Exercise:
Say if the sentences or phrases below are metaphors, similes, personifications or metonyms.
- "Education is our passport to the future, and tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today." —Malcolm X, civil rights activist and writer
- "The computer had become like the most miraculous sort of technological Swiss Army knife: each time you thought you knew what it could do, it turned out that it could do more, faster, and more accurately." —Anna Quindlen, author
- "Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest." —Douglas Jerrold, playwright and humorist (1803-1857)
- "Modern English is the Wal-Mart of languages: convenient, huge, hard to avoid, superficially friendly, and devouring all rivals in its eagerness to expand." —Mark Abley, journalist (1955)
- "A good example is the best sermon." —Ben Franklin, Founding Father, statesman, author, inventor
- English is unrivaled as the most widely-spoken language in the world. It is the sole or joint language of more nations and territories than any other tongue
- "Slang is 'a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and goes to work." —Carl Sandburg, poet
- "Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for it to kill your enemy." —Nelson Mandela, former South African president, who was previously imprisoned for 30 years for his anti-apartheid activities; after his release, he negotiated the end of apartheid, for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Good luck!