Figures of Speech (15 types explained) Posters for your Classroom. All grades.

This Resource is a group of 15 Figures of Speech Explained which you can display on your Classroom walls to help learners engage with this on a regular basis and thus reinforce the information.  The explanations uses simple language (not other, more literary terms as many study guides tend to do) and even the examples are TRENDY and up to date!  Help your learners get the most out of the beauty of literature in the world today as we know it.

These here below is an excerpt from the Resource: (Pls note that the copy/paste function distorts the font in here, but it is in impeccable format in MS Word). Note that it is for Classroom display hence the large / bold print.

Irony

This is the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its expected (or literal) meaning or function…

Examples:   (A man looking out at the sea) ‘Water water everywhere, but not a single drop to drink’ (you cannot drink sea water).

                    Last month the local fire station burned down…

Synecdoche

This is a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa.

Examples:   South Africa beat Wales fair and square. (Meaning ‘the South African Rugby team.)

                    Lend me your ears please.  (Asking for someone’s full attention).

Metonymy

Metonymy is a figure of speech in which one object or idea takes the place of another with which it has a close association.

Examples:   We have ‘meals on wheels’ in our community  (‘on wheels’ mean ready meals delivered ‘by car’ for the elderly).

                    Speak to the ‘hand’.  (A hand cannot respond as it has no ears).

Climax (and anti-climax)

Climax is a figure of speech in which language / ideas / events are arranged in ascending order of importance.  It is the heightened point of a moment in time. Anti-climax is when it suddenly drops from that high point.

Example:     Cooking for people can be an exhausting, back-breaking, yet exquisitely gratifying experience that may take you many hours, only for it to be gobbled up within minutes. 

Compiled by : D.West (B.A / H.D.E + B.A Hons).