 In both literature and daily communication, many sentences contain figurative language. Figurative language makes meaning by asking the reader or listener to understand something by virtue of its relation to some other thing, action, or image. Figurative language can be contrasted with literal language, which describes something explicitly rather than by reference to something else. Here's a very basic example. Let's say I want to describe how I took a rafting trip down an Oregon River. I could say, our raft bumped through class 4 rapids, and I felt scared. That's a very literal way of describing my experience. Or I could say, our raft bucked like a wild Bronco as we shot through walls of water my heart jackhammering in my chest. That's a highly figurative and much more evocative way of characterizing the experience. In the figurative version I used a simile, our raft bucked like a wild Bronco, and two metaphors. One, we shot through walls of water, and two, my heart was jackhammering in my chest. You can find Oregon State videos that will teach you about simile and metaphor, as well as two additional kinds of figurative language that have complex names but that aren't hard to understand, metonym and synecdoche. I recommend that you watch all four videos together as the similarities and differences between simile, metaphor, metonym, and synecdoche will give you a great overview of how figurative language works to characterize all kinds of vivid experiences.