I know I risk sounding like an English teacher when I use the words “figurative language.” The phrase may sound frightening but figurative language will make your writing more interesting evocative and memorable. And who doesn’t want that –even in non-fiction? Here are some examples of figurative language:
• allusion
• hyperbole
• metaphor
• oxymoron
• personification
• paradox
• simile
I read widely and follow many forms of media, keeping my eyes and ears attuned to figurative language so I can share a piece of it with you each week.
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from Aaron Sorkin. My son and I were huge fans of the TV show The West Wing. We’ve watched all 154 episodes, twice. (Truthfully, I think my son […]
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Reading time: about 1.5 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from Rivka Galchen. The May 13/13 New Yorker story, “Every Disease on Earth” (I can’t provide a link because the article is locked and even the online summary is
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Reading time: About 1.5 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from Emily Nussbaum. Several years ago I enjoyed many guilty laughs over the British film, In the Loop. A crass and funny black comedy about British politics during the
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from Sebastian Barry, author of The Secret Scripture. Following a recommendation by my readers Margaret and Seamus, I just finished reading the novel The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry.
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from Johanna Schneller in the Globe & Mail. I remember seeing a photo of Robert Redford about 10 years ago and being shocked by how much he’d aged.
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Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from novelist Nicole Bokat. If you read my blog regularly, you may recall my recent post about a sentence by Nicole Bokat. That sentence had originally appeared in
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Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from Sara Hope Anderson. Sometimes, sustained metaphors can become tiresome. Do you know what I mean? Here’s an example of one that I really don’t like: The teacher
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Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from the late Roger Ebert. Even when I was an entertainment editor for about five years, I managed to do the job without owning a TV. (Shhh, don’t tell
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Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from British actor and comedian Russell Brand. When Margaret Thatcher died on April 8, I felt nothing. I hadn’t liked her politics but, then, she wasn’t my Prime
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Reading time: about 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from an opinion piece written by Jessica Soffer in the New York Times. Have you ever read the spritely Opinionator column billed as an “exclusive online commentary from the
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