Figures of Speech

Metaphor
• A “Metaphor” goes further than a comparison
between two different things or ideas by fusing
them together: one thing is described as being
another thing. It is an implicit comparison.

Love is the star to every wandering bark

Simile
• It is an explicit comparison between two
things or ideas using “like” or “as.”

Her heart is like a stone

Personification
• It is giving something nonhuman human
characteristics.

Flowers dance

The sun smiles

Onomatopoeia
• They are words which sound like the noise
which they describe.

Bang - cuckoo - smack

Alliteration
• It is the repetition of the same initial
consonantal sound along a line.

Bed and breakfast

Assonance
• It is the repetition of the same vowel sound
along a line.

Child and silence

Hyperbole
• It is a deliberate exaggeration to create an
effect.

There were millions of people at

the café.
Irony
• It consists of saying one thing while you
mean another.

Having 1000 spoons when

you only need 1 fork.
Climax
•It is the point at which the protagonists´
fortunes reach their highest point before
the “turning point” which initiates the
“falling action.” In general, any point of
great intensity in a literary work.
Repetition
• It is the repetition of a word or phrase for
amplification or emphais.

Five years have passed: five

summers, with the length of five
long winters.
Examples:
• The lines of the road streched out toward infinity. (Hyperbole)
• Julia´s heart sings as she watches her boyfriend step off the plane.
(Personification)
• The panicked crowd rushed foward like a flood of chaos. (simile)
• His presence at the funeral was an anchor, keeping me steady. (Metaphor)
• The dropped beaker was bound to smash beautifully. (Onomatoeia)(Alliteration)
• Thanks a lot for stretching out my favourite shirt. (irony)
• The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plains. (Assonance: /ei/)
• Don´t slam the door! (Onomatopeia) (Alliteration)
• Breathe, breathe, breathe, I told myself. (Repetition)