The document discusses various figures of speech that enhance writing by adding emphasis and clarity, including similes, metaphors, and hyperboles. It provides definitions and examples for each figure, such as personification and irony, and concludes with knowledge assessment questions. Overall, it serves as a guide to understanding how these linguistic tools can enrich communication.

1. Figures of Speech
Make your writing
colorful

2. 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.

3. SIMILE
A simile is the comparison of two
Unlike things using or .
He eats like a pig.
You are as pretty as a picture.
like as

4. 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)

5. METAPHOR
He is a pig.
“You are a tulip.”
From “A Meditation for his Mistress”
~Robert Herrick

6. ALLITERATION
Alliteration is the of
initial consonant sounds of
neighboring words.
Sally sells seashells by the seashore.
repetition

7. 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

8. Metonymy
 (literally, a change of name),
an object is designated to be the
name of something else which is
generally associated with it.
Eg: The Crown, for the King

9. ONOMATOPOEIA
(on-uh-mat-uh-pee-uh)
An onomatopoeia is a word that imitates
the it represents.
The chiming of the bells…
The boom of the explosion…
sound

10. ONOMATOPOEIA
“Tinkling sleigh bells
Clanging fire bells
Mellow chiming wedding bells
Tolling, moaning, and groaning funeral
bells”
From “The Bells”
~Edgar Allan Poe

11. HYPERBOLE
A hyperbole is an or
an .
=
His feet are as big as boats!
I nearly died laughing!
exaggeration
overstatement

12. HYPERBOLE
“Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired .”
From “The Concord Hymn”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
the shot heard round the world

13. PERSONIFICATION
Giving human qualities to
things that are not human
The moon looked down at me.

14. Apostrophe
 a direct address to the dead, to the absent, or to
a personified object or idea. This figure is a
special form of Personification.
Eg: "Oh! Stars and clouds and winds, ye are
all about to mock me; if ye really pity me,
crush sensation and memory; let me become
as nought; but if not, depart, depart, and leave
me in darkness." (Mary Shelley,
Frankenstein, 1818)

15. Antithesis
 a striking opposition or contrast of
words or sentiments is made in the
same sentence. It is employed to secure
emphasis.
 Eg: Speech is silver, but silence is
golden.

16. IDIOM
A saying that means something
different than what it says
It’s raining cats and dogs.

17. OXYMORON
-a special form of Antithesis,
whereby two contradictory
qualities are predicted at once of the
same thing.
Eg: "I am busy doing nothing."

18. PALINDROME
Words that are the same spelled front
wards and backwards
Stanley Yelnats
Racecar
Evil Olive

19. Irony
 Irony happens when there‘s a
marked contrast between what is
said and what is meant, or between
appearance and reality.

20. Three Types of Irony
 Verbal irony. Takes place when the
speaker says something in sharp
contrast to his or her actual
meaning.
Ex: Well, isn‘t this nice Uttered by a man
―
whose plane is going down.
(From the song Ironic of Alanis Morrissette)
―

21.  Note: Verbal irony can also consist of
ironic similes, which are
―
comparisons in which the two things
are not alike at all.
Ex: Your hand is soft as sandpaper.
(Means your hand is rough.)
You are warm as ice.
(Means you are cold)

22. Dramatic Irony. Happens when the
audience has more information than
one or more characters in a work of
literature.
Ex: Shakespeare‘s Othello Othello‘s best friend
Lago is evil and attempting to bring Othello
down.
Desdemona has been faithful, though
Othello doesn‘t know this.
(The audience is aware but Othello is not aware.)

23. Situational irony. Contains of a
situation in which the outcome is
very different from what was
expected.
EX: The movie ―The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The citizens of the Emerald City assume that Oz is
great and allpowerful, yet the man behind the
curtain is revealed to be an old man with no special
powers.

25. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
He clattered and clanged as he
washed the dishes.
(A) Simile
(B) Onomatopoeia
(C) Hyperbole

26. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
Life is a beach!
(A)Metaphor
(B)Alliteration
(C) Simile

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

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

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

30. 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

31. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
I’ve heard that joke a billion
times, but it still cracks me up!
(A) Simile
(B) Metaphor
(C) Hyperbole

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

33. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE!
The buzzing bee startled me!
(A) Hypberbole
(B) Onomatopoeia
(C) Metaphor

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

35. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
The sun draped its arms
around my shoulders
A) Personification
B) Oxymoron
C) Palindrome

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

37. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
You looked pretty ugly in
that dress.
A) Onomatopoeia
B) Oxymoron
C) Alliteration

38. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
The boy shouted, “Madam, I’m
Adam!”
A) Personification
B) Oxymoron
C) Palindrome