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