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Lesson · Grade 4 · English Language Arts

Metaphor: saying one thing is another

  • Grade 4
  • English Language Arts
  • 1 min 17 s
  • British Columbia
  • BC4-EN-08

A plain two-sentence text, "The hall is noisy. Dev is angry.", is rewritten with two metaphors, "The hall is a zoo. Dev is a volcano.", and each metaphor lights up in the text while the right side shows the two things it joins through the word "is" and the one quality they share. A final note puts the simile "The hall is like a zoo." beside it and strikes out "like", so students see that a metaphor says one thing is another with no like or as, before a one-line recap.

Concept: Metaphor

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In one sentence

The question this lesson answers

What is a metaphor, and why do writers use one?

Here is a plain piece of writing.

Transcript

What the lesson says

What is a metaphor, and why do writers use one?

Here is a plain piece of writing.

It is correct, but it gives the reader nothing to picture.

Here is the same moment again, with two metaphors added.

A metaphor says that one thing is another thing. It does not use like or as.

The first metaphor: the hall is a zoo.

The hall is not really a zoo, but they share one thing: both are noisy and wild.

The second metaphor: Dev is a volcano.

Dev is not really a volcano, but they share one thing: both are about to erupt.

Now the reader hears the hall and feels Dev's anger, all in a few words. That is what a metaphor is for.

Compare a simile: the hall is like a zoo. The word like makes it a simile.

Drop the word like, and it is a metaphor: the hall is a zoo.

A metaphor says one thing is another, with no like or as, so the reader can picture it.

Curriculum

Where this fits

British Columbia, Grade 4

English Language Arts, Story/text: literary devicesBC4-EN-08

Previous: Simile: comparing two different things with like or asNext: Prove It! Using Evidence from the Text

British Columbia, Grade 5

English Language Arts, Story/text: literary devicesBC5-EN-09

Previous: Simile: comparing two different things with like or asNext: Point of View: Who Is Telling the Story?

British Columbia, Grade 6

English Language Arts, Story/text: literary devicesBC6-EN-09

Previous: Simile: comparing two different things with like or asNext: Imagery: Writing for the Five Senses

British Columbia, Grade 7

English Language Arts, Story/text: literary devicesBC7-EN-09

Previous: Simile: comparing two different things with like or asNext: Imagery: Writing for the Five Senses

This lesson is also listed in Grade 5, Grade 6 and Grade 7.

The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.

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