The document defines and provides examples of various types of figurative language:
- Simile - a direct comparison using like or as.
- Metaphor - an implied comparison without using like or as.
- Personification - attributing human qualities to non-human things.
- Hyperbole - deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or humor.
- Understatement - minimizing or underplaying for effect through melosis or litotes.
- Irony - saying one thing but meaning the opposite, usually to criticize or ridicule.
2. • word or group of words used to give
particular emphasis to an idea or
sentiment
• Help explain abstract ideas by
creating comparisons or other
relationships between the
abstraction and concrete realities
3. • A directly stated comparison
between two unlike person or
thing that uses expressions like,
as and as ....... as
Example:
His mind is like a sponge.
4. • An implied
comparison
between two unlike
things that are alike
in the way they are
identified
5. • Unlike simile, no
expressions are used to
show the comparison in
metaphor
Example:
In the dark night, the city
lights are glimmering
fireflies
6. • Leads human
qualities to things
that are not human –
animals, plants, in
animate objects and
abstraction.
7. Example:
“Will you walk
into my parlor?”
said the spider to
the fly
8. • Addresses personified
objects as real person,
the absent as if they
were present and the
dead as if were alive
9. Example:
Ambition you are
a cruel master, I will
serve you no more
10. • A subtle metaphor, it
recalls and projects on the
imagination memories of
the past – a well known
person, event, saying or
incident – to compare with
the present scene.
12. Example:
Were I Midas, I
would make
nothing else but
such golden days of
memory
13. • The substitution of one noun for
another which it suggests but it
is not base on resemblance but
on association
Example:
It is the rope for the criminal
(the cause – hanging with a rope
for the effect – death)
14. • A type of metonymy, it gives a
significant part to represent a
whole
Example:
The poor woman has ten
hungry mouths to feed.
15. • From the Greek hyper, meaning
“beyond” and ballein, meaning “to
throw” this is a deliberate
exaggeration not to deceive but to
emphasize a statement, often used
for humorous effect.
Example:
He is such a good salesman he
could sell Manila Bay to speculators
16. • Used to minimize the impression
of the size or importance of reality
or to enhance the readers
impression of what is said.
• If the understatement is positive,
it is called melosis; if it is a miid
negative understatement, it is
called litotes
17. Example:
Nena told her friend, I am a
bit hurt because I was not invited
to your wedding. (melosis)
A kinder garden pupil made a
speech at his graduation and his
proud grandfather said, “Not a
bad accomplishment.” (litotes)
18. • The use of word to signify the
opposite of what is said.
• The words used express approval or
praise, but the author’s real
intention is blame, criticism, scorn
or ridicule
• In writing, the context of irony
holds the clue; in speech, the tone
of the voice or manner of the
speaker indicates the irony
intended.