NeSA -R Prep Figurative Language

1. NeSA-R PrepFigurative Language By Mrs. Joanna Pruitt

2. Terms • Term: Idiom • Definition: A group of words that have a different meaning than what the phrase says literally. • Examples: • A piece of cake (means: very easy). • Get cold feet (means: you are nervous or scared). • Out of the blue (means: something is unexpected).

3. Terms • Term: Simile • Definition: Is when you compare two things that are not similar to help the reader picture what you are trying to describe using the words like or as. • Examples: • The dragon flew as fast as the wind. • The naming pool glittered like a mirror. • Baseball is as American as apple pie.

4. Terms • Term: Metaphor • Definition: Makes a strong image in the reader’s head by saying that a person, place, or thing is something else. • Examples: • My teacher is a dragon. • The mayor glared with eyes of ice. • She has the heart of a lion.

5. Terms • Term: Personification • Definition: Giving human characteristics to things that are not human. • Examples: • The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky. • The river swallowed the earth as it rose higher and higher. • The little dog laughed.

6. Terms • Term: Hyperbole • Definition: An exaggeration used for emphasis and humor. • Examples: • It was so cold that I saw polar bears were wearing jackets. • If I can’t get a Smartphone, I will die. • He’s got tons of video games. • She is as thin as a toothpick.

7. Terms • Term: Understatement • Definition: The opposite of hyperbole. It is to make something seem like it is a lot less than it should be. • Examples: • I have to have an operation. It isn’t too serious. It is only a little tumor of the brain. (Having a brain tumor is a big deal) • Saying “We have had a little rain” when the neighborhood is flooded. • Saying “Its just a little scratch” when there is a huge dent.

8. Terms • Term: Alliteration • Definition: When words in a series or row all have the same first consonant sound. (sometimes tongue twisters) • Examples: • She sells sea-shells down by the sea-shore. • Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers. • Alice’s aunt ate apples and acorns around August. • Beck’s beagle barked and bayed, becoming bothersome to Billy.

9. Terms • Term: Rhythm • Definition: When there is a pattern or “beat” to the words that make them fun to say and easy to remember. (Kind of like a poem or a rap) • Examples: • My mother ate an apple and my father ate a pear. • My cat is nice, my cat is fat, my cat is cute, I like my cat. • One, two, buckle my shoe; three, four, shut the door; five, six, pick up sticks; seven, eight, lay them straight; nine, ten, a big fat hen.

10. Terms • Term: Repetition • Definition: When a piece of writing repeats itself with words or images. • Example: Let’s throw sticks in the creek all day. Let’s not do the things we planned. Let’s watch sticks flitfloat away. Everyone will understand. Let’s watch whirling water flow. Let’s toss our sticks in over here. Let’s feel breathing breezes blow. The creek is quick and cold and clear.

11. Terms • Term: Rhyme • Definition: When words make the same sound. (Used a lot in poetry) • Example: • Mary, Mary quite contrary, How does your garden grow? With silver bells, and cockle shells, And pretty maids all in a row.

12. Terms • Term: Enjambment • Definition: When a phrase is not completed in the first line of poetry and then carried on in the next. • Example: 1. “Of gazing on the new soft-fallen masque Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—” 2. “I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree.”

13. Terms • Term: Onomatopoeia • Definition: Words that sound exactly or almost exactly like the thing it represents. • Example: • “Three fields to cross till the farm appears; A tapat the pane, and quick sharp scratch And blue spurtof a lighted match...” “I make a great noise Of rustlingall day Like rabbit and deer Running away.”

14. Terms • Term: Imagery • Definition: the use of figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our five senses. • Example: • It was darkanddimin the forest. • The children were screamingand shoutingin the fields. • He whiffedthearomaof brewed coffee. • The girl ran her hands over the softsatin fabric. • The fresh and juicyoranges are very cold and sweet.

15. Terms • Term: Irony • Definition: When words are used or situation happens is opposite way than what you expected. • Example: • When Stanley Yelnats was excited to go to Camp Greenlake and then found out that it wasn’t a camp and that there was no water. • When you warn someone not to sit in a chair because it is broken and then later you forget and sit in the chair yourself and it breaks beneath you.

16. Terms • Term: Tone • Definition: It is the attitude that the writer has towards the subject matter that they are writing about. (How the writer feels) • Example: • “I want to ask the authorities what is the big deal? Why do not they control the epidemic? It is eating up lives like a monster.” • And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I don’t know why they died, they just died. Something wrong with the soil possibly or maybe the stuff we got from the nursery wasn’t the best. We complained about it. So we’ve got thirty kids there, each kid had his or her own little tree to plant and we’ve got these thirty dead trees. All these kids looking at these little brown sticks, it was depressing.

