English Second Language·Vocabulary & word choice · NSSCO 2.3
Figurative language: simile, metaphor, idioms & proverbs
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When someone says it is 'raining cats and dogs', no animals are really falling from the sky! That is figurative language — the colourful way we use words to paint pictures and add feeling. In this lesson Miss Veronica takes you slowly through literal versus figurative meaning, then the writer's toolbox: simile, metaphor, personification and imagery, followed by idioms and proverbs (with some Namibian and African wisdom too). You'll finish able to spot each device, explain what it means, and say why a writer used it — exactly what your exam asks.
What you'll learn in this lesson
By the end you should be able to (NSSCO English Second Language 2.3):
- Explain the difference between the literal and the figurative meaning of words and phrases
- Identify and use similes, understanding that they compare two things using 'like' or 'as'
- Identify and use metaphors, and explain how a metaphor differs from a simile
- Recognise personification and explain the effect of giving human qualities to non-human things
- Explain how imagery paints a picture for the senses and makes descriptive writing vivid
- Work out and explain the meaning of common idioms and proverbs, including some Namibian and African proverbs
- Explain why writers use figurative language, and spot and name these devices in a reading text
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