VERB PHRASE-

 In linguistics, a verb phrase is a syntactic unit composed of at least one verb and its
dependents—objects, complements and other modifiers—but not always including the
subject

The author is writing a new book.

I must make an "A" in this class.

The dog might eat the cake

He was walking to work today.

We grew apart after high school.

Running on the wet floor, she slipped and broke her arm.

Fill up the gas tank to help it run better.

To bake a cake, you need flour and sugar.

Texting on his phone, the man swerved into a ditch.

The small dog was reluctant to learn new things.

When he arrives, we can try to build a fort.

Finally, we can afford to buy a new house.

Walking on the ice, she slipped and fell.

As the cat watched, the two puppies fought over a bone.

Open the door to let the fresh air in.

To make lemonade, you first need some lemons.

It takes two people to tango

Rose Could have worked on the project today

I tried on a beautiful red dress during the drana rehearsal

The hard working teacher receive praises

Noun Phrase-

A noun phrase or nominal phrase is a phrase that has a noun as its head or performs the same
grammatical function as such a phrase. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and
they may be the most frequently occurring phrase type.

The spotted puppy is up for adoption.

The bohemian household was well-decorated.

I see a striped zebra.

I want a spotted puppy for Christmas.

Mary lives in an eclectic household

Jose drives to an awful job every morning.

The car wash was out of order.

The Delta Airlines flight to New York is ready to board.

She neglected to offer water to the man exhausted from too much work.

Having been a police officer, he knew how to defend himself.

The ability to give to others is an important character trait.

Our decision to get married was celebrated by all.

She crawled through the dark and musty attic.

He sat beside the horribly angry girl.

Her face red with embarrassment, she finally took her seat beside the man.

They walked into the sunset, their laughter carrying through the breeze.

The bewildered tourist was lost.

The senile old man was comfused.
The flu clinic had seen many cases of infectious disease.
It was a story as old as time.
Simele-
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two things. Similes are a form of metaphor
that explicitly use connecting words, though these specific words are not always necessary.

You were as brave as a lion.

They fought like cats and dogs.
He is as funny as a barrel of monkeys.
This house is as clean as a whistle.
He is as strong as an ox.
Your explanation is as clear as mud.
Watching the show was like watching grass grow.
He is light as a feather.
That is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.

She is happy as a clam.

This contract is as solid as the ground we stand on.

That guy is as nutty as a fruitcake.

Don't just sit there like a bump on a log.

Well, that went over like a lead balloon.

They are as different as night and day.

She is as thin as a rake.

Last night, I slept like a log.

.
This dress is perfect because it fits like a glove

They wore jeans, which made me stand out like a sore thumb

My love for you is as deep as the ocean.

Metaphor-

A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by
mentioning another. It may provide clarity or identify hidden similarities between two ideas.
Antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy and simile are all types of metaphor.

"I'm drowning in a sea of grief."

“She was fishing for compliments."

"Success is a sense of achievement; it is not an illegitimate child."

"He broke my heart."

"You light up my life."

"It's raining men."

"Time is a thief."

"He is the apple of my eye."

"She has such a bubbly personality."

"I'm feeling blue."

"I think he's about to fade off to sleep."

"He really flared up my temper."

"He reeks of infidelity."

"She's going through a rollercoaster of emotions."

"I feel the stench of failure coming on."

"This is the icing on the cake."

"Hope is on the horizon."

"Life contains nothing but clear skies up ahead."

"His words cut deeper than a knife."

"The moonlight sparkled brighter than a gypsy."

Personification-

Personification is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It

is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology

 Lightning danced across the sky.

 The wind howled in the night.

 The car complained as the key was roughly turned in its ignition.

 Rita heard the last piece of pie calling her name.

 My alarm clock yells at me to get out of bed every morning.

 The avalanche devoured anything standing in its way.

 The door protested as it opened slowly.

 My house is a friend who protects me.

 The moon played hide and seek with the clouds.

 The approaching car's headlights winked at me.

 The camera loves her since she is so pretty.

 The stairs groaned as we walked on them.

 Our vacuum hums a happy tune while it cleans.

 My flowers were begging for water.

 The ivy wove its fingers around the fence.

