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Definition
A direct comparison between two dissimilar NOUNS using the words like, as, or resembles.
What to look for
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TWO very different NOUNS
The words like, as, or resembles
How it works
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By comparing ONE NOUN with a totally different NOUN, an idea is implied about the first
noun. The implication is that the first noun possesses some of the characteristics of the second noun.
NOUN1 = NOUN2
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What it is NOT
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It is not simply a description of a noun. There must be two nouns named in the sentence.
Examples
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1. Life is like a box of chocolates.
2. My brother eats like a vacuum cleaner.
3. Through the hazy smoke, the sun shined like a bronze medallion.
Definition
◦ A direct comparison between two dissimilar NOUNS using a “be” verb.
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What to look for
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How it works
◦ TWO very different NOUNS
◦ The “be” verbs: am, is, are, was, were, will be, etc.
◦ By comparing ONE NOUN with a totally different NOUN, an idea is implied about
the first noun. The implication is that the first noun possesses some of the
characteristics of the second noun.
NOUN1 = NOUN2
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What it is NOT
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Examples
◦ It is not simply a description of a noun. There must be two nouns named in the
Sentence.
◦ 1. To me, math is Mt. Everest.
◦ 2. The lion is king of the grasslands.
◦ 3. Since my lawnmower is broken, my lawn is a jungle.
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Definition
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What to look for
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How it works
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What it is NOT
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Examples
◦ The description of a non-human NOUN by using human characteristics.
Personification can be a simile or a direct metaphor only if the first noun is
nonhuman and the second noun is human.
◦ Something not human being given a personality, human-like actions, or human-like
behaviors.
◦ By comparing a non-human NOUN to a human, personification implies an idea about
the non-human noun.
◦ Personification NEVER describes a person. If the NOUN that is being described is a
person, you do not have personification.
◦ 1. The mountain waited for us in the distance, mocking us, beckoning us to attempt
the climb.
◦ 2. Empty for years, the house sat lonely at the end of the road, slumped over in
defeat.
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Definition
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What to look for
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How it works
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What it is NOT
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Examples
◦ Vivid descriptions which stimulate one of the five senses: sight, hearing, sensation,
taste, or smell.
◦ ADJECTIVES which are vivid; similes or metaphors which use sensory descriptions.
◦ By describing a NOUN with vivid language that stimulates a sense, the reader can
“picture” the idea more effectively.
◦ A judgment or identification: saying “I see a dog” is not imagery; saying “that smells
horrible” is not imagery. Imagery must include figurative language OR vivid and well
articulated description. Imagery is not simply a statement of a sensory VERB or the
identification of a NOUN.
◦ 1. The scent of pine trees and campfire smoke hung around us for days after we
returned home.
◦ 2. Across the sky the sunset painted vivid and luminescent oranges and purples
which chased the sun away.
◦ 3. After I crashed my skateboard, my skin burned from the sun-heated and gritty
pavement.
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His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer
without Cling Free.
He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind
because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now
goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar
eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
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She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
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Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
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He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
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The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
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From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie,surreal quality, like when
you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
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The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
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Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other
like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from
Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
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John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
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He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
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Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it
had rusted shut.
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The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law George. But unlike George,this plan just might work.
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The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
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He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually
lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
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The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire
hydrant.
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It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
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He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck
backing up
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Class Grade will be based on the following
factors:
 Poem is MEMORIZED with no mistakes
 Student puts effort into expressing the meaning of the
poem through the class performance
 Student shows their understanding of the poem
through the class performance
 Student is in class on the day of the POL competition.
If you have an unexcused absence on this day, you will
not be allowed to make up this grade!