[HANDOUT FOR LONG TEST #2] Prepared by Teacher Inez for Grade 5

FIGURES OF SPEECH

DEFINITION
Figures of speech are used to add expression, creativity, and sometimes clarity in your words. They aren’t
meant to be taken literally (as physical actuality or fact) – they cannot actually happen exactly as they are
said.

TYPES
There are many types of figures of speech, but we are only taking up a few:

METAPHOR. A direct comparison of two unlike objects.

To make a metaphor, you need:

TWO THINGS
being COMPARED
(remember, “compare” means “look for similarities”)

Example:
My father (THING 1) is a tree (THING 2) because he’s so tall and strong (SIMILARITIES – both my
father and a tree are tall and strong)

SIMILE. A comparison of two unlike objects, using “as” or “like”.

To make a simile, you need:

TWO THINGS
being COMPARED
using “AS” or “LIKE”

(if there is “as” or “like”, but nothing is being compared, it’s not a simile!)

Example:
My mother (THING 1) is as kind as (SIMILARITY – both my mother and Santa Claus are kind. You
can also say “kind like”) SANTA CLAUS. (THING 2)

Note that SIMILE and METAPHOR are very much alike, except that similes use “like” and “as”, while metaphors
don’t.

Furthermore, the comparisons must be of unlike objects. Since similes and metaphors are used to paint a
clearer picture of something (which perhaps has not been seen by the reader), there is no point in comparing a fire
to another fire. (That won’t be a figure of speech – just a plain statement of fact.)

On the other hand, if you were to say that the Golden Apples of the Garden of Hesperides were “as shiny
as a medal” and “already as sweet as a pie, even without baking or sugar”, it is easier to imagine, even though you
may never have heard of the Golden Apples of Hesperides before. (Remind me to tell you the story sometime.)
PERSONIFICATION. Giving nonliving or nonhuman things human traits or characteristics.

To make a personification, you need:

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 [HANDOUT FOR LONG TEST #2] Prepared by Teacher Inez for Grade 5

An ANIMAL or OBJECT (even an ALIEN!)

A verb THAT ONLY HUMANS CAN DO
(or)
An adjective THAT CAN ONLY DESCRIBE HUMANS

Example:
Boots, Dora the Explorer’s pet monkey (AN ANIMAL) wears (VERB ONLY HUMANS DO) his
favourite clothes.

Note that sometimes the verb is only suggested or implied.

Example 1:
Boots chased after his favourite clothes.

There is no verb that only humans can do (because even animals can chase), but since clothes are worn, ironed,
washed… and generally all these are only done by humans, in this case Boots is still a monkey with human-like
traits, so this is still a personification, though not very obvious.

Example 2:
The star twinkled at me.

Stars really twinkle, but they don’t have minds of their own and can’t pick who to twinkle at. This is also a
personification because it suggests that the star can think and choose.

HYPERBOLE. An extreme exaggeration, to the point of impossibility.

To make a hyperbole, you need:

Something which normally CAN HAPPEN

but EXAGERRATED TO IMPOSSIBILITY

Example:
He flew by so fast that the buildings turned over.

Someone running fast (so fast it’s practically “flying”) can really happen. But turning buildings over? That’s got
to be an exaggeration.

Counter-examples:
(1) He flew on wings of air. (2) He flew on an airplane.

(1) People don’t really fly on wings. This is a metaphor – a comparison to a bird, perhaps – but not a hyperbole.
(2) This is a statement of fact.

ALLITERATION. The repetition of the first letter (usually a consonant) of words in close
proximity. Usually used in tongue twisters, brand names, or cartoon characters – things that need
to be easily remembered.

To make an alliteration, you need:

To REPEAT the FIRST LETTER

of TWO or MORE WORDS

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 [HANDOUT FOR LONG TEST #2] Prepared by Teacher Inez for Grade 5

CLOSE TO EACH OTHER

(within a word or two)

Example:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.
Coca-Cola or Coke is a soft drink brand.
Mighty Mouse used to be a famous cartoon superhero.

APOSTROPHE. To talk to something which does not physically exist (such as an abstract idea
or an imaginary person), or someone who is dead or physically absent (such as a caveman or a
lost pet).

To make an apostrophe, you need:

SOMEONE or SOMETHING
that ISN’T THERE
(could be dead, imaginary, absent, or abstract)
that YOU ARE TALKING TO

Example:
O Captain! My captain! Your hand lies cold and dead.

In this line from Whitman’s O Captain, My Captain, the narrator is talking to his dead father.

Counter-example:
O mighty dagger, this is thy sheath: there rust, and let me die.

In this line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is talking to the dagger – which is in her hand. Since the
dagger is physically present, this is not apostrophe; this is personification.

TEST!!! Identify what sort of figure of speech is below. (One example each)

1. Dear Santa: I want a pony for Christmas. Sincerely, Jane.

2. My friend Leanne is our class’s baby; she’s just so cute.
3. He has a voice like a double-chocolate fudge brownie.
4. Chloe screamed so loudly that the world cracked in two.
5. “Get out of the way!” the jeepney horn blared.
6. “Fee, fie, fo, fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!”