This document discusses various types of imagery and figures of speech used in writing. It begins by defining imagery as descriptive language that creates sensory experiences for the reader. Five types of imagery are described: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile. Examples are provided for each. The document then discusses various figures of speech such as simile, metaphor, personification, and others. Figures of speech are defined as creative language that departs from ordinary expressions. Examples are used to illustrate different figures of speech.

1. LANGUAGE
IN
WRITING
Imagery. Figures of Speech. Diction
Learn about language in writing
JOENEL C. GONZAGA
w w w . u n t i t l e d a d r e s s . c o m

2. What is Imagery
 Imagery is a language used by
poets, novelists and other writers
to create images in the mind of the
reader.
 Imagery includes figurative and
metaphorical language to improve
the reader’s experience through
their senses.

4. The night was
black as ever, but bright
stars lit up the sky in
beautiful and varied
constellations which
were sprinkled across
the astronomical
landscape.
In this example, the experience of
the night sky is described in depth with
color (black as ever, bright), shape (varied
constellations), and pattern (sprinkled).
Imagery using visuals

5. Silence was
broken by the peal of
piano keys as
Shannon began
practicing her
concerto.
Here, auditory imagery
“breaks silence with the
beautiful sound of piano keys”.
Imagery using sounds

6. She smelled
the scent of sweet
hibiscus wafting
through the air, its
tropical smell a
reminder that she
was on vacation in
a paradise.
The scent of hibiscus
helps describe a scene which is
relaxing, warm, and welcoming.
Imagery using scent

7. The candy melted
in her mouth and
swirls of bittersweet
chocolate and slightly
sweet but salty
caramel blended
together on her
tongue.
Thanks to an in-depth description
of the candy’s various flavors, the reader
can almost experience the deliciousness
directly.
Imagery using taste

8. After the long
run, he collapsed in
the grass with tired
and burning
muscles. The grass
tickled his skin and
sweat cooled on
his brow.
In this example, imagery is used to
describe the feeling of strained muscles,
grass’s tickle, and sweat cooling on skin.
Imagery using touch

9. Types of Imagery

10. Visual imagery may include:
 Color
‒ such as: burnt red, bright orange, dull yellow, verdant
green, and Robin’s egg blue
 Shapes
‒ such as: square, circular, tubular, rectangular, and conical
 Size
‒ such as: miniscule, tiny, small, medium-sized, large, and
gigantic
 Pattern
‒ such as: polka-dotted, striped, zig-zagged, jagged, and
straight.
VISUAL IMAGERY Visual imagery describes what we
see: comic book images, paintings, or
images directly experienced through
the narrator’s eyes.

11. Auditory imagery may include:
 Enjoyable sounds
‒ beautiful music, birdsong, and the voices of a
chorus
 Noises
‒ the bang of a gun, the sound of a broom
moving across the floor, and the sound of
broken glass shattering on the hard floor
 The lack of noise describing a peaceful
calm or eerie silence.
AUDITORY IMAGERY Auditory imagery describes what
we hear, from music to noise to
pure silence.

12. Olfactory imagery may include:
 Fragrances
‒ such as perfumes, whiff of enticing
food and drink, and aromatic scent of
blooming flowers
 Odors
‒ rotting trash, body odors, or a stinky
wet dog, rancid smell of chemical
OLFACTORY IMAGERY
Olfactory Imagery
describes what we smell.

13. Gustatory imagery can include:
 Sweetness
- candies, cookies, and desserts
 Sourness, bitterness, and tartness
- lemons and limes
 Saltiness
- pretzels, French fries, and pepperoni
 Spiciness
- salsas and curries
 Savoriness
- a steak dinner or thick soup
GUSTATORY IMAGERY Gustatory imagery
describes what we taste.

14. TACTILE IMAGERY
Tactile imagery describes
what we feel or touch.
Tactile imagery can include:
 Temperature
- bitter cold, humidity, mildness, and stifling heat
 Texture
- rough, ragged, seamless, and smooth
 Touch
- hand-holding, one’s in the grass, or the feeling
of starched fabric on one’s skin
 Movement
- burning muscles from exertion, swimming in
cold water, or kicking a soccer ball

15. IMPORTANCE OF USING IMAGERY
 We experience life through our senses, a strong composition
should appeal to them through the use of imagery.
 Descriptive imagery launches the reader into the experience
of a warm spring day, scorching hot summer, crisp fall, or
harsh winter.
 It allows readers to directly sympathize with characters
and narrators as they imagine having the same sense
experiences.
 Imagery helps build compelling poetry, convincing
narratives, vivid plays, well-designed film sets, and
descriptive songs.

