![]() (The words made a strong and immediate impression on the reader, but they remained in place on the page on which they had been printed) (The wind was making a noise, but was not using its vocal cords to cry out in grief) (The lights are twinkling, but are not actually performing a waltz) (The show lasted for a very long time) Personificationįinally, if we give our words qualities or abilities that people have but that the things we are describing can’t logically possess, the result is a different kind of figurative language called personification. (The tickets sold very quickly they did not move at 299,792,458 meters per second) (The person described did not actually swim through a pool of currency, but merely had a lot of money) ![]() This very often expresses an impossibility or near impossibility: (Saying you will sleep like a baby means you will sleep deeply, but we don’t know if that is how a baby will sleep some babies sleep well, and others sleep poorly) Hyperboleįigurative use of language also takes the form of extreme exaggeration, or hyperbole. (Traffic is moving very slowly, as molasses often does when one tries to pour it out) (The paper was picked up very quickly if the person picking it up had been as fast as lightning the paper would had been damaged) (This person is taking in information, but they are not actually soaking wet while doing so) SimilesĪ simile is a phrase that uses the words like or as to describe someone or something by comparing it with someone or something else that is similar.įast as lightning, I picked up the paper and read it. He sat quietly, letting her words soak in. (The aunt is a person with considerable knowledge, but is not actually a multi-volume set of books with legs) My aunt is a walking encyclopedia, and everyone wanted her on their team on game night. (There was no actual mountain, just a large amount of paper) My desk had a mountain of paperwork on it. A metaphor substitutes a word or phrase with one that makes an analogy or explanation with an image. Metaphors and similes are another category of figurative language use. (He was known for blaming others in order to gain an advantage, and was not actually pushing anyone under a moving vehicle) Metaphors The senator was renowned for throwing his colleagues under the bus in election season. (The dog ate the muffins quickly, and there was no sudden burst of light) (He was undecided, and was not suspended above the ground) He was up in the air about whether to go to the concert. (The teacher told the student to slow down, and did not mean that they should pick up their four-legged animals) “ Hold your horses,” the teacher told the students as they were leaving school. Many (although not all) idioms are examples of figurative language. IdiomsĪn idiom is an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but that has a separate meaning of its own. Here are some of the more common types, and examples of their use. There are many ways to use figurative language. Aspirated voiceless stops were a feature of the pronunciation of the uneducated populace who aspired to but overshot the pronunciation of educated speakers.This fellow is literally swimming in money In each of the spelling changes, “c” to “ch,” “p” to “ph,” and “t” to “th,” the “h” represents aspiration of the consonant (voiceless stops in these cases). (Notice that it is the “vulgar” spellings that are current in English pulchritude, triumph, and Carthage ). That battle is almost lost popular usage has nearly won, so that literally may also be used to mean “in effect very nearly virtually.” In fact, this meaning is now quite common, with literally being used to intensify a metaphorical expression, as in “He literally died when he found out the truth.” Another usage battle was lost well over two thousand years ago, when Cicero, the Roman Republic’s greatest orator and man of letters, in his dialogue Brutus, yielded his own older “correct” pronunciation of certain words to the more recent popular “incorrect” usage, changing his own pulcer “beautiful” to pulcher, triumpus “triumph” to triumphus, and Cartāgo “Carthage” to Carthāgo. The adverb literally was formed in English by adding the adverbial suffix -ly to literal, an adjective borrowed from Late Latin litterālis “of or relating to letters or literature.” (When we say “the letter of the law,” we are referring to its literal, or most obvious, meaning that follows the actual wording of the law.) But it is of no use to complain that literally properly means “actually without exaggeration,” the exact opposite of figuratively.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |