A Student’s Guide to the Hyperbole Purpose and Usage

Hyperbole is a powerful tool that students can use to make their writing shine. The hyperbole purpose is to emphasize things to a whole new level for a lasting impression. Hence, it’s a total game changer.

child looking blackboard style hyperbolic expression

A hyperbole can make the overall write-up exciting and fun to read. That’s why most students rely on paper writing help to add this special touch to their essays or other academic assignments.

Speaking of which, this exciting blog post is all about letting you know how can you get better at using hyperbole in your writing. So, without further ado, let’s get started.

Table of Contents

Everything You Want to Know About the Hyperbole Purpose

What is a Hyperbole in Writing?

In simple words, hyperbole is a figure of speech, which is most commonly used to emphasize a point or two in writing for humor or for creating drama. Like, if professional research paper writers while working on a literature paper wrote ‘I’m very thirsty, I could drink the whole ocean.’ Here they don’t mean actually to drink the ocean but it’s only a way to emphasize the level of thirst. Now that you have a good understanding of the hyperbole purpose, let’s now jump to understand how can you use it well.

How to Use the Hyperbole in Writing?

To use hyperbole effectively in your writing, you need to understand its purpose well. A good writer would know when a hyperbole can emphasize the message humorously or dramatically. Here are some tips and tricks for you to master using hyperbole in your writing to the expert level.

Get to Know the Purpose

A hyperbole can play several roles in your writing, including:

The Emphasis Role

You can use hyperbole to stress a point or idea. The best way to achieve that is to exaggerate its importance or effect.

The Humor Role

That’s the common hyperbole purpose! You can make your writing more interesting and fun to read by adding humor via hyperbole.

Evoking Emotion Role

Hyperbole can bring out strong emotions in the readers. Simply by amplifying real-time experiences and more.

The Visualization Role

Hyperbole can help a writer to paint vivid mental images in the mind of readers. Thus, making the scenes more memorable for them.

The Persuasion Role

That’s something the hyperbole is good at! No doubt hyperbole has the power to influence readers on a point. You just have to use it the right way!

Choose the Right Situation

A hyperbole works best when you use it in small doses. Of course, in that of writing where it fits well. Hence you must keep the objective and vibe of your paper before you throw the exaggerated expressions.

That being said, hyperbole is a great tool for poetry, creative writing, and more. Well, you can also use it in the essays. In fact, most students hire an essay writing service to make their write-ups more interesting to read. So, do those experts use hyperbole in essay writing? You bet they do!

Craft Effective Descriptions

Hyperbole can make descriptions more engaging for the readers. Or, you can say they can breathe life into your boring descriptions. Wait, have we just used a hyperbole? Well, maybe!

Just use vivid language to overemphasize things and characters. Confused? Take a good look at these examples:

The backpack weighs 200 tons
She is running faster than the speed of sound.
You can hear his laughter across the town.

Inject the Humor

As we have already emphasized this hyperbole purpose quite a lot of time in this write-up. Let’s do it one more time. Adding humor to your writing with hyperbole can entertain readers and keep them sticking to your piece. Here’s how you can inject humor with hyperbole:

I think I have told you a million times to stay away from these people.
You know I believe that my to-do list is longer than the Great Wall of China.
Beware, as waiting for his call is like waiting for a century to pass.

Enhance Persuasion

You can also strengthen your arguments using hyperbole. But don’t use it in excess that it may undermine the credibility of your write-up. Here are some examples to understand this point:

I think this new technology is going to revolutionize our way of living.
If you support this cause, you will be doing the most important thing for humanity.
If you don’t act now, nobody can save your future from getting doomed.

Try to Balance a Hyperbole with Reality

Yes, you are allowed to use hyperbole in your writing but be very mindful when using it. Ensure the hyperbole is not disconnected from reality or it could distort instead of enhancing your writing. In a nutshell, don’t stretch an exaggeration with hyperbole to an unrealistic level.

