UGE Figurative Languages

• Literal meaning


  The exact meaning of what the speaker or writer wants to say
• Figurative language


  Conveys a meaning quite different from what is said or written
• Figurative words


  Used to beautify, even as it means differently from their dictionary meaning
• Figurative expression


  • Angelo is the only thorn among the roses
• To understand figurative language, one should focus on the image and the feelings being suggested by the word or phrase, not the dictionary meaning
• Figurative language


  • Used by poets to say something different from the usual way
  • Use of words that go beyond their ordinary meaning
  • Requires imagination to figure out the author's meaning
  • Can heighten senses
• Simile


  Compares two unlike objects with the common quality, using the words "like" or "as"
• Simile


  • My love for you is as deep as the sea.
  • My father is as busy as a bee.
  • The still lake reflects the mountain like a mirror.
• Metaphor


  A form of comparison that directly compares two unlike things, created when there are common characteristics between a literal concept and a figurative one
• Metaphor


  • Her teeth are pearls.
  • Time is gold.
  • You are the sunshine of my life.
• Personification


  The attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman/inanimate objects (an animal, an object, or a concept), the reader visualizes the literal term as human form/trait
• Personification


  • Lightning danced across the sky.
  • My alarm clock yells at me to get out of bed every morning.
  • The stars winked at us from the night sky.
• Onomatopoeia


  The use of a word whose sound suggests the meaning
• Onomatopoeia


  • Six burgers were sizzling on the grill.
  • The hissing of the snake scared me.
  • The bee buzzed to my ears.
• Irony


  A figure of speech which a person is saying the opposite of what he means
• Irony


  • The bad news is that everybody got perfect in yesterday's test.
  • It is so nice of you to tell my secrets.
  • It is good of you for scolding me in front of my friends.
• Apostrophe


  Identified by the addressing of someone absent, dead, or nonhuman as if the person or thing were alive and could answer the speaker talking, often used in informal writing contexts
• Apostrophe


  • Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.
  • Princess Leia, where are you tonight? And who's laying there by your side? – Blink 182
  • "Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own." - Lorenz Hart, "Blue Moon"
• Hyperbole


  an overstatement or exaggeration for effect of humor.
• Examples of hyperbole

  1. You snore louder than a freight train.
  2. I will love you till the seas run dry.
  3. I have reminded you a million times to keep away from bad friends
• LITOTES

  • a figure of speech in which understatement is employed for rhetorical effect, principally via double negatives; and
  • emphasizes truth
• Examples of LILOTES

  • The ice cream was not too bad.
  • Your comments on politics are not useless.
  • Your apartment is not unclean.
• EPITHET

  • also known as byname;
  • a descriptive word or phrase added to or substituted for the name of somebody or something, highlighting a quality or figure
• Examples of EPITHET

  1. Alexander the Great;
  2. Aristides the Just;
  3. “Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twist sand turns...” (Odysseus).
  4. Calypso, the bewitching nymph.
  5. Atlas, wicked Titan
• ALLEGORY

  • an extended metaphor;
  • a literary device in which characters or events represent or symbolize ideas and concepts;
  • present high truths with vividness and power;
  • illustrate complex ideas and concepts in ways that are easily digestible and tangible to the readers.
• Example of ALLEGORY


  Zootopia is a film steeped in allegories pertaining to tolerance and equality. In fact, the society, as a whole, is made up of predators and prey. And when a little bunny, Judy Hoops, fulfills her lifelong dream to become a police officer, the chief of police expresses major concern in her ability to do her job, based on her slight figure.
• ALLEGORY


  In The Wizard of Oz, the lion represents cowardice,while the scarecrow stands for the agrarian past,given his lack of a brain. The tin man represents thetechnological future, given he has no heart.
• METONYMY


  a figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated.
• METONYM

  1. “The pen is mightier than the sword.” pen – thewritten word | sword – military aggression.
  2. We must wait to hear from the crown until wemake any further decisions.
  3. Can you please give me a hand carrying this boxup the stairs?
  4. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.(ears - represent attention and notice).
• SYNECDOCHE

  • may use part of something to represent the entirewhole;
  • may use the entire thing to represent part of it
• SYNECDOCHE

  1. We need more hands.
  2. Those wheels are awesome!
  3. Two heads are better than one
• ALLITERATION

  • characterized by the repetition of initial vowel or consonant sounds;
  • great way to help you remember names and phrases.
• ALLITERATION

  1. Peter piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.
  2. Quincy’s quilters quit quilting quickly.
  3. Fred’s friends fried Fritos for Friday’s food.
• ALLUSION


  a figure of speech in which something or somebody is associated with a popular personality or event.
• ALLUSION

  1. Sheila Marie may be the next Melchora Aquino.
  2. Don’t act like a Romeo in front of her.
  3. You are my cleopatra.
• OXYMORON


  a figure of speech in which a pair of opposite or contradictory terms is used together for emphasis.
• OXYMORON

  1. This is another fine mess you have got us into.
  2. There is a real love hate relationship developing between the two of them.
  3. Suddenly the room filled with a deafening silence.
• OXYMORON

  1. The comedian was seriously funny.
  2. You are clearly confused by the situation you havefound yourself in.
  3. This is a genuine imitation Rolex watch.
• PUN

  • an expression intended for a humorous or rhetorical effect by exploiting different meaning of words;
  • also called as paronomasia that uses words that have several meanings or words that sound similar but have different meanings.
• PUN

  1. Santa's helpers are known as subordinate Clauses.
  2. She had a photographic memory but neverdeveloped it.
  3. The two pianists had a good marriage. They alwayswere in a chord.