Friday, October 23, 2009

Figurative Language

Figurative Language is Words or phrases that describe one thing in terms of another. Not to be taken literally. Like Metaphors, similes, personification, and hyperbole.

Similes are a comparison between two things. It usually includes the word like or as. In the book Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, Mattie Cook said "Bodies are piling up like Firewood," on page 64. She means that the bodies were piling up so fast that they looked like firewood. Because you pile on Firewood over the other that's what they were doing to the bodies. Another good example from the book is on pg 142. "Two bony hands curled around my shoulder like the claws of a panther," This means that the bony hands on her back felt like claws from a panther.

Personification is the giving of human abilities to non human things. You will find an example of this on pg 183 of the book. "We walked past blocks of empty houses along streets that felt abandoned" This said that the streets felt abandoned. Streets don't have feelings to feel abandoned. One more example is "My stomach took control" This meant that Mattie was hungry. A stomach is not a human and cannot take control of anything. This is a very good example of personification.

Hyperbole is the exaggeration of what something really is. In Fever, on page 138 there is a very good example. "A roast beef bigger than a horse" Mattie is exaggerating this because she is so hungry that she sees the roast beef bigger than a horse. She is using exaggeration because of her hunger.

What is the reason that Authors use Figurative Language?
What does the Figurative Language show in the book?
Why do you think that Figurative Language is important in books?

11 comments:

  1. thanks so much, i was kind of confused about this stuff, but then i looked at this and it really helped me! it also gave me some good ideas for stories! wow! thanks so much!

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  2. THZ SO MUCH!!!!u totally saved my butt.i had to do a book report on this, and i couldn't remember one...so me being me....i looked it up on the internet instead of looking in the booker awesome and actually smart!!!

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  3. Can you give some examples of paradoxes?

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  4. Thank you so much for the information! It really helped me! :-)

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  5. Thank you so much! You gave me help for a project, and I got a 4! Thank you!

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  6. Also a paradox is two words that mean the same, but are also opposite of each other. Ex, Less is more.

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  7. Thank you so much!! I was about to read through the whole book to find a simile but then I found this site!

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  8. MY GOD THANK YOU I COULDNT FIND A HYPERBOLE THANK YOU

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  9. Being me I searched it up and got myself some bonus credit!!!

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  10. i'm trying to do my school work and im looking for a simile on page 12

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