Figurative Language

Furious, Sara stormed off and slammed her bedroom door

Kelly shivered and her teeth chattered as she waited for the bus

The toddler's eyes were sparkling gems

Bethany could sleep through a tidal wave

I passed Spanish by the skin of my teeth

The wind whistled through the tree branches

It felt like it took thousands of years to finish college

words whose sounds suggest their meaning

Tyler's room is a junk yard

"You are the sunshine in my days" is an example of a metaphor

Dad was almost as hairy as a Gorilla

Let's stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way!

a reference to a person, place, or event from literature, sports, history, movies, or the arts

The bouncing baby babbled as he drank his bottle

At the county fair, Jeremy was not a happy camper

You've already told me that story a million times

"We felt as though Jack Frost had come to live with us" is an example of an allusion

"Playing tag, Dean felt like a dog chasing its tail" is an example of a metaphor

Chase sure was an Einstein today

the repetition of the same initial consonant sound in a series of words

The spicy food danced around my taste buds

a comparison of two unlike things without using like or as

I rode down the Red River on a raft

"I heard the whoosh of the tennis racket as it sliced through the air" is an example of a metaphor

The shelf seemed to actually grab the dust and hold on to it

"My backpack weighed a ton" is a hyperbole

"Bryan's teeth are a car wreck" is an example of a simile

Babysitting for the Jones Family is running a three-ring circus

Mark has more ideas about science than Ben Franklin

giving human qualities to nonhuman things

When Cam was caught, I knew we were all in the same boat

a comparison of two unlike things using the words like or as

"Shelly gave me a heads up about the planned fire drill at school" is an example of an idiom

The car's engine roared as the driver sped off

Math class can drag on for days

"The floor boards moaned as I tiptoed across the room" is an example of personification

an exaggeration that cannot possibly be true

Mrs. White's math test was a piece of cake

"Finally, my temper exploded like a bomb" is an example of a simile

The water reflected colors like a rainbow

"The toddlers sat in thier booster seats like birds on a high line" is an example of personification

The chair sat lonely in the corner of the room

Everyone called Kate, Loren, and Emma the Three Musketeers

a group of words whose collective meaning is quite different from their individual, literal meaning