Language Arts Grade Six

Unit Sixteen, Lesson Four: Figurative Language


  1. wind
  2. mind
  3. find
  4. spine
  5. fine
  6. mine
  7. fossil
  8. fuel
  9. electric
  10. thermal
  1. turbines
  2. dam
  3. project
  4. generate
  5. hydroelectric
  6. geothermal
  7. gasoline
  8. coal
  9. efficient
  10. plentiful
Figurative Language

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.


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