“Her voice was as soft as velvet.” Which technique is this?
Figurative language
Year 6 · Upper Key Stage 2 · 2g — Identify how meaning is enhanced through choice of words
Draft — awaiting teacher review
Builds on: Inference versus retrieval (Year 6)
I
Concept Anchor
A simile compares using ‘like’ or ‘as’. A metaphor says something IS something else. Personification gives human qualities to non-human things.
Worked example
“The wind howled through the empty streets.”
- 1.Is there ‘like’ or ‘as’? No.
- 2.Does the wind literally howl? Howling is what animals or people do.
- 3.So the wind is given a living quality: personification.
- 4.Effect: the street feels wild and threatening.
II
Guided Check
Identify the technique and its effect: “The classroom was a zoo after lunch.”
III
Independent Diagnostic Practice
“The old house groaned in the storm.” What is the effect of ‘groaned’?
You want a metaphor about time taking things away. Which sentence best fits?