Why use analogies in writing

Yes that sounds like a great analogy. The more you can piggyback concepts they already understand, the more you can teach them. This post is like an Ikea instruction manual.

But I think it also forces you to think through your ideas in detail. At least with an IKEA table all the pieces you need are in the box hopefully. With an analogy you have to go out and find them yourself! Despite the fact that there was no box with pieces I managed to shake an analogy from my sleeve, thanks to your kick ass post. Cheers to you too. I sometimes struggle to come up with relevant analogies. You give some great suggestions for idea starters.

Thanks Susan! Cheers, Glen. One word……WOW! From the beginning to the end, a great article. Just like when you was a kid, opening up that happy meal, knowing that you got the G. I Joe. That was on the drive though billboard, only to find out they gave you, a barbie. I Joe, but the surprise of the barbie. Glen you knocked it out of the ball park once again. Writing great analogies is hard for some people, but with this tutorial-like post, I am sure many bloggers will be enlightened on how to use them in their posts.

But when I realized I was going through a specific process in my head while looking for analogies, I thought others might find it helpful too. This is awesome Glen — I use humorous analogies in real life on a day to day basis, but never really considered using one in a post.

Thanks Paul. When using analogies in your own posts you can start small, with just a simple idea, then work your way up to an entire post based on an analogy, like this one:. Thanks Mark! Just remember to wear the correct safety equipment. Great post Glen, I really enjoyed your analogies! The toolbox analogy reminded me of advice from Stephen King in On Writing.

Thanks Bryan. Creative writing and blogging have a lot in common I guess. Great trick, I love it. Will definitely experiment with this more. Funny, I just wrote a post using an analogy, then second guessed myself thinking I should take it out. Awesome post Glen. I use analogies all the time but the example that you used — about job hunt — reminded me why you and Jon produce such great post. You are able to consistently pickup the true dreams, desires, fears and frustrations of ordinary people.

Keep it coming. I guess that was an apology huh LOL. But analogies are really important to spark the interest of your audience. They can definitely bring a dry topic to life. Also there were many that commented that they had a better understanding of certain topics. And in actuality, writing on these certain topics using analogies also help me to understand them too.

You definitely gave some great tips and reasons why analogies are a great way to add to our blog post to engage, give comprehension and pique a lot interest among our audience! Wow very powerful article, keep it up. Extremely beneficial post. This post will be more beneficial to me for boost favorable blog traffic. So thank you, Glen, for explaining this.

Putting it into practice right after this. Glen, Wonderful post! Thanks for reminding me that the English language can be quite complex. There are many ways to explain ideas.

Using an analogy is like shining a bright light along a country road in the middle of the night. So as I understand it — an analogy, contains two parts: elements familiar and unfamiliar to a receiver. The analogy should be able to connect or relate these elements in the message. If the analogy is to work it does so by producing associations or creating meaning in the mind of the receiver.

For that to happen an analogy needs to produce three sets of associations: those created because of the known or familiar elements, those created because of the unknown or unfamiliar elements, and those created by the linking of known to unknown elements. Another great post. But I love the idea and definitely will start using them. I noticed that the comment was lighting up with readers giving their own accounts of what it felt like with the most analogies.

They were so powerful and descriptive, I rewrote the piece to include all the wonderful examples and analogies from readers themselves. Your email address will not be published. Skip to content Analogies are an underused literary device capable of making your words more powerful, popular, and persuasive. As explained in our in-depth guide on metaphors : While a metaphor uses words or phrases to represent an idea, an analogy uses narrative or comparisons to explain the idea. They crowded very close about him, with their hands always on him in a careful, caressing grip, as though all the while feeling him to make sure he was there.

It was like men handling a fish which is still alive and may jump back into the water. A man climbs on top of the tanker and opens a particular compartment by removing the cap. He then takes a hose with a four-foot metal pipe down into the "bottle" the compartment hole , which measures four inches in diameter. A pump is then turned on, allowing the gasoline to flow into the compartment.

Know your audience In the admittedly unlikely event her readers had no prior knowledge of pop bottles, however, this analogy might not be particularly informative. The writer chose this analogy based on the likely knowledge of her audience. When you construct an analogy, be certain that the familiar or known side of the analogy is really familiar and known to your reader.

It is useless to explain a mineral's crystal-lattice structure by reference to analytic geometry if your reader knows nothing about analytic geometry. All of us know many things that we can use to help a reader understand an idea better. Here a geology major shows how the oil seismograph works by comparing it to shouting at a cliff wall:. The oil seismograph is a small portable electronic instrument that detects and measures artificial earthquakes.

The purpose of the instrument is to find geological structures that may contain oil. The oil seismograph instrument is not mysterious because it can be compared to shouting at a cliff wall.

Imagine yourself standing near the base of a large cliff. If you shout at the cliff face, you will get an echo because the sound waves bounce back from the "interface" where air meets rock. The sound waves travel at 1, feet per second. You can find out how far you are standing from the cliff by measuring the time it takes for your shout to travel from you to the cliff and back again, and then by solving a simple formula for distance.

In the race, he ran with the grace and speed of a cheetah—smooth, flawless, and natural, as if he had been raised running across the plains of Africa. Those two unlikely friends are surprisingly close, like a shark and its cleaner fish—though they have different qualities and purposes, it is clear that neither could survive without the. Although analogies are useful and essential devices, they can be surprisingly difficult to use effectively! Here are some examples of poor analogies to show you the kinds of common mistakes you should try to avoid:.

No, of course not. That phrase is a dangling modifier. Poor Analogy : On that warm summer day, we went down to the beach, where the sand was as white as snow. Rather than improving the imagery, the analogy actually works against it. Analogies can be an extremely powerful addition to your writing, so experiment!

Using analogies is a really useful skill for improving your powers of logic, reasoning, and writing, and the best way to learn it is to practice. List of Terms Action.