a comparison between two things that does not use the words “like” or “as” Ex: Her heart was made of stone.
a comparison between things using “like” or “as” Ex: He slept like a baby.
a comparison between something non-human and human; a non-human object is given human traits. Ex: A quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people."
a repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of two or more words Ex: I have a funny feathered friend.
An exaggeration to make a point Ex: Her house was about a million miles away from school—it took forever to walk there!
the repetition of the ending sounds of words Ex: Thin skin
vivid description of things seen, heard, smelled, touched, or tasted Ex: Grandma’s sweet apple pie had a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream that was melting all over the crispy pie crust.
a word that sounds like what it means Ex: Boom! Smash! Clatter! Rattle! Pow! Crinkle! Pop!
The repetition of final consonant sounds in stressed syllables with different vowel sounds Ex: hand, end flash, crush melt, fault
The repetition of vowel sounds on stressed syllables that end with different consonant sounds Ex: fade, hay (long A sound) slow, mode (long O sound) clues, doom (“oo” sound” stick, fig (short I sound)
Repeated use of a sound, word, or phrase Ex: Taylor Swift: “Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble”
The pattern of rhyme in a poem Written in the letters aabb, ccdd, etc. Ex: Roses are red, (A) Violets are blue, (B) Sugar is sweet, (C) And so are you. (B)
The overall idea of a piece of writing Ex: The theme in Phillip Phillips’ song “Home” is trust. The person he is singing to is lonely and feels alone, but the singer is trying to convince that person to give their relationship a chance and the feelings of loneliness will go away.
An idiom is an expression that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words. What do these mean? Examples: It’s a piece of cake! There’s more than meets the eye. He’s in the doghouse. My heart sank. It’s every man for himself!