Let’s go back to our school days especially when we are in our elementary and high school days. Have you encountered the use of figures of speech? Figures of speech are different from parts of speech. The latter is consists of adjectives, nouns, pronoun, verbs and you keep on hearing those words since when you are in your grade school.
But then, figures of speech are different. These are words that are use in a sentence which are often different from the literal meaning of a word. They usually express some freshness in your content, clarity and emphasis.
I bet you have heard of these words? If nouns and pronouns are considered in parts of speech, then simile and metaphor are of figures of speech. Although there are a lot of figures of speech, simile and metaphor are the most common of them all and a lot of people often confuse their usage.
Many writers get confused between similes and metaphors. Other than the fact that they’re both popular literary devices, they also serve similar functions – painting a comparison that helps clear up details to the reader.
To differentiate between the two, here’s a quick, hard to forget way to tell them apart: Similes use comparison words (e.g. like, as) and metaphors don’t. Yep, it’s that simple.
Now, on to the difficult part – actually, on using them in your writing correctly.
Although, these two words are use to compare two nouns and they also make some contrasting statements between the two words. To make it clearer, simile and metaphor are use to show comparison between two nouns either in a positive or negative way. However, metaphor never uses like or as when comparing two words unlike simile. Here’s an example that can help you visualize what figures of speech can do:
This is a sunshine breakfast.
If you use simile, this will be: This breakfast is like sunshine.
Like we said earlier, both instruments are used to fashion a comparison of sorts. Rather than simply do it for the sake of pitting a stapler against a ruler, however, they accomplish something far more important: they help draw the reader in by painting a visual picture of what’s being described.
Many writers create emotional hooks using similes and metaphors (that’s effective, provided you pair it with good writing checkers). That’s how powerful they are. As such, integrating them into your writing can play a huge factor in how much it can involve the reader. Of course, you’ll have to do them right to get the desired effect.
Take this terrible simile describing a humid afternoon, for instance:
The air burned, making me feel like I was having a raging fever.
Sure, it might make sense. But there’s no drama – nothing to pique people’s interest beyond the mundane comparison. A better, albeit cringe inducing version, could be:
The air burned, gnawing through my skin like plastic melting under fire.
Of course, the last thing you want is to leave the reader uncomfortable (unless you’re Stephen King), so you can temper that a bit with:
The air burned, stinging my skin like the first gush of hot shower.
Author Resource:
Find out how to write perfect English letters, reports and emails by writing less. See Writing Software in action! http://www.grammarsoftware.com
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")