Figures of Speech

Make your writing

colorful
 Figures of Speech
Figures of speech are words
or phrases that depart from
straightforward literal language.
Figures of speech are often
used and crafted for emphasis,
freshness, expression, or clarity.
 Figures of Speech
Authors often use figures of speech in both
literature and poetry to enhance their
writing.

Figures of speech present ordinary things in

new or unusual ways.

They communicate ideas that go beyond the

words’ usual, literal meanings.
Types of Figures of Speech
Simile
Metaphor
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia
Hyperbole
Personification
Idiom
Oxymoron
Palindrome
Types of Figures of Speech
Apostrophe
Metonymy
Synecdoche
Irony
Allusion
Antithesis
Paradox
 SIMILE
A simile is the comparison of
two unlike things using
like or as .
He eats like a pig.
You are as pretty as a picture.
She ran like the wind
 More Examples of Simile
 The snow was as thick as a blanket.

 She was as light as a feather.

 You are acting like a baby.

 He felt like a bug under a microscope.

 His temper was as explosive as a volcano.

 METAPHOR
A metaphor is the comparison of
two unlike things or expressions,
sometimes using the verb “to be,”
and not using like or as (as in a
simile).
“To be” (am, is, are, was, were)
 METAPHOR

He is a pig.
“You are a tulip.”
From “A Meditation for his
Mistress”
~Robert Herrick
 Metaphor vs. Simile
 Use the following examples to figure
out the definition of metaphor.
 Simile: Fido is like a teddy bear.
 Simile: Fido is as soft as a teddy bear.

 Metaphor: Fido is a teddy bear.

 Simile: That boy is like a pig.
 Simile: That boy is as messy as a pig.

 Metaphor: That boy is a pig.

 ALLITERATION
Alliteration is the repetition of
initial consonant sounds of
neighboring words.

Sally sells seashells by the

seashore.
 ALLITERATION
“She left the Heaven of Heroes and came
down
To make a man to meet the mortal need,
A man to match the mountains and the sea,
The friendly welcome of the wayside well.”

From “Lincoln, the Man of the People”

~Edwin Markham
More Examples of Alliteration

Brad wore his blue and brown blazer.

Hank held his head high.
Larry loves lemonade and lolly pops.
Six swans went swimming in the sea.
 ONOMATOPOEIA
(on-uh-mat-uh-pee-uh)

An onomatopoeia is a word that

imitates the sound it represents.

The chiming of the bells…

The boom of the explosion…
 ONOMATOPOEIA
“Tinkling sleigh bells
Clanging fire bells
Mellow chiming wedding bells
Tolling, moaning, and groaning funeral
bells”

From “The Bells”

~Edgar Allan Poe
 HYPERBOLE
A hyperbole is an exaggeration
or an overstatement .

=
His feet are as big as boats!
I nearly died laughing!
 HYPERBOLE
“Here once the embattled farmers stood
and fired the shot heard round the world .”

From “The Concord Hymn”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson
 PERSONIFICATION
Giving human qualities to things
that are not human

The moon looked down at me.

More Examples of Personification

The car danced across the icy road.

The angry clouds marched across the sky.
The stars in the clear night sky winked at me.
The tulips nodded their heads in the breeze
 IDIOM
A saying that means something
different than what it says

It’s raining cats and dogs.

 OXYMORON
Words that are opposites
used side by side

Silent scream
Living dead
Clearly misunderstood
 PALINDROME
Words that are the same
spelled front wards and
backwards

Stanley Yelnats
Racecar
Evil Olive
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
He clattered and clanged as he
washed the dishes.

(A) Simile
(B) Onomatopoeia
(C) Hyperbole
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
Life is a beach!

(A)Metaphor
(B)Alliteration
(C) Simile
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
~Mother Goose

(A) Onomatopoeia
(B) Hyperbole
(C) Alliteration
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
The river falls under us like a
trap door.

