Source: “Rolling Ball Museum 88, ” Jinho.Jung, Flickr
You may have taken tests that include a section on analogies with questions like this one:
Roof is to house as hat is to what?
- arm
- leg
- head
This question tests your understanding of word meanings. The analogies you practice in this lesson don’t test your understanding so much as help your understanding. They explain something by comparing it to something else that is familiar and understood.
For example, to explain the importance of small talk at the beginning of a job interview, a writer might state that small talk “gets the ball rolling.” Readers may not think of this expression as a comparison, but it does relate conversation to a rolling ball: once a ball starts rolling, it gathers momentum that keeps it going. Conversation works the same way; once talk begins, it gathers momentum and continues easily. For an analogy to make something clearer, the things compared must have similar effects or similar structures.
Source: “Rolling Ball Museum 88,” Jinho.Jung, Flickr
If you want to convey the idea that it’s hard to stop eating snack foods, which analogy would you choose? Whatever you choose has to be something that is hard to stop.
- Eating snack foods is like playing computer games.
- Eating snack foods is like playing soccer.
- Eating snack foods is like playing the piano.
It’s hard to see much relationship between the snack food addiction and playing soccer or playing the piano, but you could use the comparison with computer games to say that it’s just as hard to stop eating potato chips as it is to stop playing a computer game.
If your readers are familiar with playing computer games, they will probably relate to this analogy. They will also see snack food eating in a new way.
See if you can choose the best comparison to complete each analogy below. Click a box to select your answer.
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| having a new car. | ||
| having a good meal. | ||
| having a net around a trampoline. | ||
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Discussion
You could say that having good friends is like having a good meal if you want to emphasize the pleasure it gives you to have good friends. If you want to make the point that good friends make you feel more secure, the best analogy will be the net around the trampoline. The choice of an analogy has to take into consideration the point that you want to make. |
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| being caught in a game where everyone knows the rules but you. | ||
| being sick before a big test. | ||
| being stuck between floors in an elevator. | ||
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Discussion
Being sick before a big test may frustrate you and make you feel unprepared. Being stuck between floors in an elevator could make you feel scared. Although you might have the feeling of being unprepared or scared about going to a party, if you want to emphasize how you sometimes feel lonely at parties, then the first choice is the best answer. Not knowing rules that everyone else knows could make you feel lonely. |
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| trying to write a letter when you are exhausted from mowing the lawn. |
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| trying to bake a cake when you discover you don't have any eggs. |
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| trying to play soccer without a goal. | ||
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Discussion
You would find it hard to bake a cake without knowing the ingredients just as you would find it hard to take a test without knowing or remembering the answers. Playing soccer without a goal would be difficult, as would writing a letter when you’re exhausted, but these activities wouldn’t be as challenging as baking a cake without the ingredients or taking a test when you can’t remember the answers. |
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At least in expository writing, analogies are not left to explain themselves. Usually they are explained in a subsequent sentence. For instance, the trampoline analogy above will be clearer if it is followed by an explanatory sentence, like this:
Having good friends is like having a net around a trampoline. You know that you always have a safety guard against something bad happening.
The explanation can also come first:
Good friends can give you a feeling of safety because you know they will be there to help you if something bad happens. It’s like having a safety net around a trampoline. If you take a wrong bounce, your friends will help you recover from it.
See if you can match the analogies with the explanations in the passages below.
Source: “Doing homework,” Ikayama, Flickr
- Doing this homework is like being subjected to an ice cold shower.
- When I get home from school, I feel like my batteries are dead.
- An act of generosity from a stranger is like an unexpected gift.
Source: “Candles,” Seyyed Mostafa Zamani, Flickr
Analogies always clarify one aspect of the topic being discussed. “Homework is like torture” is not supposed to hold true in all situations for all students. Rather, the analogy refers to one view of homework that some students experience. “Life is like a briefly burning candle” does not refer to life for all people at all times. It means that life seems to go by quickly for some people. Therefore, it is hard to say what makes a good or bad analogy. Any topic could be compared to many different things depending on what aspect of the topic the writer wanted to communicate.
For an example, look at the analogies for job interviews below. Choose from the bank of meanings on the right, and drag each to the correct analogy.
