- Alliteration
- Repetition of the same initial letter,
e.g. deep
dark ditch, small sunny spot.
- Metaphor
- Liken one thing to another without the use of 'like' or 'as',
e.g. nerves of steel, an icy
glance, a glowing smile.
- Onomatopoeia
- Form words by imitating the sound made by what is represented,
e. g. 'splash', 'cuckoo', 'Miaow',
'Crash'.
- Personification
- Treat an object as a person,
e.g. The sun smiled upon them;
the wind caressed her face; the brook murmured.
- Simile
- Liken one thing to another using 'like', or 'as',
e.g. Her face was as red as a
tomato; he moved silently like a cat stalking it's prey.
- Colloquialisms
- Okay, I know I am going to "date" myself here! I am
probably older than........ Older than the wrinkle on an elephant's
knee! Horrible!
Anyway, I like words that are just being redefined by groups
of people.
For example: If I said, "I
am going to jet out of here!" to a twelve year old
where I live, he would think I was leaving. If I said
that to a person in Toronto, they might think I was about to
leave on an airplane.
I would like to see "appropriate" use of good descriptive colloquialisms
in our stories. The word "appropriate" is, of course,
a colloquialism that we use in our English classes. We
know what it means!
Oh, by the way, our use of these words should make sense to
all of us. This gives us a good reason to talk of other
participants.
|
