Sit down!
• I mean exactly what I say.
• Most of the time, we use literal language.

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What is figurative language?

• Whenever you describe something by comparing it
  with something else, you are using figurative
  language.

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Confused?

• Think of it this way
• Literal language is real
• Figurative language is imaginary (or means
  something else)

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Types of Figurative Language

• Imagery
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Alliteration
• Personification
• Onomatopoeia
• Hyperbole
• Idioms

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Imagery

• Language that appeals to the senses. Descriptions
  of people or objects stated in terms of our
  senses.

Sight Hearing Touch Taste Smell
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Simile

• A figure of speech which involves a direct
  comparison between two unlike things, usually
  with the words like or as.
• Example The muscles on his brawny arms are
  strong as iron bands.

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Metaphor

• A figure of speech which involves an implied
  comparison between two relatively unlike things
  using a form of be. The comparison is not
  announced by like or as.
• Example The road was a ribbon wrapped through
  the dessert.

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Alliteration

• Repeated consonant sounds occurring at the
  beginning of words or within words.
• Example She was wide-eyed and wondering while
  she waited for Walter to waken.

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Personification

• A figure of speech which gives the qualities of a
  person to an animal, an object, or an idea.
• Example The wind yells while blowing."
• The wind cannot yell. Only a living thing can
  yell.

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Onomatopoeia

• The use of words that mimic sounds.
• Example The firecracker made a loud ka-boom!

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Hyperbole

• An exaggerated statement used to heighten effect.
  It is not used to mislead the reader, but to
  emphasize a point.
• Example Shes said so on several million
  occasions.

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Idioms

• Idioms are phrases which people use in everyday
  language which do not make sense literally but we
  understand what they mean

• Example "She has a bee in her bonnet," meaning
  "she is obsessed," does not make sense literally,
  but we understand the meaning.
• Can you think of another example?