rustle The soft sound of movement through leaves or fabric The leaves rustled in the breeze. thud A dull sound made by a heavy object hitting the ground The book fell with a loud thud. boom A deep, explosion-like sound Thunder boomed across the sky. Inanimate object sounds Many onomatopoei...
The formula for this is [possessed object] + of the + [inanimate noun]. Here are a couple of examples of sentences that may sound more natural with a prepositional phrase to show the relationship of an inanimate noun to another element of a sentence than with a possessive: We set up our...
Personification is a type of figurative language that gives human characteristics to nonhuman things or inanimate objects. The nonhuman things can be animals, objects, or even a concept. The human characteristics given to these things can be emotion, behavior, or actions that bring nonhuman things ...
Deus ex machina is a plot device in which a seemingly unsolvable problem or conflict is resolved suddenly and unexpectedly by the introduction of a new character, event, or object. This resolution is often contrived, improbable, or artificial and does not arise organically from the story. The ...
Inanimate Object and Animal SpeakersJust as the speaker in a piece of poetry might not be the poet, it might also not even be human. It is far from unusual for a writer to utilize an animal or inanimate object as the central speaker or narrator of a text. This technique offers a ...
Apostrophe is afigure of speechin which a speaker directly addresses someone (or something) that is not present or cannot respond in reality. The entity being addressed can be an absent, dead, or imaginary person, but it can also be an inanimate object (like stars or the ocean), an abstr...
In the last line of thisstanza, the daffodils are said to “dance”. This is a very clear example of personification and also gets to one of the most important things to consider about the device. It is not just human verb-based actions that can be given to the inanimate object, creatu...
Possessive nouns can be used with inanimate objects, especially to indicate a direct connection or ownership. However, in some formal or academic writing, it might be preferable to use prepositional phrases like the engine of the car. Examples: The car’s engine or The book’s cover. How do...
Apostrophe as a figure of speech is when a character addresses someone or something that isn’t present or cannot respond. The character might speak to someone deceased, an inanimate object, or a concept. “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”—William Shakespeare,Romeo and Juliet ...
"The most citedgenderedreference to aninanimateobject today may be the use ofsheto refer toships. This usage was first noted by Ben Jonson in hisEnglish Grammarof 1640; he names ships as an exception to the rule thatitrefers to inanimate objects... In 2002, it was announced that Lloyd's...