Lesson video

Hi, everyone, it's Ms. Chu here.

In today's lesson, you're going to be practising using figurative language, and by the end of the lesson, you're going to be experts at similes and personification.

So when you're ready, let's get started! Today's lesson outcome is, "I can practise using figurative language in different sentence types." The keywords are here.

Are you ready to say them with me? My turn, then your turn.

Figurative language.

Again, figurative language.

Simile.

Personification.

Personification.

And finally, compare.

Figurative language is the use of simile and personification to paint vivid pictures for the reader.

A simile is a linguistic device that compares two things using like or as, highlighting similarities to create these vivid pictures in your mind.

Personification is a linguistic device that gives human characteristics to non-human objects to create imagery.

So non-human objects could be something like this water bottle, for example.

And compare is to note what is the same and what is different about two things, two or more things.

The lesson outline for today looks like this.

First, you're going to look at understanding similes and personification, and then the second part is using similes and personification.

So let's get started in the first part.

A simile is a linguistic device that compares two things.

The words like or as are used to highlight similarities and create vivid imagery in the reader's mind.

Let's look at this picture, for example.

"The snowflakes fell gently from the sky," and then we're comparing it with something else, "like feathers floating in the breeze." The word snowflakes here is being compared to feathers, using the word like.

This helps the reader to understand and imagine how soft and gentle the snowflakes are falling.

Let's look at this sentence again.

"The snowflakes fell gently from the sky like feathers floating in the breeze." Imagining colours that we want our reader to see in our description helps us to choose vocabulary carefully.

We can imagine a colour scale.

Have a look at this one here.

In the example above, gently, feathers, and floating.

What do you think, do they paint a positive or negative picture? Yeah, it paints a positive picture that is associated with the blue and greenish part of our colour scale.

It's associated with those colours and those colours there help the reader to picture a calm, gentle, serene, and tranquil scene.

So what is the definition of a simile then? Is it a linguistic device used to compare two things? Is it a linguistic device that says two things are exactly the same as one another? Is a linguistic device that highlights the difference between two things? Pause the video and have a think about what the right answer is.

Get ready to point to the right answer.

The answer is in three, two, one, with your finger, go! Yes, that's right, it's A, a linguistic device used to compare two things.

What's personification? Well, personification gives non-human objects human characteristics or actions.

Personification is most commonly achieved by using a verb.

Remember, a verb is a doing word, a doing or a being word that a human would do to describe the movement of a non-human object.

Let's look at this example.

"The sun smiled warmly upon the snowy landscape." The word smiled, can you do that, can you smile to me? Lovely, beautiful smile.

The word smiled describes the action of the sun, shining and smiling in a positive way, giving it a positive, happy action that humans do.

So you're giving the sun a human characteristic.

Let's look at this sentence again.

"The sun smiled warmly upon the snowy landscape." Do we want to paint a positive or a negative picture in this description? "The sun," wait, close your eyes, you can try and picture it now.

"The sun smiled warmly upon the snowy landscape." Is it positive or is it negative? The words smiled and warmly paint a.

Say it, positive, well done, picture.

That might be associated with the bluey-greeny colours on our colour scale.

So there they are, they sit on that part of our colour scale.

What is the definition of personification? Is it A, a description of what a person is doing? Is it the description of what an object looks like? Or is it C, giving a non-human thing human characteristics or behaviour? Pause the video and have a think about what the right answer is.

So, the answer is, get ready to point with your finger in three, two, one.

Yes, it is giving a non-human object or a thing human characteristics or behaviour, or it could be emotions like the sun that we just described.

(computer mouse clicking) In your task, I would like you to read this text carefully.

That's the first part of the task.

Secondly, I want you to circle the examples of similes.

Do you remember what similes are? Number three, I would like you to underline the examples of personification.

Remember, similes compare two things using the words like or as.

And personification is when you give non-human objects human characteristics or behaviour or emotions.

So before you pause the video, I'm going to read through the text with you, and then you can have a go.

