Figurative Languages
Prepared by:
Ma’am Jev Santos
Figure of Speech
✓A figure of speech is a rhetorical
device that achieves a special
effect by using words in a
distinctive way.
Figure of Speech
✓Figurative language is often
associated with literature and with
poetry in particular.
Figure of Speech
✓It is an approach to pass on
implications in new, surprising
ways.
Figure of Speech
✓It can enable our readers to
comprehend and remain puzzled
by what we need to state.
Alliteration
✓The repetition of an initial
consonant sound.
Example:
• Betty Botter bought some
butter.
• The boy buzzed around as
busy as a bee.
• Rachel ran right until she
realized she was running
round and round.
Anaphora
✓The repetition of the same word
or phrase at the beginning of
successive clauses or verses.
Example:
• Unexpectedly, we were in the
wrong event at the wrong time
on the wrong day.
• I love everything about you. I
love your face. I love your mind.
I love your heart.
• Give me liberty or give me
death.
Antithesis
✓The combination of two different
elements to attain equilibrium or
balance.
Example:
• As Abraham Lincoln said,
"Folks who have no vices
have very few virtues.“
• Hope for the best. Prepare
for the worst.
• Keep your mouth closed and
your eyes open.
Apostrophe
✓Directly stating or calling a nonexistent
person or an inanimate object as
though it were a living being. It
commonly uses an apostrophe as a
punctuation.
Example:
• "Oh, rain! Rain! Where are
you? Rain, we really need
you right now. Our town
needs you badly.
• Dear periodical tests, I hope
you will be good to me.
Assonance
✓It is the repetition of the vowel
sounds in the structure of
sentences or lines.
Example:
• We shall meet on the beach
to reach the “Meach”
Concert.
• “His tender heir might bear
his memory” (William
Shakespeare, “Sonnet 1”)
Chiasmus
✓A sentence or line structure where
the half of the statement is
balanced against the other half.
Example:
• The noble teacher said
teachers should live to
teach, not teach to live.
Euphemism
✓The use of subtle and non
offensive words to conceal or to
replace the offensive words in a
statement.
Example:
• "We're teaching our toddler
how to go potty," Bob said.
The use of the word potty is
euphemism.
• Passed away-died
• Let go-fired
• Put down- euthanized
Hyperbole
✓An overstatement; the use of
exaggerated terms for the purpose
of emphasis or heightened effect.
Example:
• I have a ton of homework
to do when I get home. I
need to go home now.
• She never stops talking.
• This work is going to take
me years to finish.
Irony
✓ It is a statement or situation where the
meaning is contradicted by the appearance or
showing the concept. The use of words to
convey the opposite of their literal meaning is
the highlight of irony.
Example:
• Thalia received a very high
grade in her quiz resulting
that her mother got mad.
• A pilot has a fear of heights.
• The police station gets
robbed.
Litotes
✓An understatement in which an
affirmative is expressed by opposing its
counterpart.
Example:
• A million pesos is no small
chunk of change.
• I don’t deny that it was
wrong.
• The trip wasn’t a total
loss.
Metaphor
✓An implied comparison between two
dissimilar things that have something in
common.
Example:
• "All the world's a stage.”
• Your bedroom is a dump.
• There was a blanket of
snow.
• She has a heart of gold.
Metonymy
✓A word or phrase is substituted for
another with which it is closely associated;
Linking words that are related to the word
to be replaced.
Example:
• The use of the word vow
instead of wedding, the pen
stands for "the written word.
• Crown (for the power of a king)
• Dish (to refer to an entire plate)
• Hand (as a substitute for an
assistance)
Onomatopoeia
✓The use of words that imitate the sounds
associated with the objects or actions they
refer to.
Example:
• The clap of thunder went bang
and scared my poor dog.
• The pitter-patter of rain falling
on the pavement like tiny
footsteps.
• The corn went pop in the
microwave.
Oxymoron
✓It is the combination of contradictory or
incongruous words such as cruel kindness;
Example:
• “bitter sweet”
• The movie seemed to be
awfully good.
• I could see that he was
clearly confused because he
did not answer my questions
satisfactorily.
Paradox
✓a statement or proposition that, despite
sound (or apparently sound) reasoning
from acceptable premises, leads to a
conclusion that seems senseless, logically
unacceptable, or self-contradictory.
Example:
• "This is the beginning of the
end," said Eeyore, always the
pessimist.
• "What a pity that youth must
be wasted on the young.“
• If I know one thing, it's that I
know nothing.
Personification
✓The utilization of inanimate objects or
abstraction to associate with human
qualities or abilities.
Example:
• The leaves of the Fire tree are
dancing with the wind during
dry season in our country.
• The lightning danced across the
sky last night.
• My alarm clock yells at me to
wake up every morning.
Pun
✓ A pun is a form of wordplay that makes use of
the multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-
sounding words, to create a humorous or
rhetorical effect.
Example:
• I renamed my playlist of The
Titanic, so when I plug it in, it
says “The Titanic is syncing.”
• She had a photographic
memory but never developed
it.
• It’s pointless to write with a
broken pencil.
Simile
✓The comparison between two
fundamentally dissimilar things that have
certain qualities in common using like or
as.
Example:
• Michael was white as a sheet
after he walked out of the
horror movie.
• Love is like a battlefield.
• Teaching reading is like being
a detective solving a mystery.
Synecdoche
✓A figure of speech in which a part is used
to represent the whole.
Example:
• Mark is asking for the
hand of our daughter.
• I need a headcount by
morning.
• Do you like my new
wheels?
Understatement
✓A figure of speech employed by writers or
speakers to intentionally make a situation
seem less important than it really is.
Example:
• You win 10 million pesos
in a lottery.
• Looks like it rained a bit
last night.
• I did ok on that test.
