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Onomatopoeia

When a word sounds like the noise it describes, it is known as onomatopoeia. Here’s an example of onomatopoeia in a sentence:

There was a long silence, and then a loud bang!

The word ‘bang’ is an example of onomatopoeia - when you say it aloud it sounds just like the noise it’s describing. Often, these words are written using italics. Be careful, though, to only do this for words which are genuine examples of onomatopoeia. Avoid the pretenders:

The firemen could hear screaming coming from the burning building.

The word ‘screaming’, while it does give us a very good idea of the sound, is not an example of onomatopoeia. Said aloud, it doesn’t sound anything like the noise it’s describing. So it doesn’t need to be italicised.