Personification is something we all do.  It means to attribute some human qualities to something which is not human, whether is is a living creature such as your pet puppy or an inanimate object [...]

Onomatopoeia is “the formation of a word that defines the natural sound of the object or actions, the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (as [...]

Imagery is when language forces someone to create a mental picture of something.  It is all about painting a picture with words. For example: “A wine shop was open and I went in for some coffee. [...]

Idioms are a combination of words that have a figurative meaning owing to its common usage. An idiom’s figurative meaning is separate from the literal meaning. There are thousands of idioms [...]

A metaphor compares one thing to another but it does not use the words, and it does not use like or as to compare, as a simile would. A metaphor is a little like written magic.  The word metaphor [...]

Hyperbole is an exaggeration of speech to create emphasis or effect. Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration in speech, in order to create a strong impression, but it is not meant to be taken [...]

A cliche is defined as such: cli·ché noun a phrase or expression that has been used so often that it is no longer original or interesting, something that is so commonly used in books, stories, [...]

When you describe something by comparing it to something else, this is figurative language. the other term for it is figures of speech. Literal and figurative language differ from each other in [...]

Alliteration is a poetic technique in which the initial consonant sounds of words are repeated in close succession. To put it more simply: alliteration is when the beginning sounds of words [...]

Toward and towards – does it matter which word you use? Though there is a perception that the words, toward and towards, which are both prepositions, have distinctive and separate usages, [...]