50 Common Hyperbole Phrases You Can Use in Your Writing

Here’s a little gift of some common phrases or hyperbole characteristics you can use to make your writing more fun to read:

You know I’m very hungry and I can eat a horse now.
Man! it’s raining cats and dogs and we are loving it.
You won’t believe but she is as light as a feather.
To be very honest, my backpack weighs a ton and even more.
I’ve told you a million times to submit your assignment timely.
You know I’m as busy as a bee these days.
I know it’s hard to believe but this dude is as tall as a skyscraper.
You know she’s as old as the hills.
It feels like I’ve got a mountain of homework today.
I believe that his guy can run faster than the speed of sound.
Sir! Your suitcase weighs a ton, believe me!
Let me tell you that I have a million things to deal with this week.
I just can’t tell you how her smile has the power to light up the entire room.
It’s been a week that I’ve searched high and low for my keys.
This platform is hotter than the surface of the sun today.
At this point, I laughed my head off.
After hearing his story, she cried a river of tears.
You won’t believe but he’s as strong as an ox.
Our terrace is colder than Antarctica these days.
This book weighs 100 kg in my bag.
You won’t believe but I’ve been waiting for ages.
Anna is a walking encyclopedia.
It’s hard to believe but he’s as slow as molasses.
I’ve heard that a thousand times but still I am not believing it.
This line at the ticket booth is a mile long today.
You know college paper writing is like passing a mission in a military game set at a hard level.
You know you have a million-dollar smile.
This guy is as quiet as a mouse in the bill.
Right now, I’ve got a million things on my mind.
I feel like that car can go faster than the speed of light.
You won’t believe but this room is as quiet as a tomb.
I’ve been waiting for an eternity.
This girl is as brave as a lion.
To be honest, he’s as sharp as a tack.
You know, I could easily run a marathon with my eyes closed.
This girl is as stubborn as a mule.
The concept is as clear as crystal.
You won’t believe but I’ve got a ton of work to do.
My new phone weighs 100 tons.
I’ve got a million ideas running through my brain.
He’s as old as Methuselah.
I’ve been waiting here for hours now.
This girl in our class is as graceful as a swan.
I’ve heard this thing a million times before.
This horse is as fast as lightning.
I feel that this project will take forever to complete.
He’s as bright as a button.
I’ve heard this from you a thousand times.
This assignment is as easy as pie.
I’m very thirsty and I can drink an ocean now.

How is a Hyperbole Different than Other Literary Devices?

Now that you are pretty comfortable with a hyperbole purpose and use, let’s now try to understand how it is different from other literary devices.

Hyperbole vs. Litotes and Meiosis

Aspect	Hyperbole	Litotes	Meiosis
Definition	A point or exaggeration that is not meant to be taken literally.	A figure of speech that makes use of understatement to emphasize a point by rebutting the opposite.	A form of understatement that shows something as less important or more significant than it actually is.
Exaggeration	It commonly exaggerates the truth to emphasize a point or idea.	Understates the truth to emphasize a point.	Downplays or understates the truth to emphasize a point.
Intention	Intended to make a statement more dramatic, humorous, or memorable.	Intended to create a sense of irony, modesty, or restraint.	Intended to create irony or to minimize the significance of something.
Effect	Creates emphasis and adds vividness to writing.	Creates emphasis by downplaying or understating a fact or situation.	Creates a sense of irony or belittlement.
Example	I’m so hungry I could eat a horse	It’s not the best weather today	Winning the lottery isn’t exactly the end of the world.

An Example of hyperbole in literature

After all this discussion, you sure will be searching for what is a hyperbole example. Well, this is a short example of hyperbole in literature that will help you understand the hyperbole characteristics along with getting the answer to why do authors use hyperboles.

The playground was packed, like a beehive on a sunny day. The kids were running around like crazy, making the place buzz with laughter. Waiting for the slide felt like an eternity, each second dragging on even longer. But once it was our turn, zooming down felt like soaring through the sky, making all that waiting worth it.

Final Thoughts

Hyperbole is one of the literary devices that can make your write-up more fun and interesting to read. The hyperbola purpose is to exaggerate a fact or point to a whole new level but its effectiveness depends on how well a writer uses it in the sentence.

This interesting blog post was all about getting you comfortable with why do authors use hyperboles and more. If you are still in sixes and sevens about the concept, don’t hesitate to consult our experts.