A great metaphor recasts the familiar or mundane as something strikingly different yet truly parallel. It gives a startlingly vivid picture or brings a surprising insight. A bad metaphor fails to achieve the parallel, or the fresh insight, or both. The element of surprise is an important part of a great metaphor.
Take these famous metaphor examples: All the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances. America has tossed its cap over the wall of space.
Metaphors can be useful in expressing the extent or type of feelings a person is experiencing.His words cut deeper than a knife. Words dont materialize into sharp objects. I feel the stench of failure coming on. Im drowning in a sea of grief. Im feeling blue. Shes going through a rollercoaster of emotions.
See if the sentence uses a word such as “as” or “like” as a preposition. That is, it is comparing things explicitly. If it compares things without using prepositions such as “like” or “as” it is a metaphor.