Analyzing Analogies
What is an analogy?
Analogies are word pairs that show relationships.
Analogies provide a visual understanding of the
logic of what you are trying to exhibit.
Car: Human
Example: "My writing is to me, as flying is to a
bird."
In this statement, I am trying to emphasize the
importance of my work as a writer. Just as flying
is essential to a bird, so is writing to me.
:
So exactly what purpose do analogies serve?
• Forming analogies is an important and ongoing aspect
of how we view the world around us.
• They test our vocabulary.
• They test our ability to see relationships
• They test our knowledge of subject matter
• They test our knowledge of every day affairs
• They foster critical thinking skills
Who uses analogies?
Scientists
Scientists use an analogies between race and
gender to explain gender differences.
They also compare animals to humans in anatomy
and behavior.
Who uses analogies?
MathematiciansIn math we develop formulas
and equations that are often
comparisons.
Who uses analogies?
Lawyers –
The judge might find that the facts of
another case are similar to the one at
hand.
Who uses analogies?
Engineers
Engineers build models or prototypes of
real objects.
Who uses analogies?
Teachers
Educators compare a topic that students are
already familiar with, with a new topic that is being
introduced so that students can get a better
understanding of the topic.
A famous example of analogy about knowledge
The Allegory of Cave By: Plato
Plato created this analogy as a way of introducing the
idea of finding the ultimate good of knowledge,
truth, and justice.
Imagine: A group of people are seated and chained while facing a wall deep in a
cave. Behind them is an elevated walkway where others carry objects. A fire
behind these objects projects their shadows onto the wall which is the only
thing the chained people can see. To those seated people who know nothing
else, these shadows are reality. They are not shadows of objects but the objects
themselves.
One of these people is then unchained and freed. The freed person is then turned
around and exposed to the fire and objects. Imagine all that you know as reality
suddenly being false and having to learn a whole new reality.
Then the freed person is taken out of the cave and into the bright sunlight. After a life
of darkness (ignorance), there is pain as the eyes adjust to the rays of the sun. As the
eyes gradually adjust, the freed person can begin to understand relations between
objects.
Now that the freed person has attained this ultimate knowledge of something, he can
never go back to being ignorant like he was in the cave, even if he wanted to. The next
step is to return to the cave to educate the people still chained. Most likely he would
be ridiculed for preaching something so different from their accepted reality.
Regardless the freed person will be the happiest because he knows the truth, the
ultimate good.
Cave: Ignorance Light: _________
Truth: Reality Ignorance: ______
The best strategy to use when completing analogies
problems is the bridge sentence strategy.
Bridge sentences are helpful because they help you to
instantly recognize the answer pair by plugging it into the
bridge sentence. If the bridge sentence works with both
the question pair and answer pair, then you know you
have found the correct answer.
Find the relationship between the words in the given
word pair and then cross the bridge by selecting the
answer containing words related to one another in the
same way.
There are seven primary types of relationships used in our
analogies:
 Function
 type/kind
 part to whole
 degree
 definition
 Lack
 characteristic
The Bridge Strategy
Famous analogies
“The universe is like a safe to which
there is a combination. But the
combination is locked up in the safe.”
Peter De Vries, Let Me Count the Ways
"Do you ever feel that getting up in
the morning is like pulling yourself out
of quicksand? . . .“
(Jean Betschart, In Control, 2001)
“Life is like a box of chocolates,
you never know what you are
going to get.”
Forest Gump movie
“... worrying is as effective
as trying to solve an
algebra equation by
chewing bubble gum."
Baz Luhrmann, Everybody’s Free (to Wear
Sunscreen)
Create your own analogy sentence.
Possible topics:
• Being in __grade
• Having friends/Losing friends
• Moving to a new neighborhood
• A hobby (reading, drawing, singing)
• Something you tried for the first time
• A fear
• School is…
• Life is…
Student examples:
 An unsharpened pencil is like a talent undeveloped: a whole
lot of potential just needing to be sharpened and defined to
a perfect point.
• The world is a large set of colored bar graphs.
Everyone, whether a different race, or religion, has
different levels of talents and abilities.
• Our minds are like a baby bird: when we
put our minds to a task, we can fly.
• A sunrise is like a present. It's beautiful to look at but
behind the beauty is something brand new.
My Example:
Being a teacher is like
being a pirate, I am
always on the lookout
for treasure.