Lesson 5 Descriptive writing, similes and metaphors

Both similes and metaphors are forms of comparison that compare words in a sentence. They can be used to make your sentences more interesting. How are similes and metaphors different?

Similes

A simile is a word that compares words in a sentence. You can usually tell if a simile is present in a sentence when you see the words as or like.

• Don ate his salad like a vacuum cleaner.
• His arms were weak and felt like noodles.
• The thunder was as loud as fireworks.
  

You can see that the underlined words in the sentences above are compared to each other. The words as and like are bolded to show that a simile occurs in this sentence.

Metaphors

Like a simile, a metaphor compares words in a sentence; however, instead of saying that one thing is like something else, a metaphor actually makes one thing become something very different by renaming it. A metaphor can sometimes use words like is,are, or was (and other words) to signal that a metaphor is present. However, a metaphor never uses the words like or as to compare.

• The smoke was cotton balls billowing from the chimney.
  
• You are my hero. 
• The sun was a furnace.