Smiley Face Tricks

#2: Figurative Language Non-literal comparisons—such as similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, and oxymoron—add “spice” to writing and can help paint a more vivid picture for the reader.

Examples My hair is like peach fuzz. (simile)

When we first moved into the house on Orchid Street, I didn’t like it When we first moved into the house on Orchid Street, I didn’t like it. My room was hot, cramped, and stuffy as a train in the middle of the Sahara. And the looming skeleton-like gray and white frame of the place scared me. I dared not imagine living there, but the backyard, oh, the backyard. It was a huge, long mass of plentifully growing trees and blackberries. Goodness, how I loved them. (simile, personification)

It was a hot July morning, and the last few days of freedom before school were slipping by faster than a greased ten-foot-long boa constrictor at the ice capades. In other words, I only had a week and a half to play my brains out both inside and outside, and a week and a half before the evil schoolwork monsters took over my time, a week and a half before life as I had known it these past two months was over. (simile, exaggeration, personification, exaggeration, and Magic 3!)

Spot the Trick Using excerpts from renowned, published authors, write down the Magic Three trick on your paper:

Thick fog was all I could see out my window in the morning, and I could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on me. You could never see the sky here; it was like a cage. (personification/alliteration, simile) S. Meyer, Twilight, 11

Thick fog was all I could see out my window in the morning, and I could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on me. You could never see the sky here; it was like a cage. (personification/alliteration, simile) S. Meyer, Twilight, 11

Thick fog was all I could see out my window in the morning, and I could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on me. You could never see the sky here; it was like a cage. (personification/alliteration, simile) S. Meyer, Twilight, 11

He was trapped inside the Grand Gallery, and there existed only one person on earth to whom he could pass the torch. Sauniere gazed up at the walls of his opulent prison. A collection of the world’s most famous paintings seemed to smile down on him like old friends. (alliteration, assonance, oxymoron, personification/alliteration, simile) D. Brown, The Da Vinci Code, 5

He was trapped inside the Grand Gallery, and there existed only one person on earth to whom he could pass the torch. Sauniere gazed up at the walls of his opulent prison. A collection of the world’s most famous paintings seemed to smile down on him like old friends. (alliteration, assonance, oxymoron, personification/alliteration, simile) D. Brown, The Da Vinci Code, 5

He was trapped inside the Grand Gallery, and there existed only one person on earth to whom he could pass the torch. Sauniere gazed up at the walls of his opulent prison. A collection of the world’s most famous paintings seemed to smile down on him like old friends. (alliteration, assonance, oxymoron, personification/alliteration, simile) D. Brown, The Da Vinci Code, 5

He was trapped inside the Grand Gallery, and there existed only one person on earth to whom he could pass the torch. Sauniere gazed up at the walls of his opulent prison. A collection of the world’s most famous paintings seemed to smile down on him like old friends. (alliteration, assonance, oxymoron, personification/alliteration, simile) D. Brown, The Da Vinci Code, 5

He was trapped inside the Grand Gallery, and there existed only one person on earth to whom he could pass the torch. Sauniere gazed up at the walls of his opulent prison. A collection of the world’s most famous paintings seemed to smile down on him like old friends. (alliteration, assonance, oxymoron, personification/alliteration, simile) D. Brown, The Da Vinci Code, 5

He was trapped inside the Grand Gallery, and there existed only one person on earth to whom he could pass the torch. Sauniere gazed up at the walls of his opulent prison. A collection of the world’s most famous paintings seemed to smile down on him like old friends. (alliteration, assonance, oxymoron, personification/alliteration, simile) D. Brown, The Da Vinci Code, 5

October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces. The skies and the ceiling of the Great Hall turned a pale, pearly gray, and the mountains around Hogwarts became snowcapped, and the temperature in the castle dropped so far that many students wore their thick protective dragon skin gloves in the corridors between lessons. (personification, personification, simile, personification, alliteration, Magic 3!) J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the OOTP, 401

October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces. The skies and the ceiling of the Great Hall turned a pale, pearly gray, and the mountains around Hogwarts became snowcapped, and the temperature in the castle dropped so far that many students wore their thick protective dragon skin gloves in the corridors between lessons. (personification, personification, simile, personification, alliteration, Magic 3!) J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the OOTP, 401

October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces. The skies and the ceiling of the Great Hall turned a pale, pearly gray, and the mountains around Hogwarts became snowcapped, and the temperature in the castle dropped so far that many students wore their thick protective dragon skin gloves in the corridors between lessons. (personification, personification, simile, personification, alliteration, Magic 3!) J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the OOTP, 401

October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces. The skies and the ceiling of the Great Hall turned a pale, pearly gray, and the mountains around Hogwarts became snowcapped, and the temperature in the castle dropped so far that many students wore their thick protective dragon skin gloves in the corridors between lessons. (personification, personification, simile, personification, alliteration, Magic 3!) J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the OOTP, 401

