Review of Recommended Text/ Figures of Speech – JSS1 English Lesson Note (Third Term)

A figure of speech is a word or phrase used in a special way to give a picture, add force or make a meaning clearer. This lesson reviews eight figures: simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, oxymoron, antithesis, epigram and apostrophe. Students find them in the recommended text and name the figure used in given sentences.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

• explain the meaning of simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, oxymoron, antithesis, epigram and apostrophe;
• use clues to spot each figure in a sentence;
• highlight the figures of speech used in the recommended text;
• identify the figure of speech used in given sentences.

What are the main figures of speech?

Teacher: some figures overlap. An epigram can be built on an antithesis, as in Alexander Pope’s “To err is human, to forgive divine”. An apostrophe often makes a thing seem like a person, which is also personification. In the exercises below, the options are chosen so that only one answer fits.

How do we find figures of speech in the recommended text?

1. Read the passage slowly, one paragraph at a time.
2. Look for “like” or “as” (simile) and for “X is Y” statements (metaphor).
3. Look for things that speak or act like people (personification) and for statements that are too big to be true (hyperbole).
4. Look for two opposite words side by side (oxymoron), balanced sentences with opposite ideas (antithesis) and short wise sayings (epigram).
5. Look for a speaker calling to a person who is absent, or to a thing, often beginning with “O” (apostrophe).
6. Copy each expression into your notebook, name the figure and say what it means.

Teacher: write the title of your class’s recommended text on the board. Ask students to write the line, the figure used and the effect of the line, in a table with three columns.

Practice passage

Read this short passage, then use it for the evaluation.

Harmattan came early to Ibadan that year. The morning was as cold as ice. The wind whispered through the louvres, and Tunde’s bed was a warm island. “O Harmattan, why do you trouble us so?” he sighed. His mother called him again. “I have told you a thousand times to get up!” she said.

Evaluation

Recommended text

With reference to the recommended text, highlight three figures of speech used. For each, write the line and name the figure.

General evaluation

Choose the figure of speech used in each line from the practice passage.

1. “The morning was as cold as ice.”
   • a) Simile
   • b) Metaphor
   • c) Oxymoron
   • d) Epigram
2. “Tunde’s bed was a warm island.”
   • a) Simile
   • b) Metaphor
   • c) Apostrophe
   • d) Antithesis
3. “The wind whispered through the louvres.”
   • a) Simile
   • b) Oxymoron
   • c) Personification
   • d) Epigram
4. “O Harmattan, why do you trouble us so?” (Tunde speaks to Harmattan as if it could hear him.)
   • a) Simile
   • b) Oxymoron
   • c) Epigram
   • d) Apostrophe
5. “I have told you a thousand times to get up!”
   • a) Simile
   • b) Metaphor
   • c) Hyperbole
   • d) Antithesis

Answer key for the general evaluation

1. a) Simile (“as cold as” compares with “as”)
2. b) Metaphor
3. c) Personification
4. d) Apostrophe
5. c) Hyperbole

For the recommended text task, the teacher marks each line against the text.

Weekend assignment

Identify the figure of speech used in each sentence.

1. The camel is the ship of the desert.
   • a) Metaphor
   • b) Simile
   • c) Oxymoron
   • d) Epigram
2. Death lays his icy hand on kings.
   • a) Epigram
   • b) Antithesis
   • c) Simile
   • d) Personification
3. The room was filled with a deafening silence.
   • a) Oxymoron
   • b) Simile
   • c) Epigram
   • d) Apostrophe
4. O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?
   • a) Oxymoron
   • b) Hyperbole
   • c) Metaphor
   • d) Apostrophe
5. Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale.
   • a) Simile
   • b) Metaphor
   • c) Hyperbole
   • d) Apostrophe
6. Variety is the spice of life.
   • a) Metaphor
   • b) Simile
   • c) Hyperbole
   • d) Antithesis
7. I have waited here for a hundred years.
   • a) Simile
   • b) Hyperbole
   • c) Oxymoron
   • d) Personification
8. O Solitude! where are the charms that sages have seen in thy face?
   • a) Oxymoron
   • b) Apostrophe
   • c) Hyperbole
   • d) Antithesis
9. Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.
   • a) Hyperbole
   • b) Antithesis
   • c) Personification
   • d) Metaphor
10. For many are called, but few are chosen.
    • a) Oxymoron
    • b) Antithesis
    • c) Hyperbole
    • d) Personification

Answer key for the weekend assignment

1. a) Metaphor
2. d) Personification
3. a) Oxymoron
4. d) Apostrophe
5. a) Simile
6. a) Metaphor
7. b) Hyperbole
8. b) Apostrophe
9. a) Hyperbole
10. b) Antithesis

Sources of the quoted lines

• Item 2: James Shirley, from his poem on death.
• Item 4: the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15:55.
• Item 5: Shakespeare, King John.
• Item 8: William Cowper, from his poem on Alexander Selkirk.
• Item 9: Shakespeare, Macbeth (Lady Macbeth).
• Item 10: the Bible, Matthew 22:14.

Teacher: some lines fit more than one figure. “O death! where is thy sting?” also personifies death, “O Solitude!” also personifies solitude, and “Variety is the spice of life” is also a well-known saying. Personification and epigram are left out of those options, so only one answer fits.