(A)Onomatopoeia
(B) Simile
(C) Metaphor
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!

(A) Hyperbole
(B) Metaphor
(C) Onomatopoeia
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
“Don’t delay dawn’s disarming display.
Dusk demands daylight.”

From “Dewdrops Dancing Down Daises”

~Paul Mc Cann
(A) Onomatopoeia
(B) Alliteration
(C) Hyperbole
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
I’ve heard that joke a billion
times, but it still cracks me up!

(A) Simile
(B) Metaphor
(C) Hyperbole
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
The glass vase is as fragile as a
child’s sandcastle.

(A) Metaphor
(B) Alliteration
(C) Simile
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
The buzzing bee startled me!

(A) Hypberbole
(B) Onomatopoeia
(C) Metaphor
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
She looked at him with fire in her
eyes.

(A)Alliteration
(B) Simile
(C) Metaphor
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
The sun draped its arms
around my shoulders

A) Personification
B) Oxymoron
C) Palindrome
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
You look like a million
dollars.

A) Personification
B) Idiom
C) Oxymoron
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
You looked pretty ugly in
that dress.

A) Onomatopoeia
B) Oxymoron
C) Alliteration
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
The boy shouted, “Madam, I’m
Adam!”

A) Personification
B) Oxymoron
C) Palindrome
 APOSTROPHE
 Is a direct address to
someone absent, dead, or
inanimate.
Little sampaguita
With the wandering eye
Did a tiny fairy
Drop you where you lie?
 APOSTROPHE
Car, please set me to work
today.
Dear love, please don’t
shoot me with your Cupid’s
bow.
 METONYMY
 Substitutes a word that
closely relates to a person
or a thing.

I have read all of Shakespeare.

 METONYMY
My dear, you have all of my heart.

I couldn’t understand them because

they spoke in their mother tongue.
“Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend
me your ears.”
 SYNECDOCHE
 A word or phrase which
allows a part to stand for a
whole or for a whole to
stand for a part.
Check out my new wheels.
We have hungry mouths to feed.
 SYNECDOCHE
 There are two key types of
synecdoche: microcosm and
macrocosm
 Microcosm is the phrase for synecdoche
in which a smaller part signifies a larger
whole.
 Macrocosm is the phrase for
synecdoche in which larger whole
signifies a smaller collection of parts.
 SYNECDOCHE
Example 1
A boy has been admitted to the
hospital. The nurse says, “He’s in
good hands.”
Example 2
The Department of Education
announced new plans for the
education reform.
 IRONY
 The use of words to convey a
meaning that is the opposite
of its literal meaning.

The name of Britain’s biggest dog is

“Tiny”.
The butter is as soft as a slab of marble.
 IRONY
“Oh great! Now you have broken
my new camera.”

The student was given “excellent”

on getting zero in the exam.

My friends get along like cats and

dogs.
 ALLUSION
 When a person or author
makes an indirect reference in
speech, text, or song to an
event or figure.
 Allusions are often used within
a metaphor or simile.
 ALLUSION
“I was surprised his nose was not
growing like Pinocchio’s.”
“He was real Romeo with the ladies.”
“He was a Good Samaritan yesterday
when he helped the lady start her
car.”
“This place is like a Garden of Eden.”
 ANTITHESIS
 Two opposite ideas are put
together in a sentence to
achieve a contrasting
effect.
 Involves a contrast of words
or ideas.
 ANTITHESIS
“Love is so short….Forgetting is so long.”
Patience is bitter but it has a sweet fruit.
Love is an ideal thing, marriage is a real
thing.
You are easy on the eyes, but hard on
the heart.
 PARADOX
 Uses a phrase or statement
that on a surface seems
contradictor, but makes some
kind of emotional sense.
 A compressed paradox (one
that’s expressed in just few
words) is called an oxymoron.
 PARADOX
I am nobody.
Your enemy’s friend is your
enemy.
“I can resist anything but
temptation.”