Analogy

What is an analogy?

An analogy is using one thing or event to explain the qualities of another thing or event. It usually involves a real situation other people know, or a situation others can easily understand.

The difference between an analogy, a metaphor and a simile are not that big. Similes and metaphors are actually short analogies. Analogies try more to paint a picture so people can compare the situations.

Common ways to create an analogy

  1. ask a person to remember feeling x, that they already know, and say y is like that
    You know the feeling x? That is how I feel about …
  2. ask a person to imagine object x as A, and say object y is like B (where object B has a relationship with A)
    If x is A, then y is B
  3. ask a person to compare object x to a moment in history
    X is like History Moment Y

Examples

  1. Remember a feeling
You know how you felt when I broke your bike? That is how I feel now.There is a sadness that a person feels when they leave their childhood behind. It is the sadness Hugh feels about leaving this job.
You know the feeling you get when you first fall in love? That is how I felt when I saw that car.The anger that Michael feels towards her is akin to the happiness you have for her.

2. Imagine object x is A, and object y is B

He is to girls what kryptonite is to Superman.If you imagine the universe is everything that will happen in your life, then this test is just a speck of sand on a beach.
CGTN is to news what KFC is to a diet.(using hands to illustrate point) Here…is your chances of passing the test. And here…is the chances of a fish becoming President of the USA.

3. compare to a moment in history

That exam was my Gallipoli. An absolute disaster.America’s visit into Iraq has wound up in the same position as its trip into Vietnam.
The feeling I got when I saw them was that Noah felt on landing on Mount Ararat.The publication of the Panama Papers details should be 21st century’s Watergate.

Exercises

Make analogies to either describe, or use:
a) how you felt on your first day of school
b) someone being drunk
c) a mouse seeing a cat