 The thunder was grumbling in the distance.

 The cactus saluted those who drove past.

 The wildfire ran through the forest at an amazing speed.

 The moon smiled at the stars in the sky.

 The leaves waved in the wind.

 Alliteration-
In literature, alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of identical initial consonant sounds in
successive or closely associated syllables within a group of words, even those spelled
differently. As a method of linking words for effect, alliteration is also called head rhyme or
initial rhyme.

 Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. ...

 A good cook could cook as much cookies as a good cook who could cook cookies.

 Black bug bit a big black bear. ...

 Sheep should sleep in a shed.

 I saw a saw that could out saw any other saw I ever saw

 Come and clean the chaos in your closet.

 Please put away your paints and practice the piano.

 The big, bad bear scared all the baby bunnies by the bushes.

 Shut the shutters before the banging sound makes you shudder.

 Go and gather the green leaves on the grass.

 Round and round she ran until she realized she was running round and round.

 I had to hurry home where grandma was waiting for her waffles.

 The boy buzzed around as busy as a bee.

 Garry grumpily gathered the garbage.

 Those lazy lizards are lying like lumps in the leaves.

 Paula planted the pretty pink poppies in the pot.

 Kim came to help us cut out a colorful kite for Chris.

 Bake a big cake with lots of butter and bring it to the birthday bash.

 Paula's prancing pony out-performed all the others.

 Little Larry likes licking the sticky lollipop.

 Hyperbole-

Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it

is also sometimes known as auxesis. In poetry and oratory, it emphasizes, evokes strong
feelings, and creates strong impressions. As a figure of speech, it is usually not meant to be
taken literally

 When I was young, I had to walk 15 miles to school, uphill, in the snow.

 I've told you to clean your room a million times!

 It was so cold, I saw polar bears wearing hats and jackets.

 She's so dumb, she thinks Taco Bell is a Mexican phone company.

 I am so hungry I could eat a horse.

 I have a million things to do today.

 I had a ton of homework.

 If I can't buy that perfect prom dress, I'll die!

 He's as skinny as a toothpick.

 The car went faster than the speed of light.

 His new car cost a bazillion dollars.

 We're so poor we don't have two cents to rub together.

 That joke is so old, the last time I heard it I was riding a dinosaur.
.

 They ran like greased lightning.

 He's got tons of money.

 You could have knocked me over with a feather.

 Her brain is the size of a pea.

 My geography teacher is older than the hills.

 Grandpa is older than dirt

 We waited for centuries for the latest game to be released.

Onomatopoeia-

Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or

suggests the sound that it describes. As such words are uncountable nouns, onomatopoeia
refers to the property of such words.

1. The sheep went, “Baa.”

2. The best part about music class is that you can bang on the drum.
3. It is not unusual for a dog to bark when visitors arrive.
4. Silence your cellphone so that it does not beep during the movie.
5. Dad released a belch from the pit of his stomach.
6. The bridge collapsed creating a tremendous boom.
7.The large dog said, “Bow-wow!
8.Are you afraid of things that go bump in the night?
9.My brother can burp the alphabet.
10.Both bees and buzzers buzz.
11.The cash register popped open with a heart warming ca-ching
12.The bird’s chirp filled the empty night air.
13.Her heels clacked on the hardwood floor.
14.If you want the red team to win, clap your hands right now.
15.The cadets swelled with pride when they heard the clash of the
cymbals at their graduation ceremony.
16. The horse’s hooves clip-clopped on the cobblestones.
17. The dishes fell to the floor with a clatter.
18. Nothing annoys me more than rapidly clicking your pen.
19.The bride and groom were not surprised to hear the familiar sound
of clinkingglasses.
20.The horse’s hooves clip-clopped on the cobblestones.
 Oxymoron-

An oxymoron is a rhetorical device that uses an ostensible self-contradiction to illustrate

a rhetorical point or to reveal a paradox. A more general meaning of "contradiction in
terms" is recorded by the OED for 1902.

