Figurative Language
An extreme exaggeration
What is hyperbole?
She hums continuously and it annoys me because she does it all day.
What is without interruption, not stopping?
Once upon a time, a fox was out walking in the woods. He did not see a well in the ground ahead, and he fell right into it. It was too deep for him to climb out. After several hours passed, a goat came walking by. The goat was feeling thirsty and saw the fox in the well.
"How's the water down there?" asked the goat.
"Why, hello, Goat," said the fox. "The water tastes great. Why don't you come in and have a sip?"
The goat jumped into the well and leaned down to start drinking. Quickly, the fox leaped onto the goat's back and used her horns to spring up and out of the well.
"Oh no!" said the goat. "Now I'm stuck down here. Please help me!"
But the fox only said, "That was your mistake." And he ran off into the woods.
What is think before you act?
Where the characters and setting are introduced at the beginning.
What is exposition?
Words that are opposites in meaning
What are antonyms?
Comparing two unlike things without using "like" or "as"
The doctor’s writing was just scribbles and made it illegible.
What is non-readable, messy?
One day a lion was asleep in the jungle when a mouse ran over his leg. The lion woke up and trapped the mouse beneath his paw. He opened his large mouth and picked up the mouse.
"Oh, please don't eat me!" the mouse begged. "If you let me go, I will find a way to make it up to you someday."
The lion found this funny. How could a tiny mouse help the king of the jungle? But the lion agreed and let the mouse go.
A few months later, the lion was out roaming when he became caught in a hunter's net. Luckily, the same little mouse happened to walk by at that moment. She saw right away how she could help. She chewed through the net, freeing the lion from the trap.
"See?" said the mouse. "I was right." The lion was never happier to be wrong.
What is size doesn't matter?
The most suspenseful part in the story or where the character changes.
What is the climax?
Words that sound alike but are spelled differently
What are homophones?
Something you can not take literally
What is an idiom?
Bill felt remorse, or shame, for his harsh words.
What is guilt, sorry, regret?
One day an ant was out walking and became very thirsty. She saw a stream and decided to take a sip from it. But when she bent over, she slipped and fell into the water.
Luckily, a dove flying overhead spotted the ant. The bird took a leaf in its beak and dropped the leaf into the water for the ant. The ant climbed onto the leaf and floated safely to the edge of the stream. "Thank you, dear dove," said the ant. "You saved my life."
Just then, the two animals saw a hunter nearby. The hunter was holding a net high in the air. Seeing that the hunter was about to capture the dove, the ant acted quickly. She bit the hunter hard on his leg. "Ow!" he cried, and he dropped the net on the ground.
The dove flew away, and the ant walked away smiling.
What is treat others how you would like to be treated?
The ending of the story is where they live happily ever after in fairy tales.
What is the resolution?
The repetition of the beginning sound
What is alliteration?
A reference to a famous person, place, or event
What is an allusion?
His animosity toward his sister divided the family and they couldn't be in the same room.
What is dislike, hatred?
Liane was confident about the sand sculpture contest. She and her sister, Amanda, had been building sandcastles for years. People often stopped to admire the intricate details of their creations.
The two knelt in the damp sand by the foamy surf and tried to hatch a winning idea for the contest.
"We should make something really unusual for this contest. Like a giant octopus or something," said Liane.
"I thought we were making a sandcastle town, like we always do. Look, I collected all these shells for the walls," said Amanda. She pointed at a pile of smooth cowrie shells.
"Come on, let's do something different," Liane insisted. "Think big!"
"I don't know," Amanda said, dragging a finger in the sand. "No, I'm sticking to the original plan." She compressed a clump of sand between her palms, shaping it into a castle corner.
"I'll just make my own, then," Liane said. She marched to another spot a few yards away, plopped herself down, and began making her own sculpture.
At the end of the day, Liane gave up on her sculpture of a giant octopus attacking a castle. It looked like a lopsided shack with a blob on it. Liane hadn't had time to add any details.
Amanda had made a satisfactory castle, small but neatly ornamented with shells. Around it she had shaped the sand to look like rolling farmland. Amanda had spent most of her time on making a little herd of shell cows.
Looking around, Liane realized that neither of them would win the contest. Liane's sculpture was missing Amanda's skillful touch, and Amanda's castle was missing Liane's big ideas.
What is working together is better than alone?
Where they tie up the loose ends and start fixing the problems.
What is the falling action?
Another name for the denouement of a story.
What is the resolution/ending?
A paradox or contradictory statement
What is an oxymoron?
The crime he committed was egregious; he’ll never recover from this horrendous scandal.
What is bad, terrible, shocking?
Travaris had always loved singing, but he was still stunned when he landed the lead role in the school musical. He could barely wait to tell his parents the news. But when he made his announcement over dinner, they looked at each other and frowned.
"You said the performance was the week of May 13?" his dad asked.
Travaris's heart sank. Of course. His older sister was getting married in Hawaii that week.
"I'm sorry, but you'll just have to tell them that you can't do it," his mom said.
The next day at school, Travaris planned to tell Ms. Phelps, the theater director, that she should give his part to someone else because he wouldn't be in town during the performance. But all day he was bombarded with congratulations from his classmates for getting the lead role. He didn't have the heart to tell them that it was all for nothing because he couldn't even be in the play.
Travaris told his mom that he was staying after school to help out with set design, but really he was reading his lines, singing the songs, learning the dance numbers, and even getting fitted for costumes. It couldn't hurt to enjoy being the star of the play for a little bit, could it?
But as the weeks went by, Travaris started to feel guiltier and guiltier. He knew that the longer he put off dropping out of the play, the more he would hurt the rest of the cast and crew.
Finally, Travaris told Ms. Phelps how he couldn't be in the musical.
Ms. Phelps thanked him for letting her know. "But don't forget to audition again next year," she added with a wink.
What is be honest even if it doesn't benefit you?
The longest part of the story where suspense is being built
What is rising action?
A story, poem, or picture that reveals a hidden message or theme
What is allegory?