Are you ready? Get your listening ears on.

"The pure-white mountains loomed against the horizon and their jagged peaks cut through the azure sky like sharp blades in ice.

The snowy slopes cascaded down as the wind whispered through the valleys.

The mountains, which sighed their icy breaths, stood proud like an army of soldiers.

At sunrise, the celestial sky glowed like a brush painting the landscape with a radiant warmth." Do you think you could have a go at doing one, two, and three? Pause the video and good luck.

(computer mouse clicking) Okay, so now let's have a look at what I have circled and underlined.

So I've circled, "Jagged peaks cut through the azure sky like sharp blades in ice," because I'm comparing the jagged peaks of the mountains, so the peaks, meaning the summit, summits of the mountains.

They look like, if you do this with your finger, everyone do this with your finger, they look like sharp blades.

Do you know what a blade is? A blade is like the sharp part of a knife.

It's a knife, so they look like knives.

So that is a simile.

Then the other one I circled, "Stood proud like an army of soldiers." So I said the mountains stood proud like an army of soldiers.

So I'm comparing the mountains with an army of soldiers.

And then the final simile that I circled was the celestial sky.

So the sky glowed like a.

I was describing the sky being like a brush painting the landscape.

And then what about personification? Well, I said that the wind whispered, so I'm giving the wind human actions of whispering.

I also said the mountains sighed.

(sighs) Can you sigh? Do a big sigh for me.

(sighs) Yeah, that's right.

So they sighed their icy breaths, probably 'cause they felt tired or they were relieved.

And then actually, there's one that has both in it.

The mountains stood proud.

So here we're saying that the mountains are standing, so we are kind of giving them a human characteristic or behaviour.

So in that one, it's kind of both.

(computer mouse clicking) And now we are on to the second part of our lesson, which is using similes and personification.

Let's look at different sentence types first.

A main clause has a superpower.

Do this with your arms. Follow the picture.

It can make a complete sentence on its own.

"The snowflakes fell gently." That is a main clause.

"Stop what you're doing." "Is it snowing?" And, "What a glorious day it is." These are all examples of main clauses.

A sentence made of one main clause with just one idea is called a simple sentence.

Which of these are true for a simple sentence? It has just one main clause.

It is about one idea.

It can only end with a question mark.

Or it has more than one main clause.

Pause the video and have a think.

Think back to the previous slide that I showed you.

Hmm.

Pause the video now and have a go.

Okay, get ready to point to the right answer in three, two, one.

Yes, it just has one main clause and it is about one idea only.

Can it only end with a question mark? It can also end with an exclamation mark and a full stop.

And it doesn't have more than one main clause.

What about a compound sentence? A compound sentence is formed of at least two equally important main clauses joined together by a coordinating conjunction.

Here is Main again.

Main is joined with and, but, or or.

Those are our coordinating conjunctions.

Main is joined with another Main.

And this forms a compound sentence.

What does a compound sentence always contain? At least two main clauses, a question mark, at least two ideas of equal importance, a coordinating conjunction.

Pause the video and have a go at what you think the right answer is.

And get ready to point to the right answer in three, two, one.

Yes, it has at least two main clauses.

Is there another answer here? Yes, it's a compound sentence always contains at least two ideas of equal importance.

And is that it or is there another one? Yes, and it also has a coordinating conjunction.

Well done.

What about an adverbial complex sentence? When an adverbial clause is joined to a main clause, it forms an adverbial complex sentence.

And we have Main, and we have Subordinate.

We can write this in this way as well, Subordinate and Main.

What does that look like in a sentence? If we have Main first, it would look like this.

"The sky stretched above the majestic peaks." That is our main clause.

"As the clouds swirled around," is our adverbial clause.

It begins with a subordinating conjunction, as.

Can we write, can we switch them around and write it in another way? Yes, we can.

So we can start with the subordinate, then we can have, oops, not subordinate.

We start with our subordinate.

