Jibsheet Public Secondary School

Academic Year:2024-25

Skill: Figurative Language

Coordinator: Z. Shaheen

A. Literal language means exactly what it says, while figurative language uses similes
metaphors, personification, hyperbole, and understatement, among others, to describe
something often through comparison with something different.

B. Figurative language as opposed to literal language is a special approach to writing that

departs from what is typically a concrete, straightforward style. It is the use of vivid,
imaginative statements to illuminate or illustrate an idea.

Figurative language adds freshness, meaning, and originality to a writer’s style. Writers use
it to draw a clear image in the reader’s mind, especially when the idea is abstract. In other
words, the purpose of using figurative language is beautifying / ornamenting the writer’s
style allowing him/her to convey his /her ideas clearly.

C. Mostly used figures of speech include the following:

1. Simile is a direct comparison of two objects using as or like.
***Rumors spread like wildfire.
*** Mount Everest is like a junkyard.
2. Metaphor is an indirect comparison of two unlike objects sharing a common trait without using
as or like.
*** Technology is the elixir of life.
*** The internet is a faceless monster.

3. Personification gives human qualities, feelings, actions, or characteristics to nonhumans.

***Thanks to Clapp’s eco-friendly project, Mount Everest will wear its clean, elegant dress
again. (Mount Everest is compared to a lady wearing a clean, chic dress to show that it is no
more polluted with litter).

4. Hyperbole is an exaggerated statement or claim not meant to be taken literally.

***Climbers have been warned a million times not to dump gear up the mountain. (The writer
exaggerates the number of times climbers have been warned not to dump gear (supplies
/tools/equipment needed for a specific purpose) up the mountain to show the scale of the
problem).

***It is as hot as hell.

5. Under-statement is the opposite of hyperbole. It is a method of using mild, gentle words to

describe something dramatic, violent, or shocking.

***The earth is too big to be affected negatively by the amount of waste generated.
(The writer underestimates the impact of land pollution on Earth by stating that the latter is too
enormous to suffer, when in fact, land pollution is taking its toll on Earth).

Types of Irony:
1. Verbal Irony:
 Definition: When someone says something but means the opposite.
 Example: "I just love rainy days," said on a day with terrible weather.
 After a long day at work, you say, "What a relaxing day."
 A student fails a test and says, "Well, that went well.
2. Dramatic Irony:
 Definition: When the audience knows something that the characters do not.
 Example: In a movie, the audience knows the villain's plan, but the hero does
not.
 In a play, a character plans a surprise party for another character, not knowing
it's actually a surprise funeral.
 In a horror movie, the audience knows the killer is hiding in the closet, but the
character opens it unknowingly.
3. Situational Irony (Irony of situation):
 Definition: When the outcome/result is different from what was expected.
 Example: A fire station burns down.
 A plumber's house has leaky pipes.
 A lifeguard drowns while trying to save a swimmer.

Irony implies a contradiction or incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs,
and it is of three types.

a. Verbal irony occurs when the intended meaning is different from what is said.
***How responsible and humane the military are! They do nothing about the poisonous
materials left behind in their barracks other than turning a deaf ear to the cries of
innocent children. (Describing military forces as
“ responsible and humane” is opposite to reality, for they irresponsibly disregard the
poisonous mess they leave behind, they even respond in cold blood to the plight of
innocent children).
b. Situational irony occurs when the outcome of an event or circumstance is
opposite to what is expected.
***Greenpeace relocated them on a clean island where they could rebuild their lives.
Now, this same island, along with many others, is being literally drowned by rising seas.
(Greenpeace relocated the islanders away from danger zone. Ironically, man-inflicted
rise in sea level started drowning the new place. Thus, the supposedly safe
haven/refuge/shelter has turned perilous).
 c. Dramatic irony is an occasion in a play, a film, or a novel in which a
character is unaware of something the audience is aware of.

