Figures Of Speech Flashcards
Metaphor
A comparison in which one thing is said to be another
Example:
My mom is a teddy bear
Simile
A comparison of two things using the words like or as
Example:
He is as tall as a giraffe
Hyperbole
An exaggerated statement
Example:
My backpack weighs a ton
Personification
Giving human qualities to animals or objects
Example:
The stars winked at me
Idiom
An expression that doesn’t exactly mean what the words say
Example:
She spilled the beans
She talked too much and told the secret
Pun
A humorous play on words that suggests multiple meanings
Example:
I used to be a baker but I didn’t make enough dough
Alliteration
The use of the same beginning consonant sound in a line or verse
Example:
Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
Assonance
The repetition of identical or similar vowel sound in a series of words phrases or syllables
Example:
Clap your hands and stamp your feet
Onomatopoeia
A word that imitates the sound it represents
Example:
Bam!
Allusion
A reference to a famous person, place, or event
Example:
Don’t act like a Scrooge!
Oxymoron
Contradictory terms appear side by side
Example:
Great Depression
Irony
The use of words that mean the opposite of what you think especially in order to be funny
Example:
This is my brilliant son who failed out of college
Foreshadowing
When the author mentions or hints something that will happen later in the story
Example:
Watch out for the wolf in the woods
Flashback
When the author refers back to something that already took place in the story
Example:
She thought back to what her mother had told her earlier
