Similes

1. Similes A simile is a comparison using like or as. It usually compares two dissimilar objects. For example: His feet were as big as boats. We are comparing the size of feet to boats.

2. Using the poem below underline all of the similes. Decide which items are being compared.

3. Willow and Ginkgo Eve Merriam The willow is like an etching, Fine-lined against the sky. The ginkgo is like a crude sketch, Hardly worthy to be signed. The willow’s music is like a soprano, Delicate and thin. The ginkgo’s tune is like a chorus With everyone joining in.

4. The willow is sleek as a velvet-nosed calf; The ginkgo is leathery as an old bull. The willow’s branches are like silken thread; The ginkgo’s like stubby rough wool. The willow is like a nymph with streaming hair; Wherever it grows, there is green and gold and fair. The willow dips to the water, Protected and precious, like the king’s favorite daughter.

5. The ginkgo forces its way through gray concrete; Like a city child, it grows up in the street. Thrust against the metal sky, Somehow it survives and even thrives. My eyes feast upon the willow, But my heart goes to the ginkgo.

6. A metaphorstates that one thing is something else. It is a comparison, but it does NOT use like or as to make the comparison.

7. For example: Her hair is silk. The sentence is comparing (or stating) that hair is silk

8. Take a piece of blank white paper and fold it into fourths. In one block, write a simile and illustrate it. In the block immediately to the right, write the same sentence as a metaphor. Do the same for the other two blocks.

9. Decide whether each sentence contains a simile or a metaphor. Write the word SIMILE if the sentence contains a simile. Write the word METAPHOR if the sentence contains a metaphor.

10. 1. The baby was like an octopus, grabbing at all the cans on the grocery store shelves.

11. 2. As the teacher entered the room she muttered under her breath, "This class is like a three-ring circus!"

12. 3. The giant’s steps were thunder as he ran toward Jack.

13. Try the rest on your own 4. The pillow was a cloud when I put my head upon it after a long day. 5. I feel like a limp dishrag. 6. Those girls are like two peas in a pod.

14. 7. The fluorescent light was the sun during our test. 8. No one invites Harold to parties because he’s a wet blanket.

15. 9. The bar of soap was a slippery eel during the dog’s bath. 10. Ted was as nervous as a cat with a long tail in a room full of rocking chairs.

16. Joy Just when you thought that winter would be here forever, that it could never end, you saw: Amidst the frozen white, a tiny tip of green, first blade of grass, the messenger of spring.

17. Tranquility Time slides a gentle ocean waves upon waves, washing the shore, loving the shore.

18. Peace The wind is now a roaring, smashing monster of destruction, raking all man's work from the valleys, from the vales, and sends them spinning, broken flying -

19. but all of that is not its core, its center is in truth eternal stillness bright blue skies and all you hear are gentle whispers far away and unimportant.

20. Idioms Idioms are word combinations that are idiotic! Crazy! Nuts! etc. In other words, idioms have meanings that can't be figured out by looking up the words in the dictionary.  They have meanings that are understood by people who speak that language, but are very hard to understand for people who don't speak that language.  

21. Guess the Idiom To stick your neck out   is to say or do something that is bold and a bit dangerous.

22. go out on a limb

23. To break the ice is to be the first one to say or do something, with the expectation that others will then follow.

24. get the ball rolling

25. To get long in the tooth • To have a chip on one's shoulder

26. In the next minute write down as many idioms as you can. In the next minute write down the meaning of the idioms you created. Get into groups of four. Share idioms and meanings for ~ 1 minute. Have the group choose the best (most creative) idiom and read it to the class.

27. Directions: Write the meanings of these frequently used idioms: • catch a cold 2. see eye to eye 3. under the weather

28. 4. stuffed to the gills 5. out of the frying pan and into the fire 6. slow boat to China 7. nose to the grindstone

29. 8. on pins and needles 9. fly off the handle 10. toot your own horn

30. 11. pie in the sky 12. head in the sand 13. lay down the law

31. HW: Copy the following idioms and write down what you think they mean. 14. born yesterday 15. feel like a million 16. just what the doctor ordered 17. hold your horses 18. cat has your tongue 19. going bananas 20. bury the hatchet