Figurative Language Starter Activity

This figurative language means EXTREME EXAGGERATION. E.g "If I can’t buy that perfect prom dress, I’ll die!" or "That joke is so old, the last time I heard it I was riding a dinosaur."

• simile

• personification

• hyperbole

• alliteration

Compares two unlike things using LIKE or AS. E.g They are as different as night and day or this dress is perfect because it fits like a glove.

• metaphor

• onomatopoeia

• alliteration

• simile

Using human qualities or characteristics to describe non-human objects. E.g The moon winked at me through the clouds above or I tripped because the curb jumped out in front of me.

• personification

• repetition

• metaphor

• hyperbole

Compares two unlike things by NOT using like or as. E.g Beth's suggestion was just a Band-Aid for the problem or my big brother is a couch potato.

• alliteration

• simile

• metaphor

• euphemism

A figure of speech used by writers to intentionally make a situation seem LESS IMPORTANT than it really is. E.g You borrow someone’s car and get a very long, horrible scratch on the side. If you say “It’s nothing, just a little scratch.”

• Hyperbole

• Understatement

• Personification

• Metaphor

Mild, indirect, or vague term substituting a harsh, blunt, or offensive term. E.g Letting someone go instead of firing someone or bit the dust instead of died.

• Euphemism

• Alliteration

• Onomatopoeia

• Hyperbole

Words that imitate, resemble, or suggest the sound that they describe. E.g Hiss, Thud, Pop or Wham!

• Alliteration

• Onomatopoeia

• Repetition

• Rule of Three

A type of personification where only EMOTIONS are given to a setting, an object or the weather. E.g Sad flowers or confused clouds.

• Personification

• Consonance

• Onomatopoeia

• Pathetic fallacy

The repetition of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. E.g She sells sea-shells down by the sea-shore

• Alliteration

• Metaphor

• Pathetic fallacy

• Repetition

A literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer. E.g “There are some things that are so unforgivable that they make other things easily forgivable.” or “I felt happy because I saw the others were happy and because I knew I should feel happy, but I wasn’t really happy.”

• Consonance

• Repetition

• Onomatopoeia

• Simile