Analyzing Similes and Metaphors •Identify the two unlike things being compared •Explain the significance of the comparison; how does this comparison of two things that aren’t typically compared elucidate some idea?

Following are some more examples of similes regularly used in writing:

• You were as brave as a lion.
• They fought like cats and dogs.
• He is as funny as a barrel of monkeys.
• This house is as clean as a whistle.
• He is as strong as an ox.
• Your explanation is as clear as mud.
• Watching the show was like watching grass grow.

Let’s use this example to understand what a simile is: A simile is a phrase that uses a comparison to describe. For example, “life” can be described as similar to “a box of chocolates.” You know you’ve spotted one when you see the words like or as in a comparison. Similes are like metaphors.

A simile compares two things by saying that one is like the other. Similes often use the words like and as. My sister runs like a cheetah. The sister’s running and a cheetah’s running are compared using the word like.

A metaphor is a figure of speech that is used to make a comparison between two things that aren’t alike but do have something in common. Unlike a simile, where two things are compared directly using like or as, a metaphor’s comparison is more indirect, usually made by stating something is something else.

The very sight of food caused the dieter to leave the holiday table with the speed of a gazelle. METAPHOR. His cravings for anything to consume ached like an obsessive itch. SIMILE. She felt her hunger was like a claw gnawing at her empty stomach.

If someone is as patient as Job, they are very patient. This idiom is a simile related to the religious figure Job mentioned as a prophet in all Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Metaphor (pronounced meh-ta-for) is a common figure of speech that makes a comparison by directly relating one thing to another unrelated thing. Unlike similes, metaphors do not use words such as “like” or “as” to make comparisons.

Here are the basics:

1. A metaphor states that one thing is another thing.
2. It equates those two things not because they actually are the same, but for the sake of comparison or symbolism.
3. If you take a metaphor literally, it will probably sound very strange (are there actually any sheep, black or otherwise, in your family?)

We use “metaphor” to mean an implicit figurative comparison. This means that you cannot use the word “as” to establish a metaphor. When it establishes a comparison, that comparison is explicit. When it does not establish the comparison, that comparison may be implicit and therefore may be a metaphor.

Paradox, apparently self-contradictory statement, the underlying meaning of which is revealed only by careful scrutiny. The purpose of a paradox is to arrest attention and provoke fresh thought. The statement “Less is more” is an example.

Russell’s paradox

10 Paradoxes That Will Boggle Your Mind

• ACHILLES AND THE TORTOISE.
• THE BOOTSTRAP PARADOX.
• THE BOY OR GIRL PARADOX.
• THE CARD PARADOX.
• THE CROCODILE PARADOX.
• THE DICHOTOMY PARADOX.
• THE FLETCHER’S PARADOX.
• GALILEO’S PARADOX OF THE INFINITE.

paradox/ oxymoron An oxymoron is a figure of speech — words that seem to cancel each other out, like “working vacation” or “instant classic.” Both are contradictions, but a paradox is something to think on, and an oxymoron is a description, enjoyed in the moment then gone.

“I must be cruel only to be kind.” (Hamlet, III. IV. 181). In this case, act naturally is an oxymoron that combines two contradictory words.

Can a person be an oxymoron? While we are loath to place restrictions on language use, oxymoron usually refers to a set of contradictory words (such as bittersweet) rather than to a contradictory person.

Paradox in a Sentence 🔉

1. In a strange paradox, the medicine made Heather sick before it made her better.
2. The idea of being cruel to be kind is a paradox because cruelty is not normally associated with kindness.
3. By definition a paradox is two contrasting situations put together to create a provoking idea.

What is another word for paradox?

A literary paradox is a contradiction that resolves to reveal a deeper meaning behind a contradiction. In John Donne’s “Holy Sonnet 11,” the poet states: “Death, thou shalt die.” Initially, this line appears not to make sense..

Yes, love is a paradox. It’s both simple and complicated. It makes us feel happier, and more connected than any other feeling. But it can also be the catalyst that pushes us into a hole of depth and despair that’s almost indescribable when we feel disconnected from it.

A paradox, also known as an antinomy, is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one’s expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically unacceptable conclusion.

A Predestination Paradox occurs when the actions of a person traveling back in time becomes part of past events, and may ultimately causes the event he is trying to prevent to take place. This paradox suggests that things are always destined to turn out the same way, and that whatever has happened must happen.