Analogy

Neil Magnuson

English Honors, Purdom

Period 7



Analogy



Definition: Analogy compares two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one. While simile and analogy often overlap, the simile is generally a more artistic likening, done briefly for effect and emphasis, while analogy serves the more practical end of explaining a thought process or a line of reasoning or the abstract in terms of the concrete, and may therefore be more extended.



Definition Credit: http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric4.htm#Analogy



My Definition: an analogy is something that shows how two things relate by comparing the first two things with another two things that relate in the same way. Often related too something that happens reoccurringly so the average person can understand.



My Examples:

· The flashy sports car was really low to the ground like it was a person doing the limbo.

· He is the strongest man of the group, like an alpha lion, leader of the pack.

· Doe is to ray as one is to two. (both are related by “sequence” aspect)

· Having kids and sex is like bread and butter. (they both go together)





Two things relate in a certain way. An analogy uses the same way the first two things relate by relating two new things that relate in the exact same way. Used for someone who doesn’t understand how the first two things relate and needs to see something he or she is familiar with in order to understand.