“I’ve eaten so much I feel as if I could literally burst!”In this case, the person is not using the word literally in its true meaning. Literal means "exact" or "not exaggerated." By pretending that the statement is not exaggerated, the person stresses how much he has eaten. Literal language is language that means exactly what is said. Most of the time, we use literal language.

Recognizing Literal Language

Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, you are using figurative language.

What is figurative language?

I am hungry as a horse.

                                                       

You run like a rabbit.

                                                                        

                                                                  

He is sneaky as a snake.

She is happy as a clam.

Literature Example: How public – like a Frog -

The girl was a fish in the water.

The clown was a feather floating away.

Literature Example: My voice having tones of thunder

Is a contrast between what is said and

what is actually meant or written

You stay up all night studying for a test.

When you go to class, you discover the test is not until the next day.

A traffic jam when you're already late

Have you ever seen a horror movie that has a killer on the

loose? You, and the rest of the audience, know that the

teenagers should not go walking in the woods late at

night, but they think a midnight stroll would be

romantic. Needless to say, the teens become the next

victims.

Symbolism• When a person, place, thing, or

event that has meaning in itself also represents, or stands for, something else.

= innocence

= America

= peace

Dialect • is a variety of languages that people speak

from a particular region or group.

• Sometimes in stories authors use dialects to make a character stand out.

Examples~

"Dem Dere" in Brooklyn

“

Yah" in Minnesota

"Gag me with a spoon" in So. Calif.

South: "Y'all"

North: "You guys"

Analogy is a likeness or similarity between things that

are otherwise unlike

Examples

Song is to sing as clock is to time

Book is to read as poem is to rhyme

Snow is to flake as water is to ice

Hate is to love as mean is to nice

HyperboleAn exaggerated statement used with great exaggeration. Used to emphasis a point.

She’s said so on several million occasions.

That ice cream cone was a mile

high

                                                            

The flowers danced in the wind.

The Earth coughed and choked in all of the pollution.

The friendly gates welcomed us.

Repeated consonant sounds occurring at the beginning of words or within words.

Example: She was wide-eyed and wondering while she waited for Walter to waken.

Alliteration

                                                            

Stan the strong surfer saved several swimmers

on Saturday.

Tiny Tommy Thomson takes toy trucks to Timmy’s on Tuesday.

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how

many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

Is a reference to a famous person,

place, event, or work of literature

Christy did not like to spend money, but she was no Scrooge.

I am afraid of spiders but I am no Cowardly Lion.

The students at EIS were acting like Greek Warriors

Is the use of sounds, words,

phrases, or whole line used more

than once.

Repetition Examples: Rain

The rain is falling all aroundIt falls on field and tree,

It rains on the umbrellas here,And on the ships at sea.

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way. Oh

what fun it is to ride in a one horse opened sleigh~

Hey. Jingle Bells……

Humpty DumptyHumpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;All the King's horses and all the

King's menCouldn't put Humpty together

again

                                                                                                             Princess Kitty will kiss Timmy T. Tippers’s lips

The pain may drain Drake, but maybe the weight is fake.

the use of words that mimic sounds.

                                               

Chug chug chug!!

Swish swish swish

Yeeeeee Ahhhhhhhh

Glippp Gluppp Gluppp

The firecracker made a loud ka-boom!

• Sight • Hearing • Touch • Taste • Smell

Language that appeals to the senses. Descriptions of people or

objects stated in terms of our senses.

Imagery

Idioms

Example: "She has a bee in her bonnet," meaning "she is obsessed," cannot be literally translated into another language word for word.

An idiom or idiomatic expression refers to a construction or expression in one language that cannot be matched or directly translated word-for-word in another language.