Lesson 6 - Figurative Language

Figurative language is used when a writer describes something using comparisons that go beyond literal meaning. The words mean more than what they say on the surface. This gives the reader a fresh look at a common subject. Figurative language is not meant to be interpreted in a word by word sense. The objects that are being compared are different in enough ways so that their similarities, when pointed out, are interesting, unique and/or surprising. Figurative language is used in poetry and fiction, as well as in everyday speech. Below are four additional types of figurative language:

Alliteration 


flying feathers fluttering freely

Alliteration is the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables. When writers want to emphasize certain words, they may use alliteration
Tongue Twisters
A big black bug bit a big black bear. OR
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Familiar Sayings such as:
down in the dumps
do or die
now or never
safe and sound
sweet smell of success

Onomatopoeia 

BANG   POW

Onomatopoeia is the imitation of natural sounds in word form. These words help us form mental pictures about the things, people, or places that are described.

Examples -

buzz, hiss, roar, woof, bang, pop, hiss, and sizzle

Hyperbole 


Tom carried his financial responsibilities around with him.
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect. It may be confused with a simile because it often compares two items. The difference is that with a hyperbole the comparison is an exaggeration.

Examples -

His eyes were as round as saucers.
I nearly died laughing.
I could sleep for a year.
I've told you a million times not to exaggerate. 
Repetition
 

hello
hello
hello
hello
 
 Repetition is when one or more words are repeated to show urgency or importance.
Hatchet Page 3

    Divorce. A breaking word, an ugly breaking word.
     Divorce.
     Secrets.
     No, not secrets so much as just the Secret. What he knew and had not told anybody, what he knew about his mother that had caused the divorce, what he knew, what he knew - the Secret.
     Divorce.
     The Secret.

Activity 1

Determine which type of figurative language is used for each item below.

  1. Page 10  - "Don't know, kid. . ." The pilot's words were a hiss, barely audible.

    a)  alliteration
    b)  onomatopoeia
    c)  hyperbole
    d)  repetition
     
  2. Page 12 - The jolts that took the pilot back had come, and now Brian sat and there was a strange feeling of silence in the thrumming roar of the engine - a strange feeling of silence and being alone.

    a)  alliteration
    b)  onomatopoeia
    c)  hyperbole
    d)  repetition
     
  3. Page 12 - He was alone. In the roaring plane with no pilot he was alone. Alone.

    a)  alliteration
    b)  onomatopoeia
    c)  hyperbole
    d)  repetition
     
  4. Page 16 - Transmitter 221, was stamped in the metal and it hit him, finally, that this was the radio.
    The radio. Of course. He had to use the radio.

    a)  alliteration
    b)  onomatopoeia
    c)  hyperbole
    d)  repetition
     
  5. Page 24 - Easy to say, he thought, hard to do.

     Easy say, hard do. Easy say, hard do. It became a chant that beat with the engine. Easy say, hard do.

     Impossible to do.

a)  alliteration
b)  onomatopoeia
c)  hyperbole
d)  repetition

  1. Page 26 - GOING TO DIE, Brian thought. Going to die, gonna die, gonna die - his whole brain screamed it in a sudden silence.

     Gonna die.

a)  alliteration
b)  onomatopoeia
c)  hyperbole
d)  repetition

  1. Page 34 - He closed his eyes and slept, dreamless, deep and down.

    a)  alliteration
    b)  onomatopoeia
    c)  hyperbole
    d)  repetition
     
  2. Page 40 - Destroyed.

The word came. I would have been destroyed and torn and smashed. Driven into the rocks and destroyed.

a)  alliteration
b)  onomatopoeia
c)  hyperbole
d)  repetition

  1. Page 41 - Traffic, people talking, sounds all the time - the hum and whine of the city.

    a)  alliteration
    b)  onomatopoeia
    c)  hyperbole
    d)  repetition
     
  2. Page 44 - Besides, he had probably swallowed a ton of it while he was swimming out of the plane and getting to shore.

    a)  alliteration
    b)  onomatopoeia
    c)  hyperbole
    d)  repetition
     
  3. Page 51 - "I'm hungry." He said it aloud. In normal tones at first, then louder and louder until he was yelling it. "I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry!"

    a)  alliteration
    b)  onomatopoeia
    c)  hyperbole
    d)  repetition
     
  4. Page 52 - Then the bird started again, and some kind of buzzing insect, and then a chattering and a cawing, and soon there was the same background of sound.

    a)  alliteration
    b)  onomatopoeia
    c)  hyperbole
    d)  repetition
     
  5. Page 74 - Shining black and silky the bear stood on its hind legs, half up, and studied Brian, just studied him, then lowered itself and moved slowly to the left, eating berries as it rolled along, wuffling and delicately using its mouth to lift each berry from the stem, and in seconds it was gone.

    a)  alliteration
    b)  onomatopoeia
    c)  hyperbole
    d)  repetition
     
  6. Page 80 - But the hatchet missed, sailed into the wall where it hit the rocks with a shower of sparks, and his leg was instantly torn with pain, as if a hundred needles had been driven into it.

    a)  alliteration
    b)  onomatopoeia
    c)  hyperbole
    d)  repetition

     

 

-----------------Key----------------

  1. b
  2. b
  3. d
  4. d
  5. d
  6. d
  7. a
  8. d
  9. b
  10. c
  11. d
  12. b
  13. b
  14. c