In each of the four exercises, identify whether the sentence contains alliteration or not. If yes, then also identify the words that alliterate. Please exclude articles, prepositions, pronouns, and conjunctions from your count of alliterative words. Give the exercises a try before looking at the answers.
To understand alliteration and how it is used, refer to these resources:
- What’s alliteration? How to write it?
- 150+ examples of alliteration, written under different topics
Exercise 1
1. China Construction Bank has more than 13,000 domestic branches.
2. The virus has caused untold misery and mayhem across the world.
3. The storm came suddenly and furiously.
4. At the break of dawn, the birds chirped in chorus.
5. The tourists thronged the nightclub.
1. No. China and Construction start with different consonant sounds.
2. Yes. Misery and mayhem
3. Yes. Storm and suddenly
4. No. Chirped and chorus start with different consonant sounds.
5. No. Tourists and thronged start with different consonant sounds.
Exercise 2
1. The sun hid below the horizon.
2. The German Shepherd looked at the bone with expectant eyes.
3. It was dangerous to sail in the boisterous blue ocean.
4. The tiger ambushed the antelope.
5. The growling German Shepherd forced me to stay away.
1. Yes. Hid and horizon
2. No. Expectant and eyes don’t even start with consonant sounds. Note that alliteration holds only for consonant sounds.
3. Yes. Boisterous and blue
4. No. Ambushed and antelope don’t even start with consonant sounds.
5. No. Growling and German start with different consonant sounds.
Exercise 3
1. Only 20-30 percent of cheetah cubs reach adulthood.
2. The lazy leopard didn’t come down from the tree till dusk.
3. At the moment, vaccines seem to be the only panacea for the pandemic.
4. Gentle Jack didn’t create unnecessary fuss.
5. Amy Adams is an American actress who has won several accolades in her career.
1. No. Cheetah and cubs start with different consonant sounds.
2. Yes. Lazy and leopard
3. Yes. Panacea and pandemic
4. Yes. Gentle and Jack
5. No. Amy, Adams, American, and actress don’t even start with consonant sounds.
Exercise 4
1. I saw several Egyptian mummies in the museum.
2. The city has couple of colleges.
3. We could hear the whales whistling, trying to communicate with each other.
4. Tiger emerged from the thicket.
5. Ava ate eighty eggs.
1. Yes. Mummies and museum
2. Yes. Couple and college. City doesn’t alliterate with the two because it starts with a different consonant sound.
3. Yes. Whales and whistling
4. No. Tiger and thicket start with different consonant sounds.
5. No. Both the pairs start with vowel sounds.
