Explain what the nonliteral language is doing
Read for meaning first. Select a highlighted word if you want a closer look.
The next draft used hyperbole when Nia wrote that the final drumbeat could have shaken every window in the city. Her line about the hour-long queue carried sarcasm: she called the unexplained wait a glorious achievement in hospitality. That praise was ironic because the intended judgment differed sharply from the approving words. The editor asked Nia to decide whether each effect helped the reader understand the evening or merely displayed her ability to sound clever about a frustrating experience.
The editor kept the hyperbole about the drumbeat because readers could recognize its deliberate exaggeration and imagine the music's force. She softened the sarcasm about the queue, which seemed more cutting than the inconvenience warranted in an otherwise appreciative review. An ironic observation about the event's instant-entry banner remained, since the contrast between the promise and the actual wait explained the joke. Nia learned that nonliteral language could create different effects, with exaggeration and mockery doing different work even when they appeared together.
Before you move on
Look away from the passage. Can you explain each focus word in your own words?
Original fictional passages for vocabulary practice.