16.  It beautifies and complicates the image of a
fish that has just been caught.
 You can imagine the fish with tattered, dark
brown skin “like ancient wallpaper” covered
in barnacles, lime deposits, and sea lice.
 In just a few lines, Bishop mentions many
colors including brown, rose, white, and
green.
IMAGERY IN LITERATURE
Example 1
His brown skin hung in strips like
ancient wallpaper, and its pattern
of darker brown was like wallpaper:
shapes like full-blown roses stained
and lost through age.
An excerpt from Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Fish”

17.  We can almost feel the cabinet and its
varnished texture or the joint that is
specifically in a dovetail shape.
 We can also imagine the clasp detailing on
the diary and the tin cash box that’s hidden
under a floorboard.
 Various items are described in-depth, so much
so that the reader can easily visualize them.
IMAGERY IN LITERATURE
Example 2
A taste for the miniature was one aspect of an
orderly spirit. Another was a passion for secrets: in a
prized varnished cabinet, a secret drawer was opened by
pushing against the grain of a cleverly turned dovetail
joint, and here she kept a diary locked by a clasp, and a
notebook written in a code of her own invention. … An old
tin petty cash box was hidden under a removable
floorboard beneath her bed.
An excerpt from Ian McEwan’s novel “Atonement”

19. FIGURES OF
SPEECH
Imagery. Figures of Speech. Diction
L e a r n a b o u t l a n g u a g e i n w r i t i n g
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Figure of Speech is a departure
from the ordinary form of expression,
or the ordinary course of ideas in
order to produce a greater effect.

20. Figure of Speech
 A figure of speech is a figurative language in the form
of a single word or phrase.
 It can be a special repetition, arrangement or omission
of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a
specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning
of the words.

21.  A figure of speech is essentially a
word or phrase used in a non-literal
sense for rhetorical or vivid effect
 They are plainly defined as saying
one thing in terms of something else.
 literal - taking words in their usual
or most basic sense without
metaphor or exaggeration
 rhetoric- the art of effective or
persuasive speaking or writing
A FIGURE OF SPEECH

22.  In a simile, a comparison is
made between two objects of
different kinds which have,
however, one point in common.
 The simile is usually
introduced by the words like,
as or so.
SIMILE

23.  A metaphor is an implied
simile.
 Unlike simile, it does not state
that one thing is like another or
acts as another, but takes that
for granted and proceeds as if
the two things were one.
METAPHOR

24. Every simile can be compressed into a metaphor and
every metaphor can expanded into a simile.
Thus,
 Akash fought like a lion. (Simile)
 Akash was a lion in the fight. (Metaphor)
REMEMBER!

25.  In Personification, inanimate
objects and abstract notions are
spoken of as having life and
intelligence.
 Personification occurs when the
author or speaker gives human
characteristics to non- human
objects.
PERSONIFICATION

26.  An Apostrophe is a direct
address to the dead, to the
absent, or to a personified object
or idea.
 This figure is a special form of
Personification.
APOSTROPHE

27.  In Hyperbole, a
statement is made
emphatic by
overstatement.
HYPERBOLE

28.  Euphemism consists in the
description of a
disagreeable thing by an
agreeable name.
 Example: You are telling
me a fairy tale (i.e., a lie).
EUPHEMISM

29.  Antithesis is a striking
opposition or contrast of words
or sentiments that is made in
the same sentence. It is
employed to secure emphasis.
 Example: Speech is silver, but
silence is golden.
ANTITHESIS
"Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing."

30.  Oxymoron is a special form of
Antithesis, whereby two
contradictory qualities are
predicted at once of the same
thing.
 Example: "I am busy doing
nothing."
OXYMORON

31.  An Epigram is a brief pointed
saying frequently introducing
antithetical ideas which excite
surprise and arrest attention.
 Example: “Mankind must put an
end to war, or war will put and
end to mankind.” – John F.
Kennedy
EPIGRAM

32.  Irony is a mode of speech in
which the real meaning is
exactly the opposite of that
which is literally conveyed.
 Example: "How nice!" she
said, when I told her I had to
work all weekend.
IRONY

33.  A Pun is the use of a word
in such a way as to
suggests two or more than
one application, or the
meaning of another word
similar in sound..
 Example: Is life worth
living?— It depends upon
the liver.
PUN

34.  Metonymy(literally, a
change of name), an object
is designated to be the
name of something else
which is generally
associated with it.
 Example: The Crown, for
the King
 The lands belonging to the
crown.
METONYMY

35.  Synecdoche, a part is used to
designate the whole or the whole
to designate a part.
 Example: The word "bread" can
be used to represent food in
general or money (e.g. he is the
breadwinner; music is my bread
and butter)
SYNECDOCHE

36. Synecdoche in Literature
A boy has been admitted to the hospital.
The nurse says, “He’s in good hands.”
The boy is not literally being taken care of by two
hands. Rather, he is being taken care
of by an entire hospital system, including nurses,
assistants, doctors, and many others.
This is an example of microcosmic synecdoche,
as a part signifies a whole.