For instance, dramatic irony is manifested when a viewer is aware that flash
floods will inundate a whole city, whereas the residents of the city are unaware of that.

More Examples of Figures of Speech:

1. Metaphor:
 "The classroom was a zoo, with the students behaving like wild animals."
 "Time is a thief; it steals our youth without us even realizing."
 "The world is a stage, and we are all actors playing our parts."
2. Simile:
 "Her smile was as bright as the sun on a summer day."
 "His words cut through her like a knife."
 "Her laughter was like music to his ears."
3. Hyperbole:
 "I've told you a million times to clean your room!"
 "I have a million things to do before tomorrow."
 "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."
 I am so hungry I could eat all the food here.
 My brother said that he had a million things to do when he was actually sitting idly.
 Amrita carried home a ton of papers that she had to grade before Friday.

4. Personification:
 "The wind whispered through the trees."
 "The flowers nodded their heads in the breeze."
 "The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky."

FIGURES OF SPEECH
Social Status and Stress 2016
Explain the metaphor used in Paragraph 9 , and show the purpose it serves.

Answer: In the first sentence, “Early-life stress and the scar tissue that it leaves”, indirectly the
writer icompares stress to a weapon (sharp tool, knife, etc.) that causes a wound, leaving a scar.
Its purpose is to show how devastating/harmful the effects of stress are.
 Identify the figure of speech used in the title, and show the function it serves.

With Telemedicine, No Hospital Is an Island

Answer: The figure of speech is a metaphor: “No Hospital Is an Island”. The function is to
show the significance of telemedicine which can reach all places so that hospitals are no more
remote or unattainable.

Identify the paradox in Paragraph 1 and explain it.

Biological Intelligence: Hidden Capacities
1 Biological intelligence is a new concept that is nearly four billion years old. How does
your body develop and use knowledge? Biological intelligence teaches your body to teach
itself. Just like you educate your brain, you can teach your body. Lots of people have heard
about artificial intelligence. But why haven’t you heard about biological intelligence? That is
because most of biological intelligence is quiet and unconscious: you see your hair grow, but
you do not see your body learn.
Answer: The paradox is in the first sentence of Paragraph 1: Biological intelligence is
considered a “new” concept although it is very old; logically, something which is four billion
years should be old, not new.

Explain the symbolism the writer refers to in Paragraph 10, and show the message
it reveals.
The discovery of the buried statue may also have strong literary echoes. A shattered statue of
Ramses II was the subject of “Ozymandias”, a celebrated poem by the 19th-century English
romantic poet Percy Shelley. The poem speaks of the discovery of a broken statue in the desert,
bearing the inscription, “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty,
and despair!” – an image sometimes used to symbolize human mortality and the short life of the
empire. Shelley began writing the poem in 1817, soon after the British Museum announced that
it had acquired a fragment of another statue of Ramses II that had been taken from an ancient
temple at Thebes, in modern-day Luxor, by an Italian adventurer.

Answer: In Paragraph 10, the broken statue of the great Ozymandias symbolizes the weakness
of humans and their earthly kingdom against time. The moral/message behind this symbolism
is that even powerful people are doomed to fade/disappear into the forgetfulness of history
(or: can be the most powerful people in the world one day, while later on their broken statues
could be lying beneath a muddy wasteland).

Paradox: Paradox is a statement that seems to contradict itself, yet it carries

a profound truth.

More Examples of Paradox ( a self-contradictory statement)

***The child is the father of the man: Apparently, this statement seems to be
false, but when we look deep into its meaning, we see the truth. The writer
says that childhood experiences become the basis for all adult occurrences.
The childhood of a person shapes his life,and consequently creates the grown-
up adult.

***To some teens, home is prison.

*** You save money by spending it.

***Deep down, you’re really shallow.

*** Freedom is slavery.

*** It is the beginning of the end.

***The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know.

*** Less is more. (Sometimes something simple is more effective.

*** The pen is mightier than the sword.