IXL | Analyze the effects of figures of speech on meaning and tone

Read the text. The figure of speech is shown in bold.

It was Pippi Longstocking. For this special occasion she had unbraided her pigtails, and her red hair hung like a lion's mane around her. With red crayon she had painted her mouth fiery red, and she had blackened her eyebrows so that she looked almost dangerous.

What does this simile tell you?

It suggests that Pippi looks wild.

It suggests that Pippi is brave.

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Learn with an example

question

Read the text. The figure of speech is shown in bold.

I hope he's all right.

I thought of what Uncle said about gold being a curse. I felt it reaching out with invisible hands to twist people's hearts and minds. It's made everyone crazy.

What does this example of personification tell you?

It suggests that people are changing in a bad way.

It suggests that people are touched by a magical force.

key idea

Figures of speech are words or phrases that use language in an unusual way. Figures of speech often show important things about a text's characters, setting, events, or tone (general sound or feeling).

Hyperbole is using very extreme or unrealistic descriptions to talk about something. These descriptions are usually not possible in real life. Hyperbole can show strong emotions or create humor.

She flashed me a smile brighter than sunshine when I opened the door.

—Laura Bowers, Beauty Shop for Rent: . . . fully equipped, inquire within

Personification is describing nonhuman things as if they were people. Personification can make animals, objects, or ideas seem more human.

The wind was singing everywhere in the trees.

—Lucy Maud Montgomery, Pat of Silver Bush

A simile uses like or as to compare two things that are not actually alike. A simile helps readers use their senses to understand a text.

A tear on Mrs. Bump's cheek shone like a diamond in the starlight.

—C. R. Bryan, Bump's Circus

A metaphor compares two things that are not actually alike, without using like or as. A metaphor also helps readers use their senses to understand a text.

They were all there, silent, husky, and dry, with eyes of steel.

—Rudyard Kipling, The Second Jungle Book

solution

If something is being twisted, its shape is changing. The gold is changing people in a way that is wrong or unnatural. So, this example of personification suggests that people are changing in a bad way.

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H.3Determine the meanings of similes and metaphors

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