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Lesson Preview · Grades 6-8

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 that one has to "figure" out...
  • Literal Language
  • Words mean exactly what they say
  • Ex: The bees were busy flying around the garden.
  • Figurative Language
  • Readers have to FIGURE out the meaning of the expression.
  • Ex: The students working on their projects were as busy as bees.
  • Were the students working hard or not? 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
Comparing two different things using "like" or "as"
  • Examples
  • The telephone wires hung like a musical score.
  • Those faces, sour as vinegar, watched us leave.
  • A flag wags like a fishhook there in the sky.
WARNING!
The speaker must actually compare two things.
  • Just using the word LIKE or AS does NOT make it a simile.
  • THESE ARE NOT SIMILES
  • I washed the dishes as she dried them.
  • I like Taco Tuesdays.
  • She looks like her mom.
Metaphor
Comparing two different things without using "like" or "as"
  • Examples
  • Flowers of thought blossom while reading.
  • The painted leaves are strewn along the winding way.
  • Fame is a bee — it has a song, it has a sting.
Personification
Giving human traits or abilities to things or ideas
  • Examples
  • Trees that whisper in some far, small town.
  • The wise trees stand motionless in the cold.
  • The brooks laugh louder when I come, the breezes madder play.
Hyperbole
Exaggeration to express a strong feeling or for effect
  • Examples
  • Oh never, if I live to a million, shall I feel such a grievous pain.
  • The lunch line stretched all the way to the moon.
  • My book bag weighs a million pounds.
Understatement
An expression making something smaller than it seems, minimizing the effect of something
  • Examples
  • Alex acknowledged he may have parked a little too close to the house, after he smashed through the garage door.
  • Professor Plum admitted that the test may have been a little tricky after half the class failed.
  • The firefighter who rescued six people from a burning building said that she just did what needed doing.

Review

Shown after slides, one question at a time

Review
The dancer moved across the stage like water flowing over stones.
  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The speaker compares the dancer's movement to water using the word "like."
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
The wind whispered secrets through the broken window.
  • Simile
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
  • Understatement
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The wind is given the human ability to whisper secrets.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
She has heard that excuse a billion times and she's not buying it anymore.
  • Simile
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
  • Understatement
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The speaker is exaggerating how many times she has heard that excuse.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
The fog was a thick curtain draped across the harbor.
  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The fog is compared to a curtain without using the word "like" or "as."
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
Mr. Blair felt that maybe the science experiment went a little off course after the fire department arrived at the school.
  • Simile
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
  • Understatement
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The speaker is understating how poorly the experiment went. It seems that it developed into a full-blown emergency.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
The abandoned building stood as still as a photograph.
  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The building is compared to a photograph using the word "as" to make the comparison.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
Lightning danced across the sky and thunder answered back.
  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
Lightning is given the ability to dance and thunder is given the ability to answer.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
The hallway smelled so bad after gym class that it should have been declared a hazardous zone.
  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Hyperbole
  • Understatement
Learn Why (shown after incorrect answer)
The speaker is exaggerating the hazards of body odor.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)
Review
She noticed the burning fire in his eyes whenever he spoke about this plan.
  • 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 landing the plane with only one 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 bumpy the flight was.
Optional Follow-up
How do you figure? (Why do you think your answer is correct?)