Figurative language can describe an experience through comparison, exaggeration or an expression whose meaning goes beyond its literal words. In reading comprehension, identifying a device is only one step. Your child also needs to explain what it suggests in the passage.
This guide covers six useful devices for Year 5 and Year 6 practice: simile, metaphor, idiom, hyperbole, understatement and personification. It does not claim that every device appears in every entrance test.
Simile: an explicit figurative comparison
When the final bell rang, the pupils streamed through the doorway like water through a narrow channel.
The simile compares the pupils' movement with flowing water. It suggests a continuous movement through a confined space. It does not mean the pupils have become water.
“Like” and “as” are useful clues, but their presence alone does not prove a simile. “I like reading” expresses a preference. “My bag is the same colour as yours” can be an ordinary literal comparison. Ask what is being compared and why.
Metaphor: describe one thing as another
The unfinished jobs were a mountain on her desk.
The jobs are not a physical mountain. The metaphor suggests a large, perhaps daunting amount of work. The surrounding passage would help establish whether the character feels overwhelmed, determined or something else.
A useful explanation names both sides of the comparison and the shared feature: the jobs are compared with a mountain because there are so many of them or they seem difficult to get through.
Personification: give something non-human a human quality
The old house frowned at the road through its crooked windows.
A house cannot literally frown. The human expression gives the building an unfriendly or gloomy appearance. The windows help the reader imagine a face.
Personification can overlap with metaphor. Rather than insisting that every expression fits exactly one box, attend to the feature the question asks about. Here, the human facial expression is the clearest feature.
Hyperbole: exaggeration for effect
“I've explained this a million times,” Sam said, pointing at the instructions again.
“A million times” exaggerates the repetition. It may convey frustration or impatience in this context. It is not a reliable count of how often Sam has explained the instructions.
Check whether the scale is deliberately exaggerated. A large number in a factual passage is not automatically hyperbole.
Understatement: make something sound less significant
Water covered the kitchen floor, and the ceiling had collapsed. “We've had a small mishap,” Dad said.
“Small mishap” understates the substantial damage described. The gap between the words and the situation may create dry humour or suggest an attempt to stay calm. A fuller passage would help determine the intended effect.
An expression such as “a little worried” is not automatically understatement. It becomes understatement when the context shows a much stronger response or a more serious situation than the words acknowledge.
Idiom: a conventional expression
The friendly question helped break the ice between the new classmates.
“Break the ice” means ease the initial awkwardness and help people begin interacting. There is no literal ice in this situation. Idioms are established expressions, so familiarity helps, but the context still matters.
The same words could be literal in another passage: a walker might break ice on a frozen puddle. Identify how the expression is being used here.
Worked question: explain the effect
Before the presentation, Nia checked her notes three times. When her name was called, a thousand butterflies seemed to fill her stomach. She took a slow breath and walked to the front.
What does the image of butterflies mainly suggest?
- A. Nia feels physically hungry.
- B. Nia feels nervous before speaking.
- C. Nia wants to leave to study insects.
- D. Nia has forgotten every word of her presentation.
Answer: B. The familiar expression about butterflies in the stomach conveys nervousness. Checking the notes and taking a slow breath support that meaning. “A thousand” adds exaggeration. D goes beyond the evidence: nervousness does not establish that Nia has forgotten everything.
This sentence combines an idiomatic expression with hyperbole. The question asks about meaning, so naming one device without explaining Nia's feeling would not fully answer it.
Avoid three common shortcuts
- Choosing the literal meaning: ask whether it makes sense in the situation.
- Naming a device without explaining it: connect it to an image, feeling or emphasis in the passage.
- Adding an unsupported emotion: a vivid description does not justify every possible interpretation.
Practise with a small number of examples at first. Ask “What does this mean here?” and “Which detail supports that?” before introducing time pressure. Recognition and interpretation should develop together.
For connected practice, read the original poem and worked questions, or try narrative comprehension. Find reading samples through QASMT and BSHS.