Simile-Metaphor

Grab your camera! Today, we’re searching for similes and metaphors in the wild.

What are similes and metaphors, you may ask? They’re two sentence devices used to make description more vivid and exciting. To do this, they both COMPARE one thing to another. But they go about this comparison in different ways.

A SIMILE uses the words LIKE or AS when making comparisons.

A METAPHOR doesn’t use any special words, but the comparison would seem pretty silly if it were literal.

Watch the video below to get a better idea of the differences between Similes and Metaphors.

See if you can find the simile in the following sentence:

When I tease my brother too much, he’s like a raging bull.

Did you spot the word LIKE in the sentence? That indicates a simile. Comparing the brother to a bull helps us understand just how angry he really is! Yikes! I don’t want to get in his way.

Now, see if you can spot the metaphor in this sentence:

As the holidays grew closer, the classroom became a zoo.

This one’s harder to spot, but would a classroom really become a zoo? Can you imagine sitting at your desk next to a monkey or a giraffe? That wouldn’t actually happen, would it? So, what’s this sentence saying? That the classroom was pretty crazy, right? Comparing it to a zoo paints a mental picture in your mind of just how crazy it was.

Now, let’s see if you can spot some more similes and metaphors in the wild! Try out this fun game!

Header Image Credits:

“Zebra Pattern” by shaire productions is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“guest camera” by Robert Couse-Baker is licensed under CC BY 2.0