The document outlines various types of figurative language, including similes, metaphors, hyperboles, personification, and irony, explaining their purposes and providing examples. It emphasizes how these literary techniques enhance reader engagement, intensify meanings, and contribute to tone and mood. Additionally, the document includes practice exercises for identifying different types of figurative language in given examples.

1. Figurative Language
Identifying
Metaphor, Simile, Hyperbole
Personification and Irony

2. PURPOSES
 Capture the reader’s interest
 Intensify the intended meaning
 Strengthen reader’s mental envisioning
 Contribute to the mood or tone
 Help the reader make personal
connections

3. Simile
 A literary
comparison using
“like” or “as”
 Example: Mary had
a little lamb, its
fleece was white as
snow.

4. Metaphor
 A literary comparison
between two things in which
something is described as
though it were something
else. This type of comparison
does not use “like” or “as.”
 Example: Ronnie is a pig
when he eats.

5. Hyperbole
 A literary technique that
uses exaggeration for
emphasis or humorous
effect
 Example: Sherri said she
was so hungry she could
eat an elephant.

6. Personification
 A literary technique
where non-human things
are given human
characteristics
 Example: The graceful
tree stretched out her
branches to touch the
sky.

7. Irony
 A literary technique that
involves surprising, interesting,
or amusing contradictions. A
contrast between expectation
and reality.
 Example: The scientific genius
Albert Einstein flunked out of
math when he was in high
school.

8. PRACTICE
Correctly identify the type
of figurative language being
used in the following
examples:

9. 1. Personification, Simile or Metaphor
He wore a white oxford
(shirt) that was perfectly
pressed and smooth as a
newborn’s flesh.
--Mauren Stuart
Elements of Literature, First
Course

10. 2. Personification, Simile or
Hyperbole
“Your grandmother must
be as old as dirt,”
Jonathan whispered to
Joy.

11. 3. Irony, Simile or Metaphor
Even at nighttime Mama
is a sunrise that promises
tomorrow and tomorrow.
--Evelyn Tooley Hunt
Elements of Literature, First
Course

12. 4. Irony, Hyperbole, or Simile
My sister wears so much
make-up that she loses
30 pounds when she
takes it off at night.

13. 5. Personification, Simile or
Hyperbole
The old car grumbled as
grandpa tried to start the
engine.

14. 6. Irony, Personification, Metaphor
 When Brooke, the drama queen,
tried out for the school play, she
was certain she would be awarded
the lead part. However, when the
cast list was posted she had been
assigned to be the leading lady’s
servant.

15. 7. Irony, Personification, Hyperbole
 Mr. Richards, an 89-year old
man, won the PowerBall lottery
for $7.8 million, and died in his
sleep that same day.

16. 8. Personification, Simile or Metaphor
 For most of November, winter
toyed with Two Mills, whispered
in its ear, tickled it under the
chin.
--Jerry Spinelli
Maniac Magee

17. 9. Hyperbole, Simile or Irony
 High above, a silver plane
crossed the sky, silent as a
spider.
--Jerry Spinelli
Maniac Magee

18. 10. Hyperbole, Simile or Irony
 I have a million things to do
today complained Ms. Fredrick
as she hurried across the
parking lot.

19. 11. Irony, Simile or Metaphor
 “Humor is the shock absorber of
life; it helps us take the blows.”
--Peggy Noonan

20. 12. Personification, Simile or
Metaphor
 Although the cowboy pushed
with all his might, the heavy
rock refused to budge.

21. 13. Personification, Simile or
Metaphor
 He slithered into town quietly so
no one would notice when he
dug his fangs in and slowly
poisoned their minds.

22. 14. Personification, Simile or
Metaphor
 He took a step further into the
room, his head swinging from
side to side like an old tiger
scenting prey.
--Neil Gaiman
The Graveyard Book

23. 15. Personification, Simile or
Metaphor
 The hills turned as soft and
green as velvet.

24. 16. Personification, Simile or
Metaphor
 “…now all my questions
bunched up in my throat like a
big wad of feathers.”
--Clare Vanderpool
Moon Over Manifest

25. 17. Personification, Simile or
Metaphor
 “…he looked like a dandelion
puff before the wind decapitated
it.”
--Clare Vanderpool
Moon Over Manifest

26. 18. Personification, Simile or
Metaphor
 The whole gym shakes when
she lands after a lay-up.

27. 19. Personification, Simile or
Metaphor
 My heart did a somersault in my
chest.

28. 20. Metaphor, Simile, Irony
 A poacher who killed elephants for their tusks
snuck into a wild life refuge's animal hospital area
to kill a sick elephant because he thought it would
be easy money. The elephant's problem was
apparently constipation, and the medicine they
gave the old fellow decided to take effect about
this time. The poacher was trying to sneak up
behind the elephant, trying to get close enough to
pop it with a tranquilizer without making too much
noise. As he got just behind the elephant, out
gushed about 2 weeks worth of... well... crap. The
poacher was completely buried and smothered to
death.

29. Review Your Notes
 What is the difference between a
simile and a metaphor?
 Name an example of either hyperbole
or personification in song lyrics.
 Create a simile to describe your
current mood.
 Why would a writer use
personification to describe a
character’s emotions.