Figures of Speech

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Figures of Speech

• Creative Comparisons

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What Do You See?
On stage, Anna was a songbird.
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What Is a Figure of Speech?

• A figure of speech is a word or phrase that
  describes one thing in terms of another and is
  not meant to be understood as literally true.
• A figure of speech
• involves a comparison between unlike things
• helps us see things in unusual ways

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Understanding Figures of Speech
When you read a figure of speech, use what you
know about one thing to help you understand more
about the other.
On stage, Anna was a songbird.
Songbirds sing beautifully.
Anna sings beautifully.
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Kinds of Figures of Speech

• Three kinds of figures of speech are
• similes
• metaphors
• personification

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What Are Similes?
Similes are comparisons between two unlike
things, using a word such as like, as, than, or
resembles. Brian, desperate to find his
homework, dug through his backpack like a dog
digging for buried bones.
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What Are Metaphors?

• Metaphors are imaginative comparisons between two
  unlike things in which one thing is said to be
  another thing.
• A metaphor
• says that one thing is something else
• does not use the words like, as, than, or
  resembles
• My mind is a vault, filled with secrets and
  treasured memories.

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Extended Metaphors
An extended metaphor is a metaphor that is
extended, or developed, over several lines of
writing or even throughout an entire work. In
the darkness, my dreams take flight, soaring
high above the ordinary.They land now and then
to gatherbrightly colored string, bits of
ideas,and remnants of lost memories. At dawn,
they return to nest in my waking mind.
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What Is Personification?
Personification is a figure of speech in which an
object or animal is spoken of as if it had human
feelings, thoughts, or attitudes. The book
begged me to read it.
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What Have You Learned?
Identify the type of figure of speech used in
each of the following items.
Simile Personification Metaphor
1. Ideas are sparks that light the fire of
invention. 2. That shirt is as bright as a neon
sign. 3. The rose tickled my nose with its sweet
scent. 4. Pink wisps of clouds stretched across
the horizon like cotton candy. 5. As I rushed
out the door, the chiming clock laughed at me.
Metaphor
Simile
Personification
Simile
Personification
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The End