October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces. The skies and the ceiling of the Great Hall turned a pale, pearly gray, and the mountains around Hogwarts became snowcapped, and the temperature in the castle dropped so far that many students wore their thick protective dragon skin gloves in the corridors between lessons. (personification, personification, simile, personification, alliteration, Magic 3!) J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the OOTP, 401

October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces. The skies and the ceiling of the Great Hall turned a pale, pearly gray, and the mountains around Hogwarts became snowcapped, and the temperature in the castle dropped so far that many students wore their thick protective dragon skin gloves in the corridors between lessons. (personification, personification, simile, personification, alliteration, Magic 3!) J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the OOTP, 401

In the shell-shocked kitchen, somewhere near the stove, there’s an image of a lonely, overworked typewriter. It sits in a distant, near-empty room. Its keys are faded and a blank sheet waits patiently upright in the assumed position. It wavers slightly in the breeze from the window. Coffee break is nearly over. A pile of paper the height of a human stands casually by the door. It could easily be smoking. (alliteration, personification, personification, alliteration, alliteration, personification, personification) M. Zusak, The Book Thief, 418

In the shell-shocked kitchen, somewhere near the stove, there’s an image of a lonely, overworked typewriter. It sits in a distant, near-empty room. Its keys are faded and a blank sheet waits patiently upright in the assumed position. It wavers slightly in the breeze from the window. Coffee break is nearly over. A pile of paper the height of a human stands casually by the door. It could easily be smoking. (alliteration, personification, personification, alliteration, alliteration, personification, personification) M. Zusak, The Book Thief, 418

In the shell-shocked kitchen, somewhere near the stove, there’s an image of a lonely, overworked typewriter. It sits in a distant, near-empty room. Its keys are faded and a blank sheet waits patiently upright in the assumed position. It wavers slightly in the breeze from the window. Coffee break is nearly over. A pile of paper the height of a human stands casually by the door. It could easily be smoking. (alliteration, personification, personification, alliteration, alliteration, personification, personification) M. Zusak, The Book Thief, 418

In the shell-shocked kitchen, somewhere near the stove, there’s an image of a lonely, overworked typewriter. It sits in a distant, near-empty room. Its keys are faded and a blank sheet waits patiently upright in the assumed position. It wavers slightly in the breeze from the window. Coffee break is nearly over. A pile of paper the height of a human stands casually by the door. It could easily be smoking. (alliteration, personification, personification, alliteration, alliteration, personification, personification) M. Zusak, The Book Thief, 418

In the shell-shocked kitchen, somewhere near the stove, there’s an image of a lonely, overworked typewriter. It sits in a distant, near-empty room. Its keys are faded and a blank sheet waits patiently upright in the assumed position. It wavers slightly in the breeze from the window. Coffee break is nearly over. A pile of paper the height of a human stands casually by the door. It could easily be smoking. (alliteration, personification, personification, alliteration, alliteration, personification, personification) M. Zusak, The Book Thief, 418

In the shell-shocked kitchen, somewhere near the stove, there’s an image of a lonely, overworked typewriter. It sits in a distant, near-empty room. Its keys are faded and a blank sheet waits patiently upright in the assumed position. It wavers slightly in the breeze from the window. Coffee break is nearly over. A pile of paper the height of a human stands casually by the door. It could easily be smoking. (alliteration, personification, personification, alliteration, alliteration, personification, personification) M. Zusak, The Book Thief, 418

In the shell-shocked kitchen, somewhere near the stove, there’s an image of a lonely, overworked typewriter. It sits in a distant, near-empty room. Its keys are faded and a blank sheet waits patiently upright in the assumed position. It wavers slightly in the breeze from the window. Coffee break is nearly over. A pile of paper the height of a human stands casually by the door. It could easily be smoking. (alliteration, personification, personification, alliteration, alliteration, personification, personification) M. Zusak, The Book Thief, 418

In the shell-shocked kitchen, somewhere near the stove, there’s an image of a lonely, overworked typewriter. It sits in a distant, near-empty room. Its keys are faded and a blank sheet waits patiently upright in the assumed position. It wavers slightly in the breeze from the window. Coffee break is nearly over. A pile of paper the height of a human stands casually by the door. It could easily be smoking. (alliteration, personification, personification, alliteration, alliteration, personification, personification) M. Zusak, The Book Thief, 418

Your Turn! Use the following prompt to write for 5 solid minutes. Use at least one simile and one set of alliteration in your piece. Prompt: Tell me about a moment or describe something from a place you have been to on a field trip: zoo, skiing, Nature Center, ice skating, Lagoon, Playhouse Museum, etc.