Portuguese Year 5: Words that say more: connotation, comparison, personification
Portuguese, Year 5 (Portugal): Work out what a word suggests in context, and explain what a comparison or a personification adds to a text.
What a word says and what it suggests
Many words carry two meanings. The denotative meaning is the plain, dictionary one: «frio» is a low temperature. The connotative meaning is what the word suggests in context: a «olhar frio» has no temperature, it is a distant or angry look. Literary texts also use expressive resources: a comparison joins two things with «como», «parece» or «tal como»; a personification gives human actions or feelings to something that is not a person.
Writers want you to feel, not only to know
A writer does not only say what things are; he makes you feel them. «A tarde estava cinzenta» (the afternoon was grey) may say there were clouds, but it also suggests sadness or boredom. If you read only the dictionary meaning, you get half the text. Expressive resources are the tools for the other half: a comparison makes an idea easier to see, a personification brings life to what is still. Explaining them means saying what they add to the meaning.
Three sentences, three discoveries
«O vento bateu à porta e pediu licença para entrar. A tarde, cinzenta, pesava como um cobertor molhado. A Marta ficou calada, com um olhar frio.» (The wind knocked and asked leave to come in. The grey afternoon weighed like a wet blanket. Marta went quiet, with a cold look.) Step 1: the wind acts like a person: personification. Step 2: the afternoon is compared to a wet blanket by «como»: heavy, unpleasant. Step 3: «cinzenta» and «frio» are connotative: sadness and distance.
«Como» is not always a comparison
Seeing «como» and deciding “comparison” is a common mistake. In «Como fruta ao lanche» (I eat fruit at snack time), «como» is the verb comer. In «Como estava cansada, deitou-se cedo» (As she was tired, she went to bed early), «como» gives the cause. A comparison exists only when two different things are brought together by a shared quality: «Corria como o vento» (speed). Test it: can you say in what way A is like B?
Songs, adverts, commentary, chat
These resources are everywhere: in song lyrics, in adverts (an advert may say «fresco como uma manhã de verão», fresh like a summer morning), in football commentary («o guarda-redes voou», the keeper flew) and in ordinary speech («a cidade não dorme», the city never sleeps). When you read a poem or a tale, ask: what idea or feeling does this expression add? That question turns spotting a device into explaining it.
Test what you learned
In which sentence does the word «frio» have a connotative meaning?
- a) «A sopa está fria.»
- b) «Recebeu-me com um olhar frio.»
- c) «Hoje está frio lá fora.»
Correct answer: b) «Recebeu-me com um olhar frio.» — Yes: a look has no temperature, so «frio» suggests distance or anger. That is the connotative meaning.
In «O relógio da sala resmungava a cada minuto» (The clock in the room grumbled every minute), which expressive resource is used?
- a) Personification
- b) Comparison
- c) None: the sentence is entirely literal
Correct answer: a) Personification — Yes: grumbling is a human action, given to a clock. That is personification.
Which sentence contains a comparison?
- a) «Como fruta ao lanche.»
- b) «Corria como o vento.»
- c) «Como estava cansada, deitou-se cedo.»
Correct answer: b) «Corria como o vento.» — Yes: he is compared to the wind through «como», for a shared quality, speed.
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