37.  An epithet (a word or phrase that
describes a person or thing) is
transferred from its proper word to
another that is closely associated
with it in the sentence.
 Example: dreamless sleep
TRANSFERRED
EPITHET

38. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.
Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespear)
Epithet in Literature

39.  Litotes, an affirmative is
conveyed by negation of the
opposite, the effect being to
suggest a strong expression by
means of a weaker. It is the
opposite of Hyperbole.
 Example: The man is no fool
(=very clever).
LITOTES

40. Litotes in Literature
I cannot say that I think you are
very generous to the ladies; for,
whilst you are proclaiming peace and
good-will to men, emancipating all
nations, you insist upon retaining an
absolute power over wives. (Abigail
Adams, letter to John Adams)

41.  Climax is the arrangement
of a series of ideas in the
order of increasing
importance.
 Example: "There are three
things that will endure: faith,
hope, and love. But the
greatest of these is love."
CLIMAX

42.  Anticlimax is the opposite of
Climax— a sudden descent
from higher to lower. It is
chiefly used for the purpose of
satire or ridicule.
 Example: He lost his family,
his car and his cell phone.
ANTICLIMAX

43.  Onomatopoeia is the
formation of a word from a
sound associated with what
is named
 Example: cuckoo, sizzle
ONOMATOPOEIA

44. DICTION
L e a r n a b o u t l a n g u a g e i n w r i t i n g
w w w . u n t i t l e d a d r e s s . c o m

45. Diction is the choice of words or the style used by an
individual when speaking or writing.
Factors to consider when choosing words:
 Words need to be right and accurate.
 Words need to be appropriate for the context.
 Words need be understood by the readers or listeners.
 When speaking, words need to be properly pronounced.
WHAT IS DICTION?

46. Appropriateness
Specificity
imagery
QUALITIES OF A GOOD DICTION

47. LANGUAGE FORMALITY
SCALE

48. TYPES
OF
DICTION
L e a r n a b o u t l a n g u a g e i n w r i t i n g
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49.  Formal Diction refers to the
appropriate way of speaking for
formal or official occasions.
 It often contains complex syntax
and sophisticated words.
 Formal diction does not contain
colloquialism, contractions, slang,
etc.
FORMAL DICTION

50.  Informal (Casual) Diction refers to
the way of speaking we use in
everyday life.
 Informal language does not usually
contain any complex syntactic
patterns or sophisticated terms.
 It might contain colloquialisms and
contractions.
INFORMAL DICTION

51.  Colloquialism is nonstandard, which
means that is not usually accepted or
used by the educated speakers and
often regional ways of using
language.
 They are appropriate for informal and
conversational speech and writing.
 Expressions like yup, guys, ain’t,
gonna, y’all are examples of colloquial
words.
COLLOQUIALISM

52.  Slang is an informal, nonstandard form of
language which consists of newly created and
rapidly changing words and phrases.
 Words like fam (family) and frenemy (two
friends with constant disputes) are some
examples of slang words
 LOL (laugh out loud), TTYL (talk to you later)
and IDK (I don't know) can be considered as
slangs.
SLANG

53.  Dialect is a variety of a language
spoken in a particular geographical
area or by a particular group of
people.
 Dialect may be different from the
standard variety of that language
through its vocabulary, syntax, and
pronunciation.
DIALECT

54.  Jargon is a specific words or
phrases used in different contexts,
professions, and trade.
 Examples:
 Computer field : RAM, backup, GB
 Military : AWOL, SOP, IED
 Medical: idiopathic, metabolic
syndrome
JARGON

55. Works of well-known local writers
Poems:
The Innocence of Solomon by Nick Joaquin
The Anchored Angel by Jose Garcia Villa
Novels:
The Summer Solstice by Nick Joaquin
Dusk by Francisco Sionil Jose
Short Story:
Footnote to Youth by Jose Garcia Villa

56. Works of Foreign Writers
Poetry:
The Fish by Margareth Bishop
Sonnet 71 by William Shakespear
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
by Christopher Marlowe
Novel:
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

57. SOURCES
https://www.slideshare.net/rhinautan/creative-writing
https://www.slideshare.net/ebinrobinson/figures-of-speech
https://www.slideshare.net/gswider/diction-powerpoint
https://www.slideshare.net/BlancaLake/diction-types

58. Choice Board
Infographics
Make an infographic
of the Figures of
Speech
Poetry
Compose a poem
using Figure of
Speech
(Simile, Metaphor,
Personification)
Comics
Create a comic strips
using an Apostrophe
(Figure of Speech
Poster
Create a poster of a
Figure of Speech with a
literal and figurative
meaning
Do this activity in a short bond paper for 25 points, submit through any medium and send
notification via messenger or email.