Function

• Figurative language compares one set of words with another. It strips the words of their original meaning and paints a new picture with them by preparing readers to think more profoundly about the ideas they represent. Evaluative language, on the other hand, adds the writer's "editorializing" or opinions to the mix. This may be done on purpose or unintentionally. If the writer bases her opinions on watertight facts rather than assumptions, she'll add to her readers' understanding and may persuade them to consider a different viewpoint.
  
  

Types

• The most familiar figurative devices are simile, metaphor and alliteration. These turns of phrases are frequently seen in religious and spiritual prose as well as political and humorous bumper stickers. The form of evaluative writing almost everyone has written is the book report. The writer uses evaluative language to discuss the book, without giving away the entire plot, to convince others that his book choice is worth reading. Other evaluative pieces would be a newspaper op-ed section or movie and restaurant reviews.
  
  

Features

• Similes use "like" or "as" to compare dissimilar items ("the pizza cheese was as scorching as a blacktop surface in August"). Metaphor comparisons are less direct ("the pizza was a scorching cheese and veggie road map"). Alliteration uses words with repeated consonant sounds ("the wild and wooly wind wound its way through the woods"). Other figurative devices include imagery, word sounds ("clang!") and personification (quality of a person). Evaluative language might compare two rock groups, or it may contrast one group's current work with its earlier work.
  
  

Prevention/Solution

• Evaluative language avoids making value judgments ("the painting is beautiful"; "the music is exciting"). It uses dynamic nouns and verbs to show the beauty and excitement. Movie reviews sidestep entire retellings of the story in favor of brief synopses that feed the readers' hunger to see a good show. Portraying a hot, sunny day as perfect weather will not convince a readership of farmers looking down the barrel of a serious drought as well as describing it in terms those weary farmers can appreciate.
  
  

Significance

• Figurative language uses symbolism to give ideas new meaning. The figure of speech "to feed the readers' hunger to see a show" cannot be taken literally because the desire is not a literal hunger, but a figurative one. Evaluative language offers an opinion, but the opinion is intended as a way of persuading readers to consider other viewpoints rather than offering an absolute truth that the reader must agree on. Evaluative language allows the reader to make up his own mind.