Trashketball
Figurative Language
Rules of Trashketball
1. Stay in your seats at ALL times.
2. You will have 30-60 seconds to ponder/discuss the
answer to a question AND
3. Write ONE response to the question on a sheet of
paper.
4. All players/teams will hold up their answers.
5. If you are correct, you/your team will get the
opportunity to shoot the correct response into the
trashcan from a point line (or your seat).
6. If the shot is made, the player/team gets a point.
7. Shots will be made after ALL the questions have
been answered or shown.
Q1
A boy told me
that if he skated fast enough
his loneliness couldn’t catch up to him.
Answer
Personification –
Loneliness cannot run or move, it is an
abstract noun given humanlike
qualities.
Q2
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out!
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the window and blocked the door,
The garbage rolled on down the hall,
It raised the roof, it broke the wall…
At last the garbage reached so high
That finally it touched the sky.
Answers
Hyperbole –
garbage reached the sky.
OR
Personification –
garbage cannot touch or roll.
OR
Alliteration –
The consonant sound of “s”/“c” is
repeated.
(depending upon your justification)
Q3
Fast breaks.
Lay ups.
Nothing but a hot swish of strings like silk
Ten feet out.
When girls cheered on the sidelines.
Answer
Simile –
There is a comparison: strings are
compared to silk.
Q4
Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
Answer
Metaphor –
There is a comparison using the verb IS

Life is a broken wing.
Q5
You could’ve knocked me over with a feather!
Answer
Hyperbole –
It is an exaggeration of how shocked this
person was.
Q6
This school was a prison for all adolescents!
Answer
Metaphor –
A comparison of school to prison using
the verb was.
Q7
Hey diddle, diddle,
The cat & the fiddle.
The cow jumped over the moon,
The dog laughed to see such a sport.
And the dish ran away with the spoon.
Answer
Personification –
Cows cannot jump over a moon,
dogs cannot laugh, and
dishware cannot run off
as these are objects given humanlike
qualities.
Q8
“It’s been a hard day’s night,
And I’ve been workin’ like a dog.”
-The Beatles
Answer
Simile –
A comparison of “I” to hard work ethic
using the work like.
Q9
American is a melting pot of cultures.
Answer
Metaphor –
A comparison of American to a melting
pot using the verb is.
Q 10
Look out how you use proud words.
When you let proud words go, it is
not easy to call them back.
They wear long boots, hard boots; they
walk off proud; they can’t hear you
calling–
Look out how you use proud words.
Answer
Personification –
Words are being given humanlike
qualities such as wearing boots.
Q 11
Her head was spinning from all of the new
information the teacher provided.
Answer
Idiom –
The head cannot actually spin, that is
super unnatural.
Q 12
Wide-eyed and wondering were the willing
children. Yes, the children.
Answer
Alliteration –
There is a repetition of consonant
sounds  “w”
Q 13
The burning wood hissed and crackled.
Answer
Onomatopoeia –
the wood makes the imitation sound
words of “hiss” and “crack”
Q 14
Bells – let them sound around the town!
Answer
Assonance –
The vowel sound “ow” is repeated in the
words sound, around, and town.
Q 15
Seriously, you could have knocked me over
with a feather after I heard the news!
Answer
Idiom –
Knock me over with a feather is an
expression that cannot be understood if
broken apart.
OR
Hyperbole –
A human, no matter their weight, would not
be able to be knocked over by such a light
item like a feather.
Q 16
At the store, the butter was bitter and Betty
didn’t want bitter butter.
Answer
Alliteration –
The “B” consonant is repeated.
Q 17
The match continued quickly as the
audience could hear
the tennis ball whir past.
Answer
Onomatopoeia –
The sound word whir is being used to imitate
the sound a speeding tennis ball makes.
Q 18
Beneath the trees I did feel the breeze.
Answer
Assonance –
The long e or “eeee” vowel sound is being
repeated in the words beneath, tree, and
breeze.
Q 19
Her eyes were a diamond in the rough.
Answer
Metaphor –
Not only is there a linking verb were, but
also “her” eyes are being compared to a
diamond.
HOW DID YOU DO?
• Do we need to go over these types of
figurative language more?
• Would you like to practice with an interactive
online game?
http://www.starrmatica.com/standalone/starrMaticaFigurativeLanguageBaseball.swf
• Then, how many points did you accumulate
during the game of Trashketball?