Language Arts - Miscellaneous
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Language Arts - Miscellaneous - Figurative Language

Similes, Metaphors, Personification, Exaggeration

There are four types of figurative language which we will discuss in this lesson: 


  EXAGGERATION: The writer stretches the truth to make the story more 
    interesting or funny.
	EXAMPLE: The fog was so thick you could slice it with a knife.

  PERSONIFICATION: The writer gives human qualities to nouns that 
    aren't actually human.
	EXAMPLE: The house watched us as we walked past it.

  SIMILE: The writer compares two things that are not the same
    using the word like or as.
	EXAMPLE: Jill could run like a cheetah.

  METAPHOR: The writer compares to things that are not the same
    and states that one thing is the other.
	EXAMPLE: Jill was a busy bee.
When people say exactly what they mean, we call this literal language. When they use exaggeration, personification, simile, or metaphor to express themselves we call this figurative language. Here is a literal phrase expressed using each form of figurative language: 

  LITERAL: The sky was full of clouds.

  EXAGGERATION: There were more clouds than sky today.

  PERSONIFICATION: The sky begged to be free of the clouds.

  SIMILE: The sky was like a bucket full of clouds.

  METAPHOR: The sky was a bucket full of clouds.

People often use figurative language to express an idea in a more lively or interesting manner than would be the case if they just said exactly what they meant. For instance, instead of saying: 


	This meat is really greasy.
Someone could express this same idea by saying: 

	This meat is so greasy that it slides right off the plate.
Either way, the basic idea is that the meat is greasy. The second way of expressing this idea uses figurative language to express this idea.

Here is another example: 


  LITERAL: The fog was very thick.

  FIGURATIVE: The fog was like soup.
Both sentences convey the idea that the fog was thick. The first one uses literal language to state the idea and the second uses figurative language.

When using literal language, the speaker says exactly what is intended. With figurative language exaggerations or comparisons are made which aren't precisely accurate.

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