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Lesson Preview · Grades 9-12

Figurative Language Lesson

Skill: Figurative Language

This lesson explains simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, and understatement. Students learn these techniques and then practice identifying and distinguishing between them with a practice activity. This lesson is adaptable for grades 3-12.

Grades 3-5Grades 6-8Grades 9-12
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What is Figurative Language?
Language which one must "figure" out...
  • Literal Language
  • Words mean exactly what they say
  • Ex: The bees were busy pollinating flowers in the garden.
  • Figurative Language
  • Readers have to FIGURE out the meaning of the expression by thinking.
  • Ex: The students working on their research projects were as busy as bees pollinating a garden.
  • Were the students working hard or were they being lazy? The reader has to FIGURE this out.
Figurative Language Techniques
What This Lesson Covers...
  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
  • Understatement
  • Let's look at each of these a little more closely...
Simile
A comparison of two different things using "like" or "as"
  • Examples
  • Let it be forgotten as a flower is forgotten.
  • The drops ran down as slow as fate.
  • His sorrow goes like mountain snows in waters sweet and clear.
WARNING!
The speaker must actually compare two different things.
  • Simply using the word LIKE or AS does NOT automatically make it a simile.
  • THE FOLLOWING ARE NOT SIMILES
  • I washed the dishes as she dried them.
  • I like Taco Tuesdays.
  • She looks like her mom.
Metaphor
A comparison of two different things without using "like" or "as."
  • Examples
  • My heart was a silent sea after the storm.
  • Would I might mend the tattered fabric of my youth.
  • Life is a frail moth flying, caught in the web of the years that pass.
Personification
Giving human traits or abilities to objects, ideas, or nature
  • Examples
  • A tree may wear a nest of robins in her hair.
  • Beauty walks in the woods waking flowers from wintry sleep.
  • The North Wind, ravenous and savage from its long polar journey, is searching for food.
Hyperbole
Exaggerating to express a strong feeling or for effect
  • Examples
  • Each moment apart takes a year till we reunite, my dear.
  • I would wander with you to the ends of all creation.
  • And there will I keep you forever, yes, forever and a day, till the walls shall crumble to ruin.
Understatement
An expression with less strength than expected, minimizing the effect of something
  • Examples
  • When the strategy resulted in the loss of an entire regiment, the general called it a less-than-ideal outcome.
  • After revealing he had been poisoned, the spy remarked, "This is somewhat inconvenient."
  • The guillotine will give you a bad hair day.

Review

Shown after slides, one question at a time

Review
Her thoughts scattered like ash in the wind.
  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The speaker compares her thoughts to ash using the word "like."
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
Winter wrapped its cold fingers around the village and refused to let go.
  • Simile
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
  • Understatement
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The speaker gives winter fingers and the ability to refuse.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
The professor's lecture was so dull it could have drained the color from a painting.
  • Simile
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
  • Understatement
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The speaker is exaggerating the effects of the dull lecture.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
Grief is an anchor that holds us to the places we have lost.
  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The grief is compared to an anchor without using the word "like" or "as."
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
The general felt that after the campaign failed, costing hundreds of thousands of lives, things had not gone exactly as planned.
  • Simile
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
  • Understatement
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The speaker is minimizing the costs of the failed campaign.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
Her silence hung between them like a curtain neither dared to draw.
  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The silence is compared to a curtain using the word "like" to make the comparison.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
The abandoned factory brooded at the edge of town, patiently waiting for a thing that would never arrive.
  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The factory is given the human abilities of brooding and waiting.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
The bureaucracy required enough paperwork to deforest an entire continent.
  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Hyperbole
  • Understatement
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The speaker is exaggerating how much paper was used by the bureaucracy.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
She marveled at the burning fire in his eyes whenever he spoke about his grand ambition.
  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Personification
  • Understatement
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
His eyes are compared to a fire without using the word "like" or "as."
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
After successfully landing the plane with the detached wing, the pilot agreed that the flight had been a little bumpy.
  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Hyperbole
  • Understatement
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The pilot is minimizing how turbulent the flight was.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)