Figurative Language in Speak

Figurative Language

By Mrs. Hoffman

Authors use figurative language to create a picture in the readers’ minds. Most of the time, the author is comparing what is really happening with something people are familiar with, allowing the reader to make a connection with what is happening in the novel. Figurative language also allows the author to express in more a powerful way what is occurring in the novel. Some literary elements that are used to create figurative language are:

Simile: a comparison between two unlike things using the words like or as.

Metaphor: a comparison between two unlike things without using the words like or as.

Personification: giving human qualities to non-living objects.

​Watch: Simile or Metaphor video

ACTIVITY

Test your knowledge

Read the examples of figurative language from Speak listed below. Label each example with an S for simile, an M for metaphor, or a P for personification.

Multiple Choice

Words climb up my throat.

• SIMILE

• METAPHOR

• PERSONIFICATION

Multiple Choice

I dive into the stream of fourth-period lunch students and swim down the hall to the cafeteria.

• SIMILE

• METAPHOR

• PERSONIFICATION

Multiple Choice

I have been dropped like a hot Pop Tart on a cold kitchen floor.

• SIMILE

• METAPHOR

• PERSONIFICATION

Multiple Choice

We are all dressed in down jackets and vests, so we collide and roll like bumper cars at the state fair.

• SIMILE

• METAPHOR

• PERSONIFICATION

Multiple Choice

There is a beast in my gut, I can hear it scraping away at the inside of my ribs.

• SIMILE

• METAPHOR

• PERSONIFICATION

Multiple Choice

Her skin is a flat gray color, like underwear washed so many times it’s about to fall apart.

• SIMILE

• METAPHOR

• PERSONIFICATION

Multiple Choice

All the anger whistles out of me like I’m a popped balloon.

• SIMILE

• METAPHOR

• PERSONIFICATION

Multiple Choice

Lights wink on, the fountains jump, music plays behind the giant ferns, and the mall is open.

• SIMILE

• METAPHOR

• PERSONIFICATION

Multiple Choice

The card is still there, a white patch of hope with my name on it.

• SIMILE

• METAPHOR

• PERSONIFICATION

Multiple Choice

I chomp my sandwich and it barfs mustard on my shirt.

• SIMILE

• METAPHOR

• PERSONIFICATION

Multiple Choice

Her voice sounds like a cold engine that won’t turn over.

• SIMILE

• METAPHOR

• PERSONIFICATION

Multiple Choice

I am a deer frozen in the headlights or a tractor trailer.

• SIMILE

• METAPHOR

• PERSONIFICATION