This document defines and provides examples of various types of figurative language including simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, pun, irony, alliteration, hyperbole, and idioms. It explains when and how to use figurative language to improve writing and make it more creative.

1. Figurative
Language
Language that makes your writing
come alive.

2. When to use…
 Anytime you want to improve your
writing.
 When you want to describe an
event, person, thing, or place.
 When you want to break up your writing
and make it more creative.

3. Simile
A comparison using the word like
or __________.

4. Simile
She is as light as a feather.
He is as big as a house.
Tony is like a bull.
Lisa runs like a deer.

5. Simile
 Alley is as pretty as a _________.
 Kevin is as smart as a _________.
 Ariel is like a ______________.
 Jeremy is like a ____________.

6. Simile
 Ashley hair is as pretty as
________________.
 L.L. is as kind as a ___________________.

7. Metaphor
A comparison that does not
use _____ or ______.

8. Metaphor
 She is a duck in water.
 All the world's a stage” (Shakespeare).
 Life is a journey,
 The goalkeeper was a rock

9. Metaphor
 Mr. McCann is a
___________________________.
 Mrs. Jones is a
____________________________.
 Ms. Heavens is a
_____________________________.

10. Personification
 Giving life like qualities to non living
things.
 Such as
emotions, desires, sensations, physical
gestures and speech

11. Personification
 Earth felt the wound.
 Snow speaks to the people.
 Oreo: Milk’s favorite cookie
 And the dish ran away with the spoon.

12. Personification
 Reading
___________________________________________________
___________________________________.
 The clock _________________________________.

13. Onamonapia
the formation of words whose
sound is imitative of the sound of
the noise or action designated.
Such as hiss, ______,and bang

14. Onamonapia
 tinkle
drip drop
creak
ratched
swish

15. Onamonapia
 1.
 2.
 3.

16. Pun
 A pun is a figure of speech which consists of a deliberate
confusion of similar words or phrases for rhetorical effect,
whether humorous or serious.
 It is supposed to be funny.

17. Pun
 A bicycle can't stand alone because it is
two-tired.
 What's the definition of a will? (It's a dead
giveaway)
 In democracy it's your vote that counts; in
feudalism it's your count > that votes.

18. Pun
 Did you hear about the fire in the
circus, it was intense.
 With her marriage she got a new name
and a dress.
 Without geometry, life is pointless.

19. Irony
 The use of words to convey a meaning
that is the opposite of its literal
meaning.
 The song Ironic, is only a use of irony
because there are no example of irony.

20. Irony
 the Hard Rock Cafe was destroyed by a building collapse.
 Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room.

21. Alliteration
 The __________________ of the beginning sound.
 Think tongue twisters.

22. Alliteration
She sells sea shells by the sea
shore.
Tim teaches tiny students.
Ashley always abides.

23. Alliteration
1.
2.
3.

24. Hyperbole
 An exaggerated statement used to heighten effect. It is
not used to mislead the reader, but to emphasize a point.
 It’s a huge _________________.

25. Hyperbole
I told you a million times to pick
up your room.
I have 20 hours of homework
tonight.

26. Hyperbole
 If she does not go out with me I will
just die.
 The other team was 10 feet tall.
 No one has ever felt like this.

27. Idioms
Language specific expressions.
Statements that do not
_____________ sense when taken
literally.

28. Idioms
 Knock yourself out
 His presentation was a homerun.
 A Blessing In Disguise
 A Dime A Dozen

29. Idioms
A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned.
A Slap on the Wrist
Back Seat Driver
Close but no Cigar

30. Idioms
 1.
 2.
 3.