Idioms, Alliteration, & Onomatopoeia

​Figurative Language: Idioms, Alliteration, & Onomatopoeia

By Jennifer Cruz

​Learning intention: Students will define, identify, and create examples of idioms, alliteration, and onomatopoeia.

Review

​ Simile

Compare two unlike things using the words "like" or "as"

Ex:
She's as bright as the moon.

​ Metaphor

Hyperbole

Personification

Compare two unlike things WITHOUT using the words "like" or "as"
Ex:
Her eyes were diamonds

An exaggerated statement that is not meant to be taken literally

Ex:
I'm dying of laughter

When you give human trains to non human things

Ex:
My heart was competing with my head.

Categorize

Options (17)

I told you a million times!

I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!

This bag weighs a ton!

I've told you a thousand times!

as brave as a lion

sleeps like a baby

runs like the wind

light as a feather

Time is a thief.

He has a heart of stone.

He is a night owl.

Her voice is music to my ears.

Life is a journey.

The wind whispered through the trees.

Time flies when you're having fun.

The sun smiled down on us.

The alarm clock screamed at me to wake up.

Organize these sentences into the right categories

Simile

Metaphor

Personification

Hyperbole

Idioms

An idiom is a phrase that means something different from its literal words.

Examples:

• “Break a leg!” meaning good luck

• “Spill the beans” meaning reveal a secret

• “Beat around the bush” meaning avoid saying something directly.

Multiple Choice

What does this idiom mean?

“After staying up all night, I was feeling under the weather.”

• Excited

• Sick

• Hungry

• Angry

Multiple Choice

What is the Idiom in the sentence?

“Stop pulling my leg—I know you’re joking!”

• Pulling my leg

• You're joking

Alliteration

Alliteration repeats the same starting sound in a sentence or phrase.

• Example:

  • Sally sells seashells by the seashore.

  • Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

• Writers use it to make language sound musical or fun!

Multiple Choice

“The big brown bear walked through the forest.”

What words show alliteration?

• walked, through

• big, brown, bear

• forest, bear

• the, through

Multiple Choice

“The wild wind whistled loudly at night.”

What makes this sentence an example of alliteration?

• The rhyming words
  

• The repeated beginning sound

• The length of the sentence

• The verbs used

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia are sound words that imitate real noises.

Examples:

• The bacon sizzled.

• The balloon popped.

• The thunder boomed.

Multiple Choice

“The bees buzzed around the flowers.”

What is the onomatopoeia in the sentence?

• Bees

• Flowers

• Buzzed

• around

Match

Match each phrase to its type:

• Hit the hay

• Peter Piper picked

• Piece of cake

Idiom

Alliteration

Idiom

• Idiom

• Alliteration

• Idiom