SAGE Flex for Public Speaking
1
Figurative Language and Sonic Devices
Brief: In writing and public speaking, use can use figurative language and sonic devices to
add meaning, interest, or emphasis to the idea being shared.
Learning Objective: Demonstrate when and how to use stylistic devices.
Key Terms:
• Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of two or more
words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals.
• Apostrophe: A figure of speech in which the speaker directly addresses someone
absent or dead, or addresses an inanimate or abstract object as if it were human.
• Figurative language: Language that uses words or phrases that depart from
straightforward, literal langua ge.
• Hyperbole: Deliberate or unintentional overstatement, particularly extreme
overstatement.
• Metaphor: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used to refer to
something that it is not, invoking a direct similarity between the word or phrase
used and the thing described (but without using the words like or as).
• Onomatopoeia: The use of words that attempt to emulate a sound.
• Personification: A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or an idea is given
human qualities.
• Simile: A figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another using “like” or
“as.”
• Stylistic devices: A variety of language techniques that add meaning, interest, or
emphasis to the idea being shared.
What is a Stylistic Device?
In writing and public speaking, stylistic devices are language techniques that add meaning,
interest, or emphasis to the idea being shared.
Figurative Language
A “figure of speech” is any way of saying something other than the ordinary way. Figurative
language uses words or phrases that depart from straightforward, literal language.
Simile
A simile is a figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another using the "like" or "as.”
Example: She put her hand to the boy's head, which was steaming like a hot iron.