And then we have our main, so let's look at it in a sentence.

"As the clouds swirled around, the sky stretched above the majestic peaks." So we're starting with our subordinating conjunction as to start our adverbial clause, and then we have our main clause after it.

And can you see in both those sentences, there is a difference between starting with the main clause first or starting with the adverbial clause first.

Wonder if you can spot what the difference is.

Yes, if you start with a main clause, you don't need a comma to separate the main clause from the adverbial clause.

But if you start with the adverbial clause first, as the clouds swirled around, you need a comma to separate that clause with the main clause.

Which three will always be found in an adverbial complex sentence, a main clause, an adverbial clause, an exclamation mark, or a subordinating conjunction.

Remember, there are three there that you need to tick.

Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, shall we have a look to see what they are? They are, yes, main clause, adverbial clause.

And is there another one? Subordinating conjunction.

Well done.

When a relative clause is added to a main clause, it creates a relative complex sentence.

There's another type of complex sentence.

Let's look at it in an example.

We have our main clause.

"The morning sky showcased a canvas of colours." That makes sense on its own.

It has a main clause.

And then we're going to add a relative clause, "Which stretched above the majestic peaks." That is our relative clause.

What does that look like when we join them together? Well, the relative clause, if you have a look, I coloured it for you, so it makes it easier for you to see.

The relative clause is actually in the middle of the main clause.

It's embedded.

"The morning sky," comma, "which stretched above the majestic peaks," comma, "showcased a canvas of colours." And that together makes a relative complex sentence.

It's got the relative clause embedded.

The word embedded means it's in the middle of it, it's interrupt, the main clause is interrupted by the relative clause.

And let's just have another quick look at the punctuation within that relative complex sentence.

Before the relative pronoun which, we have a comma.

"The morning sky," comma.

And then at the end of the relative clause, there's also a comma.

So, "Which stretched above the majestic peaks," comma.

So if you look at that sentence, it needs to have those two commas on either side of the relative clause for it to be correct.

Let's just go over what I just said in more detail.

In a relative complex sentence, the relative clause can interrupt the main clause after the noun or noun phrase it links to.

Let's look at our sentence again.

"The morning sky, which stretched above the majestic peaks, showcase a canvas of colours." Let's break it down.

"The morning sky showcased a canvas of colours," is our main clause.

And the relative clause is, "Which stretched above the majestic peaks," is in the middle.

It interrupts the main clause.

So can you see there? It interrupts the main clause, but it interrupts the main clause after the noun or the noun phrase.

And in this example, the noun phrase is the morning sky.

So you've got our main and main is interrupted by the relative clause, our subordinate clause, our subordinate.

Can you see in that picture, we've got main, subordinate, main.

And in between main and subordinate, there are two commas.

And this is what forms our relative complex sentence.

Which of these are found in a relative complex sentence? A subordinating conjunction, a relative clause, a main clause, or a relative pronoun.

Pause the video and really switch on that thinking head, so you can get the right answers.

Okay, get ready to point to the right answer or answers with your finger.

Ready, three, two, one.

It does have a relative clause.

It's, the clue is in the actual sentence, relative complex sentence.

So it's got a relative clause.

And then does it have a main clause? Do you remember if I talked about a main clause? Yes, it does.

And also what else does it have? A relative pronoun.

It has a which or a who.

I would like you to identify the four different sentence types.

Say them with me.

Ready? Simple, compound, adverbial complex, and relative complex.

There are four sentence types that we've just looked at.

Do you think you can identify them in this little descriptive paragraph? I read it out to you, and I would like you to just have a little think about where they are.

"Early in the morning, the sun painted the sky with hues of rose and gold.

The snowy mountains stood tall like ancient guardians draped in shimmering white cloaks, and their peaks reached for the heavens like icy fingers.

All around the crisp air whispered secrets as snowflakes danced in the air.

The serene snow, which buried the slumbering trees, blanketed the slopes." Hmm.

