Phantom Tollbooth idioms and literary devices

take on more work than you can handle

scold or speak angrily to someone

be forced to take back something you have said

beliefs that are not based on the facts

risky or unstable situation

get what you deserve good or bad

make every possible effort

exaggerate a small problem into something big

going from one bad situation to a worse situation

makes no sense

argue minor unimportant details

solid complete meal

having hopes or dreams that are out of reach or too big

Beyond what your belief about (or mental picture of) the future is

the place you must always go to before you get to where you are going….

Not the Weather man – this man tells whether or not something is going to happen.

a dog trained to guard property; in the book it is a part dog, part watch who guides Milo

meant to mean a vast amount of knowledge but in the book it is a literal body of water. An example of rhetorical device is this passage attributed to a speech by Abraham Lincoln about a political adversary in which Lincoln said that his adversary had “dived down deeper into the sea of knowledge and come up drier than any other man he knew”.