Figurative Language

Figurative Language “Figuring it Out”

Figurative and Literal Language Literally:words function exactly as defined The car is blue. He caught the football. Figuratively: figure out what it means I’ve got your back. You’re a doll. ^Figures of Speech

Simile Comparison of two things using “like” or “as.” Examples The metal twisted like a ribbon. She is as sweet as candy.

Important! Using “like” or “as” doesn’t make a simile. A comparison must be made. Not a Simile:I like pizza. Simile:The moon is like a pizza.

Metaphor Two things are compared without using “like” or “as.” Examples All the world is a stage. Men are dogs. Her heart is stone.

Personification Giving human traits to objects or ideas. Examples The sunlight danced. Water on the lake shivers. The streets are calling me.

Hyperbole Exaggerating to show strong feeling or effect. Examples I will love you forever. My house is a million miles away. She’d kill me.

Understatement Expression with less strength than expected. The opposite of hyperbole. I’ll be there in one second. This won’t hurt a bit.

Onomatopoeia • A word that “makes” a sound • SPLAT • PING • SLAM • POP • POW

Irony • Irony is the disconnect between what appears to happen or what is apparently being said and the actual truth or reality. • Situational Irony-where actions or events have the opposite result from what is expected or what is intended • Verbal Irony-where someone says the opposite of what they really mean or intend; sarcasm is a particularly biting form of verbal irony

Irony In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the main character Scout goes to school and is already able to read. While one would expect a teacher to be pleased about that, Scout's teacher does not like that she is already able to read. (Situational Irony)

Situational Irony Examples: There are roaches infesting the office of a pest control service. A plumber spends all day working on leaky faucets and comes home to find a pipe has burst in his home.

Verbal Irony Examples: Looking at her son's messy room, Mom says, "Wow, you could win an award for cleanliness!“ On the way to school, the school bus gets a flat tire and the bus driver says, "Excellent! This day couldn't start off any better!"

Foreshadowing The writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning of a story or a chapter. It helps the reader develop expectations about the coming events in a story. Dialogue, events, even titles can act as a clue that suggests what is going to happen. Foreshadowing in fiction creates an atmosphere of suspense in a story so that the readers are interested to know more.

Foreshadowing Early discussions Scout has with her father, Atticus, and her next-door neighbor Miss Maudie foreshadow major events in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Atticus says, "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." Miss Maudie confirms Atticus' statements and tells Scout, "Your father's right. Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

Flashback A flashback is a transition in a story to an earlier time, that interrupts the normal chronological order of events. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the whole story is a flashback told by Scout years after the scenes take place when she is grown. A good example would be the first sentence of the book. “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.”

Imagery Forming a mental or physical picture from words, pictures, or your other senses. Vivid, detailed description that creates an image for the reader of what is described

In Chapter 1, the description of the Radley home contains vivid sensory images: "The Radley place jutted into a sharp curve beyond our house....The house...was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-grey yard around it. Rain rotted shingles drooped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard-a ‘swept’ yard that was never swept-where Johnson grass and rabbit-tobacco grew in abundance.

Allusion An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to a place, person, or something that happened. Allusion’s rely on background knowledge that the reader has or context clues. They don’t explain the references.

Chapter 1 of To Kill a Mockingbird Andrew Jackson: 7th President of the United States (1829-1837). Battle of Hastings: a decisive battle in the Norman Conquests of England in 1066. Cornwall: a country at the southwest tip of England. disturbance between the North and the South: The Civil War (1861-1865). Dracula: the 1931 film version of the famous vampire story. flivver: another name for a Model-T Ford. Jamaica: an island country in the West Indies, south of Cuba. John Wesley: 1702-1791. Founder of the Methodist Church. Merlin: King Arthur's adviser, prophet and magician. no mother to buy it with: an allusion to the Great Depression. nothing to fear but fear itself: an allusion to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first Inaugural Address. stump hole whiskey: illegally made and sold whiskey that would be hidden in the holes of tree stumps.

Figurative Language