17. Terms • Term: Mood • Definition: It is the atmosphere that the writer creates. It is the feeling that the reader gets from reading those words. (How the story makes reader feel.) • Example: • Bouncing into the room, she lit up the vicinity with a joyous glow on her face as she told about her fiancé and their wedding plans. • She huddled in the corner, clutching her tattered blanket and shaking convulsively, as she feverishly searched the room for the unknown dangers that awaited her.

18. Terms • Term: Theme/Subject • Definition: What the writing is about. • Example: • Childhood • Love • School • Family

19. Terms • Term: Stanza • Definition: The paragraph in a poem. • Example:

20. Terms • Term: Main Idea • Definition: The main idea is the central, or most important, idea in a paragraph or passage. It states the purpose and sets the direction of the paragraph or passage. The main idea may be stated or it may be implied. • Example: It is often said that lightning never strikes twice in the same place, but this isn’t true. Go ask the forest rangers. Rangers who spend their summers as fire-fighters will tell you that every thundershower brings several bolts of lightning to their lookout stations. • (Notice that the first sentence tells what the paragraph is about; the sentences that follow support the idea stated in the first sentence.)

21. Terms • Term: First Person Point-of-View • Definition: When the main character is telling the story (Key words are I, me, we). • Example: • I walked home from school today with my  friends. We stopped for ice cream.  I had  vanilla. It's my favorite. • When I got up this morning I brushed  my  teeth.  Then I got dressed and ate my  breakfast. 

22. Terms • Term: Third Person Point-of-View • Definition: The person who is telling the story is an outside observer. Someone who is not in the story. Key words will be he, she, and they. • Example: • Ted plays on a baseball team.  He loves  to play with his team.  He has a game  next week.  His coach thinks he's a  good baseball player. The princess was locked in the tower.   •  She had no way to escape.  She hoped  that a prince would rescue her.  Her wish  came true.  He came and took her to his  castle.

23. Terms • Term: Genre • Definition: It is the type of book that you are reading. • Example: • Fantasy • Mystery • Science Fiction • Biography • Poetry • Historical Fiction

24. Terms • Term: Author’s Purpose • Definition: It is the reason an author decides to write about a specific topic. Then, once a topic is selected, the author must decide whether his purpose for writing is to inform, persuade, entertain, or explain his ideas to the reader. • Example: • Most raisins sold in America are grown in the San Joaquin Valley in California. Vines are planted in straight rows and tied to posts and wires. After about three years, the vines produce grapes that can be eaten or turned into raisins. During the harvest, cutters use a special tool to cut bunches of grapes from the vine. After they are cut, the grapes are placed on special paper trays. They are left in the sun for up to three weeks. When the raisins are dry, they are carefully bundled and examined by sorters. Then, they are packaged in boxes and sent out to stores.

25. Terms • Term: Direct Characterization • Definition: The process in which the writer reveals the personality of a character by telling. • Example: “Thepatientboy and quiet girl were both well mannered and did not disobey their mother.” • Explanation: The author is directly telling the audience the personality of these two children. The boy is “patient” and the girl is “quiet.”

26. Terms • Term: Indirect Characterization • Definition: The process in which the writer reveals the personality of a character by showing.

27. Terms • Term: Context Clues • Definition: They are hints that the author gives to help the reader to define a difficult or unusual word. These can appear in the same sentence or in the paragraph that the word is in.

28. Terms • Term: Fact • Definition: It is a specific detail that is based on proof. • Example: • The syndicated television comedy Friends won numerous awards. • Nearly 700 Americans die of hypothermia each year. • A spinning class is a group exercise program of about 45 minutes of riding on a stationary bike. • Spinning classes are indoor group bike rides led by instructors who set the pace and degree of difficulty of the rides.

29. Terms • Term: Opinion • Definition: It is a specific detail that is based on someone’s opinion, interpretation, judgment, or belief that cannot be proved or disproved. • Example: • The comedy Friends is still the funniest show on television. • Friends has remained popular only because most television viewers have no taste. • Because the alligator has been listed as an endangered species since 1976, killing alligators for their skins should be against the law. • A spinning class is a form of torture.

30. Terms • Term: Opinion • Definition: It is a specific detail that is based on someone’s opinion, interpretation, judgment, or belief that cannot be proved or disproved. • Example: • The comedy Friends is still the funniest show on television. • Friends has remained popular only because most television viewers have no taste. • Because the alligator has been listed as an endangered species since 1976, killing alligators for their skins should be against the law. • A spinning class is a form of torture.