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# alliteration

«alliteration» in Mova's school dictionary: **when several words close together start with the same…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (alliteration, uncountable; an alliteration, alliterations — an example of it)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Alliteration is when several words close together start with the same sound, like «Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alliteration/#m1)

2) An alliteration is one example of this in a poem, story, title or slogan. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alliteration/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In English and poetry lessons alliteration is a technique pupils spot and use to make writing fun to read aloud, memorable or dramatic: «the slithering, slimy snake». Tongue-twisters, brand names (Coca-Cola, PayPal) and cartoon names (Mickey Mouse, Peppa Pig) use it. In reading tests you may be asked to find and name it and say what effect it has. Phrases: use alliteration, an example of alliteration.

### examples

- «Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven sheep» is alliteration. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alliteration/#x1)
- The poet used alliteration to make the wind sound wild. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alliteration/#x2)
- Peppa Pig and Donald Duck have alliterative names. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alliteration/#x3)
- Find two examples of alliteration in the poem. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alliteration/#x4)
- Our class wrote alliteration about animals: «busy buzzing bees». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alliteration/#x5)
- Alliteration makes slogans easy to remember. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alliteration/#x6)
- The headline «Messi's Magic Moment» uses alliteration. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alliteration/#x7)
- Too much alliteration can make a sentence sound silly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alliteration/#x8)

### note

Mostly uncountable: «The poem uses alliteration.» Adjective: «alliterative». Trap: alliteration is about the first SOUND, not the first letter: «cat» and «king» alliterate (both /k/), but «cat» and «cello» do not. Do not confuse with rhyme (same ending sounds: cat, hat) or assonance (same vowel sounds inside words) or onomatopoeia (words that sound like the noise they name).

### In the corpora

- [Poets paint pictures with words, and they have a few favourite tricks: the simile, the metaphor, personification and alliteration.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/46-poetry-simile-metaphor-personification-alliteration/0/)
- [Alliteration is the same first sound repeated in words close together: "big brown bear", "slithering snakes slide silently".](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/46-poetry-simile-metaphor-personification-alliteration/9/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «alliteration» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alliteration/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.