Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification

1. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification Figurative language is language that has meaning other than what it states directly. Literal language: Mark runs fast. Figurative language: Mark is a bolt of lightning on the track at his school. Lightning strikes fast, so if Mark is a bolt of lightning, that means he runs fast.

2. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification Metaphor A comparison between two things in which one thing is described as being something else Example: Hannah is a goddess of the kitchen. Literal meaning: Hannah is a wonderful cook.

3. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification Simile A comparison between two things in which the word like or as is used Example: The first day of school was like a whirlwind to the new sixth graders.

4. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification What two things are being compared: The first day of school is being compared to a whirlwind. Literal meaning: The first day of school was very active and went by quickly for the new sixth graders.

5. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification Personification A figure of speech in which an animal, idea, or object is given a human quality Example: The sun chased away the clouds, and suddenly we had a beautiful day for our barbecue. Literal meaning: The sun appeared quickly, and the clouds disappeared, making a barbecue possible.

6. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification Metaphors, Similes, and Personification Compared Literal language Smallville is a boring place to live. Metaphor Smallville is one long, drawn-out yawn. Simile Living in Smallville is like watching paint dry. Personification Smallville pokes along from morning to night.

7. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification A Few Tips to Help You Understand Metaphors, Similes and Personification Tip #1 What all three have in common is that they are all ways of comparing things that don’t seem to be alike, such as objects and human beings. So, when you think you see an example of figurative language, ask yourself what two things are being compared.

8. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification Tip #2 Spotting similes is easy when you look for the word like or as—AND you can spot two things being compared that do not seem to be alike. Tip #3 Beware: You will not find a simile everywhere you see the word like or as. I like apple pie. The runner swerved just as he was about to crash into a fence.

9. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification Tip #4 Some metaphors can be spotted by focusing on the word IS.So, pay attention to the words is, are, was, were, am, and has, have, or had been when you are asked to spot metaphors. Examples: The city IS a beehive of activity. (A city is compared to a beehive, which means the city is a busy place.) This workout HAS BEEN torture! (A workout at the gym has been compared to painful punishment.)

10. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification Tip #5 Other metaphors do not contain the word IS. Instead, the comparisons being made are implied (stated indirectly). Example: The city buzzed with a continuous hum of activity, its worker bees constantly in motion from morning to night. The word is does not appear here, yet the comparisons between the city and a beehive, and people moving about as worker bees, are obvious.

11. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification Tip #6 Spot examples of personification by spotting verbs and adjectives that indicate actions and feelings that are usually associated with people. Example: The day awoke in a bad mood. (The day began with bad weather.) The wind was angry. (The wind blew very hard.)

12. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification

13. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification As you listen to I Have Heard of a Land, make a “mind movie” and notice the examples of metaphor, simile, and personification the story contains.

14. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification Metaphors “… the earth is red with promises” “… the coyote’s call is a lullaby at night” “… a land where imagination has no fences” “… the butter is the color of melted sun” “… the syrup is honey stirred thick by a thousand honey bees”

15. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification Personification “… redbud trees catch the light and throw it in a game of sunbeams and shadow back and forth to the cottonwood trees” “… the laughing creek…” “… the cottonwood trees are innocent” “… winter brings storm warnings” the “woman sleeps in a sod hut dug deep in the heart of the earth”

16. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification Similes “… the flapjacks spread out big as a wagon wheel” “… the hymns sound just as sweet as an arbor of bushes” “… the pioneer woman’s possibilities reach… as far as our imaginations can carry us”

17. Listening Comprehension Topic: Distinguishing between Metaphors, Similes and Personification Be alert for examples of metaphors, similes, and personification in the book we are reading!