Literary features practice

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 3

Literary features

metaphor, simile, euphemism, personification, oxymoron, onomatopoeia, idiom, alliteration

checkpoint tests preparation

Metaphor

imaginary (beeldspraak)

It does not literally mean what it states

The eye of heaven = the sun

Right before confronting her teacher she got cold feet.

She became afraid and did not want to do it anymore.

Idioms

idioms are phrases which people use in everyday language which do not make sense literally, but we understand their meaning. 

Call me twenty-four seven = at any time

It is raining cats and dogs = raining very heavily

Bury the hatchet = make peace

Simile

a comparison between two objects

It's a metaphor with both objects mentioned, but with 'like' and 'as' 

The dark clouds covered the city like a thick black blanket.

The blood was as red as wine.

Personification

human traits attributed to inanimate objects

Lightning danced across the sky. 

The wind howled in the night. 

My alarm clock yells at me to get out of bed every morning.

Euphemism

Understatement / Indirect expression

Not expressing 'the real thing', for instance to prevent shock / social taboo / embarrassing words

passed away instead of died

Let go instead of fired

not being a liar but being creative with the truth

Oxymoron

A combination of contradictory or incongruous words

seemingly contrasting each other

awfully nice

deafening silence

pretty ugly

old news

Onomatopoeia

a sound word

It creates a sound effect that 

mimics the thing described

A splash!

A 'buzzing' bee

The blood was gushing out

Alliteration

The repetitive use of the same consonant at the beginning of each word within an expression.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Sheep should sleep in a shed.

Also referred to as tongue twisters. 

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