“She sells seashells by the seashore.” “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where is the pickled pepper Peter Piper picked?” “Catch the can Cathy.” “Anna ate a banana and made a sound that goes hahaha.” “Blue beads bouncing like a ball.” “Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear, fuzzy wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy wuzzy was not so fuzzy now was he?” You may have heard of these before, or during your lessons in school. Some of which are common, while others not as much. And a few simply made to give out a good example of what the article is about. If you noticed, the words in the sentence all have something in common. Whether it’s the letters, or the sounds of the words when spoken. You may be wondering if some of these are tongue twisters, and of course they would sound almost the same. But there is a term for that. A correct term to signify that these words or phrases that sound the same or have the same first letter. We call them alliteration. To know more about alliterations and some examples of this, you can check out everything below.
So we begin, the questions that are often asked mostly by professors to their students. Depending on the level of their knowledge as well. But this kind of topic is often given to high school and university students. Based on the examples above and the other small set of examples at the beginning of the article, you would see a wide set of phrases with the same first letters, or words and phrases that almost sound alike. It is also mentioned that there is a term for that, and we mentioned alliteration. Now the question, what is an alliteration? What can be considered as an example of an alliteration? What does alliterations do to your sentences? Why is it necessary to be learning about alliterations? Can alliterations help in pronouncing words properly or can they be used as examples in speeches? Can children be taught alliteration examples at a young age? The following questions will be answered as thoroughly as possible, as well as given an example for each.
What is an alliteration? An alliteration is a group of words or a group of phrases found in sentences that give out the first letter of the word or phrase to be that same as the next. It is however not limited to that. An alliteration can also mean a word or a phrase that sounds almost the same as the first word in the sentence. To make it as simple as possible, an alliteration is a repetition of either the letters which mostly starts at the beginning or a repetition of the sounds of the word or the phrase in the sentence. Example would be “Barry the bouncing baby boy.” This example is considered an alliteration. Because the letters b are mostly repeated in the sentence. Another would be, “Mary Mary quite the contrary.” This famous nursery rhyme can also be considered an alliteration as the words Mary and contrary are almost similar when said out loud.
What can be considered as an example of an alliteration? Any sentence formed wherein the first letter or the sound of the word or phrase is almost the same, can be considered an example for an alliteration. The famous tongue twisters can be considered an example of alliterations. Seeing as most tongue twisters follow this pattern of the first letter of the word or the phrase would be the same as most of the phrases of the tongue twister. An example for this pattern would be “She sells seashells by the seashore.” Not only does it follow the same letter which makes it a good example for an alliteration, the phrases when said out loud almost have the same sound. Which is still considered as an alliteration.
Another example would be from a famous nursery rhyme “Ring ‘round the rosy, a pocket full of posies. Ashes ashes we all fall down.” The alliteration found here is the lines ring ‘round the rosy and a pocket full of posies. The alliteration is the ring, round, rosy, pocket, posies. From the letter r that is common in the first line to how the words round and rosy when pronounced sounds almost the same. The same goes with pocket and posies. As for the ashes ashes we all fall down, the only alliteration found is the word ashes repeated twice. The letter that is common between both words.
What does alliterations do to your sentences? You can always find alliterations in literature. This makes literary pieces sound interesting and fun to the reader. As most of the time, literary authors use words to either sound almost the same to make it look nice. In a way, using alliteration makes their literary pieces stand out. The way a good shoe wax shines even the dullest of shoes. For advertising businesses, it attracts the right audiences. The famous alliteration example of a brand would be coca cola. Not only is this an example of an alliteration but it is also one of the biggest business chains with a lot of audience. Alliterations help gain attraction as it is not just a short word, but it can also be quite catchy. All of which is what some businesses use to gain attention from the consumers.
Have you ever asked yourself knowing now what alliterations are and the fact that they are simply the kind of words we often see or expect in literary pieces. But have you ever wondered how one uses alliterations beside the examples being placed throughout the article. Like is there a different way or is it just the same? If you are wondering, here are some ways you can use them to your advantage.
Businesses that have catchy names, give out more of the audience attraction. Due to the fact that they usually use alliterations. Whether they know this or not, the fact that using alliterations to give out a new name for your business can really attract the right people. There are some famous business names that are literally alliterations and some of the people may not have known this, but you have to see that these types of businesses are booming. The famous Coca Cola company. Yes, I made an alliteration out of my sentence. Krispy Kreme, and many more.
A lot of literary authors use alliterations in their poetry. This helps by giving the poem a bit of life, or basically the literary words to be given life. So basically, alliteration mixed with personification. However it is not only in poetry do you often find alliterations, you can also find them in other kinds of literary genres.
The famous examples that you can really find alliterations are tongue twisters. Ranging from the simplest to the most complex. Tongue twisters are a good example as they give out what alliterations really look like in a sense that they use both the way the phrase or the word is said and the beginning letters often found in the whole tongue twister.
A good sentence activity for students depending on their level is also a good idea to introduce your students to the lesson on alliteration. You can start by giving out example sentences randomly and adding example sentences of alliteration to the mix. This can be the kind of activity you can give before, in the middle or at the end of the lesson.
Whether you may notice it or not, there are also alliterations when writing your own music or when you read the lyrics to famous songs. Alliteration is as common as you may think and is quite the helpful hand in literature.
A group of phrases or words that either have the same beginning letter or have almost the same sound when pronounced.
Tongue twisters and business names like Dunkin Donuts, Krispy Kreme and Best Buy tags can be considered an example of alliteration.
For literary pieces, they make the story come to life. In a way it turns the audience’s attention on the story. This is also true for looking for a business name. Using alliterations to capture the attention of the consumers.
Getting to know what alliterations can do for either education or business is worth knowing. For those who seek out a good idea for a name may think it over and use alliterations. Not only is this the best thing to do, it is also a good way to catch the right people’s attention. They are buying something from your company due to the catchy name, the uniqueness of it as well as it sounds more like something straight out of a good book than in reality. The key there is to make it something catchy.