analogy



"Analogies prove nothing, that is true" wrote Sigmund Freud, "but they can make one feel more at home." In this article, we examine the characteristics of effective analogies and consider the value of using analogies in our writing. [1] l **__ Definition __** l **__ Functions __** l **__ Examples __** l **__ An Important Format __** l **__ Analogy vs. Metaphor vs.Simile __** l **__ Analogy vs. Comparison&Contrast __** l **__ External Links __** l **__ References __** ||
 * INTRODUCTION **
 * //__What Is an Analogy?[[image:1.jpg width="66" height="71" align="right"]] __//**
 * Contents


 * __DEFINITION __**
 * Analogy is a kind of rhetoric which compares the similarities of two things of different classes. Based on the likeness between things in some circumstances or respects, when the things are otherwise entirely and essentially different, prove their other similarities. [2]
 * Analogies are often used to illustrate new or complex concepts by showing the similarity between something familiar and something else. [3]
 * The pairings can be antonyms, synonyms, descriptive //(blue is to sky as red is to fire truck)//, part to whole //(arm-body)//, or item to category //(milk-beverage)//. [10]


 * __FUNCTIONS __**


 * 1) Use what is in common between the two to emphasize features of the one which is usually an abstract, remote or difficult subject to reader understand it more easily and vividly.  [4]
 * 2) View a common experience in a new way.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Analogy can be used with other methods of development to explain a process, narrate an event, or describe a person or place. <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[5]


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">EXAMPLES __**


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">A) Appropriate praise to a child is what the sun is to a flower. __**<span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[6]

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Here, it uses the likeness between “the function of praise” and “the function of sunshine” to clarify the important influence of appropriate praise to a child.


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">B) A skilled carpenter will drive home a nail with a few firm, deft blows, hitting it each time squarely on the head. __**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Here, it compares “using exact words” with “hammering a nail”. The latter one is a familiar subject to us, while the former one is a relatively abstract one. By finishing the analogy, the readers can gain better understanding of what is discussing.
 * __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">A good language master will choose words that drive home his point firmly and exactly. __**<span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[5]

//__<span style="color: purple; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">In the following example of an effective analogy, science writer Claudia Kalb relies on the computer to explain how our brains process memories: __//
 * //__<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Some more... __//**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Some basic facts about memory are clear. Your short-term memory is like the RAM on a computer: it records the information in front of you right now. Some of what you experience seems to evaporate--like words that go missing when you turn off your computer without hitting SAVE. But other short-term memories go through a molecular process called consolidation: they're downloaded onto the hard drive. These long-term memories, filled with past loves and losses and fears, stay dormant until you call them up. ("To Pluck a Rooted Sorrow," //Newsweek//, April 27, 2009)

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Does this mean that human memory functions exactly like a computer in all ways? Certainly not. By its nature, an analogy offers a simplified view of an idea or process--an illustration rather than a detailed examination. <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[7]


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">AN IMPORTANT FORMAT __**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">The United States-based SAT college entrance test includes "analogy" questions: **A : B :: C : X?** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">In this analogy format, : reads "is to" and : : reads "as". <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;"> [3]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">For example: **


 * __<span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Rain is to drop as snow is to flake __**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">And this is usually given in the format:


 * __<span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Rain:Drop::Snow:Flake __**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">This means “A is related to B in the same way that C is related to D”

l <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">"MTV is to music as KFC is to chicken." //(Lewis Black)// l <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">"Memory is to love what the saucer is to the cup." //(Elizabeth Bowen, The House in Paris, 1949)//
 * //__<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">See more... __//**<span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[8]


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">ANALOGY vs. METAPHOR vs. SIMILE __**

² **__<span style="color: #cc00cc; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Similarities __**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Metaphors, analogies, and similes are very similar in nature. All of them are the most common comparisons which used to draw a vivid picture. Each is a kind of comparison of one familiar thing with another in order to promote understanding, which has been a rhetorical device for thousands of years. <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[9]

