Exploring similes in corpus data

One of the most prevalent forms of figurative language in everyday English communication is simile – the comparison of two unlike entities for stylistic effect. Similes in English are relatively straightforward to recognise and construct, making the study of their form and function a logical first step towards creative language use. In this lesson, students perform searches in the British National Corpus (BNC) to identify similes containing the structures as strong as a/an and shone like (or any other examples chosen by the teacher). Drawing on the co-text, students consider which features the two unlike entities in each simile share, discuss what these features add to the texts in which they appear and are invited to create alternatives.