1. This is another fine mess you have got us into.

2. There is a real love hate relationship developing between the two of them.
3. The comedian was seriously funny
4. Suddenly the room filled with a deafening silence.
5. You are clearly confused by the situation you have found yourself in
6. Her singing was enough to raise the living dead.
7. Do you have the original copies that we requested?
8. This is a genuine imitation Rolex watch.
9. I really would like to try that new jumbo shrimp restaurant.
10. His new girlfriend really is pretty ugly.
11. Sorry, I can’t help you out right now, I am involved in my own minor crisis.
12. Give me the fifty dollars you owe me or pay for dinner, it’s the same difference.
13. My trip to Bali was very much a working holiday.
14. I let out a silent scream as the cat walked through the door carrying a dead bird.
15. You are going to have to use proofreading services, it is your only choice.
16. The seventies was the era of free love
17. I will ask the professor for his unbiased opinion.
18. The constant variable is the one that does not change.
19. The sermon lasted for an endless hour.
20. We laughed and cried through the tragic comedy.
Irony-

a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a
character's words or actions are clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the
character.

1. A fire station burns down. This is unexpected because one would assume the fire chief
would keep his own building safe.
2. A marriage counselor files for divorce. This is ironic because the expectation is that a
professional who coaches couples through rough patches would herself have a
strong marriage.
3. The police station gets robbed. Again, the expectation is that professional crime
fighters would be able to help themselves; in this case, by securing their own station.
4. A post on Facebook complaining how useless Facebook is. This is ironic because
one would expect someone who dislikes Facebook to stay away from it instead of
using it to make their poin
5. A traffic cop gets his license suspended because of unpaid parking tickets. Because
the traffic cop is usually the one issuing tickets, most people would assume he
always followed the rules
6. A pilot has a fear of heights. This situation is ironic because airplane pilots spend
most of their time at work high in the air.
7. A member of PETA wears leather shoes. Because PETA members work to protect
animal rights, one would assume they would avoid products made form animal skins.
8. A man who needs medical assistance is run over by the ambulance. In this case,
then man got the exact opposite of what he needed from the medical help on the
scene.
9. An anti-technology group sets up a website to recruit new club members. People
who dislike technology aren't likely to be looking for clubs on the internet, so using
technology to recruit is unexpected.
10. Two people want a divorce, but during the proceedings they discover they still love
each other and get back together. This is the opposite outcome of what happens in a
typical divorce, which makes the situation ironic.
11. A child runs away from someone throwing a water balloon at him and falls into the
pool. This is ironic because the child ends up wetter than he would have been,
thwarting his expectations of what would happen when he ran away from the water
balloon.

12. A child runs away from someone throwing a water balloon at him and falls into the
pool. This is ironic because the child ends up wetter than he would have been,
thwarting his expectations of what would happen when he ran away from the water
balloon.
13.
The President is wounded when a bullet ricochets off his bulletproof car and into his
arm. This outcome was definitely not what the Secret Service had in mind when they
ordered a secure vehicle.
 14 ..A man leaps out of the road to avoid being hit by a car, only to have a tree branch
fall on his head. This is not the outcome the man expected because he thought he
would escape being hurt

15.A group of fans enter a stadium excited to see a football game, only to discover
that the sign meant soccer rather than American football. Expectations can also be
unmet due to simple misunderstandings.

16 .A Wall Street investor makes fun of others who are afraid of a risky stock pick but
later loses all his money. The investor's expectations were not borne out in his stock
performance, but there's an increased sense of irony because he was so confident.

17 .A mother complains about her lazy children, not realizing they have been secretly
making her a birthday present. In this situation, the mother's ideas about her children
are thwarted in an unexpected surprise.

18 .A husband realizes it's his wife's birthday and rushes to make dinner reservations, only
to find that she has forgotten what day it is and stayed at work late

19 .A man works hard for many years to save for retirement; on his last day of work he
is given a lottery ticket worth millions. The unexpected riches are ironic because the
man lived a frugal life assuming he would have to work hard to earn enough to retire.

20 .Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare - "O my love, my wife! Death, that hath
sucked the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty." Romeo finds
Juliet drugged and assumes she is dead. He kills himself but then she awakens, sees
that he is dead and kills herself. This is ironic because both lovers killed themselves
over a mistaken assumption, leading to a tragic outcome instead of the happy ending
the lovers expected.