² **__<span style="color: #cc00cc; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Differences __**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;"> “You are my sunshine.” (A well-known extended metaphor from Shakespeare)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">1. Metaphor **
 * **__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Definition: __**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;"> A metaphor expresses the unfamiliar <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">(the tenor) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">in terms of the familiar <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;"> (the vehicle) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">. When Neil Young sings, "Love is a rose," "rose" is the vehicle for "love," the tenor. <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[10]
 * **__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Property: __**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;"> A metaphor claims <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">total identification <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">, which means to imply that two very different things have the same properties. One substitutes for the other, making them essentially identical. <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[10] [[image:metaphor.png width="157" height="119" align="right"]]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Metaphor is more assertive than an analogy. <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">A metaphor is an implied analogy. <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[11]
 * **__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Example: __**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;"> Instead of “you are my sunshine,” a simile would state this as “you are like sunshine to me.”
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">2. Simile **
 * **__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Definition: __**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;"> A simile is a figure in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">in a phrase introduced by like or as. <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[12] [[image:simile.png width="172" height="156" align="right"]]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Similes are similar to metaphors. But it uses the word like or as to make a <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">comparison: //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">"He's crazy like a fox." //<span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[9]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Simile is the most literal and straightforward. <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">A simile is an expressed analogy. <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[11]
 * **__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Example: __**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">3. Analogy **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Analogies make comparisons between two sets of items
 * **__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Property: __**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">A analogy claims <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">a similarity of relationships. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;"> So they do not have to be precisely the same, point by point. <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[10][[image:analogy.jpg width="173" height="178" align="right"]]
 * **__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Length: __**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;"> An analogy is usually a lot longer than either a simile or metaphor because you're using it to compare one situation to another. Analogy can be an effective tool because it allows you to point out <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">the similarities between two situations <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;"> where a simile or metaphor won't quite cut it. Use it when a simile or metaphor won't establish enough of the meaning you're trying to convey. <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[9]


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">ANALOGY vs. COMPARISON & CONTRAST __**

l <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Like comparison and contrast, analogy shows similarity. Both are methods of explanation that set things side by side.
 * //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Analogy is a special kind of comparison and a more concrete way to explain things. //**

l <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">Unlike comparison and contrast, analogy aims at what is common and the major similaries between two things of different classes. While the comparison and contrast may show the differences between the two things as well. <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;"> [13]




 * __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">EXTERNAL LINKS __**
 * Ⅰ ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">.An exercise: ** [|**http://www.quia.com/quiz/168422.html?AP_rand=776201637**]
 * Ⅱ ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">.False analogy: ** [|**http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/falseanalogyterm.htm**]
 * Ⅲ ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">.30 Writing Topics: Analogy: ** [|**http://grammar.about.com/od/topicsuggestions/a/Thirty-Writing-Topics-Analogy.htm**]


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">REFERENCES __**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[1] ** [|**http://grammar.about.com/od/rhetoricstyle/f/qanalogy07.htm**]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[2] ** [|**http://www.brainyquote.com/words/an/analogy129980.html**]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[3] ** [|**http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Analogy*]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[4] **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 15px;">A New English Course, student's book 5
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[5] ** [|**http://grammar.about.com/od/topicsuggestions/a/Thirty-Writing-Topics-Analogy.htm**]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[6] ** [|**http://baike.baidu.com/view/2905468.htm#3**]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[7] ** [|**http://grammar.about.com/od/rhetoricstyle/f/qanalogy07.htm**]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[8] ** [|**http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/analogy.htm**]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[9] ** [|**http://www.netplaces.com/improve-your-writing/how-to-write-what-you-mean/analogy-simile-and-metaphor-as-descriptions.htm**]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[10] ** [|**http://www.netplaces.com/public-speaking/refining-touches/analogies-metaphors-similes.htm**]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[11] ** [|**http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/analogy.htm**]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[12] ** [|**http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/simileterm.htm**]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 17px;">[13] ** [|**http://grammar.about.com/od/rhetoricstyle/f/qanalogy07.htm**]