Well, I can see that the first sentence, "Early in the morning, the sun painted the sky with hues of rose and gold," is my simple sentence.

There's a main clause there.

"The snowy mountains stood tall like ancient guardians draped in shimmering white cloaks, and their icy peaks reached for the heavens like icy fingers." There are two main clauses there joined with a coordinating conjunction.

So that must be my compound sentence.

Then I have, "All around, the crisp air whispered secrets as snowflakes danced in the air." That must be my adverbial complex sentence, because I can see my subordinating conjunction as there.

And then the final one, "The serene snow, which buried the slumbering trees blanketed the slope," must be my relative complex sentence, because I've got my relative clause there, "Which buried the slumbering trees." It's got my relative pronoun, which, and it's embedded.

It's interrupted my main clause.

It's embedded in my main clause, and it interrupts my main clause.

My main clause being, "The serene snow blanketed the slopes." Now, I would like you to use this picture, and in this task, I would like you to write a simple sentence with a simile.

Do you think you could have a go at doing this? Don't worry, you can use the scaffold to help you.

Mm, like, mm.

In the second part of the task, I would like you to write a compound sentence with personification.

So in your compound sentence, you need one main clause, and then you need another main clause, and you need to join them with and, the coordinating conjunction and.

Then finally, you can write a complex sentence, choose between an adverbial or relative clause complex sentence.

And you can use this scaffold.

Mm, as, mm.

Or if you're choosing to write a relative clause, complex sentence, you could say, mm, which, mm, mm.

Finally, I'd like you to think about what choice of vocabulary you will need to use based on this picture and kind of based on using and where the arrow is on the colour scale.

It seems to be pointing towards the bluey greeny area of the colour scale.

So you need to think of colours, not colours, you need to think of vocabulary that will make the reader feel calm.

Pause the video and have a go at doing this task.

Let's have a look at my example.

For my simple sentence with a simile, I wrote, "At sunrise," we use the fronted adverbial, I'm telling them when it happened, "the snowflakes glistened like a million diamonds." And for my second sentence, I wrote a compound sentence with personification.

"The valley below was a tranquil heaven and the mountains rose majestically." Let me just check that I've used the right vocabulary to describe this picture.

Remember, I want to create a tranquil, peaceful scene, because I've got my arrow in the bluey greeny area.

Okay, so I've used, "Glistened like a million diamonds." So, "Like a million diamonds," is a simile, 'cause I've used the word like to compare the snowflakes with diamonds.

And then in my second sentence, I've used the and to join the two main clauses, and I said, "The mountains rose majestically." So I'm giving the mountains a human-like quality.

So I'm happy with that.

In my third, in the third part of my task, I've written, "The wind whispered through the valleys as the mountains sighed their icy breaths." That is my adverbial complex sentence.

"The wind whispered through the valleys," is my main clause.

"As the mountains sighed their icy breath," is my subordinate or my adverbial clause.

I've started it with my subordinating conjunction as, and then also in my second sentence, I've done two.

I have written, the snow-capped peaks, "The snow-capped peaks, which stretched endlessly into the horizon, created a breathtaking view." Let me just check that I've got my relative clause embedded, "Which stretched endlessly into the horizon." Yes, and I've got my commas on either side of it.

Let me just check that my main clause makes sense.

If I pull it out, would it make sense on its own? "The snow-capped peaks created a breathtaking view." Yes, that does make sense.

And have I chosen vocabulary that makes me feel relaxed and tranquil? Wind whispered, yes.

Icy breaths, breathtaking view.

Great.

Happy with those To summarise, figurative language is the use of similes and personification to create imaginative meanings.

A simile is a linguistic device that compares two things.

Personification gives human characteristics or behaviours to non-human things using a variety of sentence types, simple, compound, adverbial complex, and relative clause complex keeps the reader engaged and allows writing to flow.

I hope you have really enjoyed practising using figurative language in this lesson.

I think you are now experts at using similes and personification.

Well done.

(computer mouse clicking).