A simile that doesn't use "like" or "as."

Tags: English, Grammar, Similes
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It seems English teachers always define simile as a comparison that uses "like" or "as." Of course, that is simply a useful guideline for students.

A few days ago I heard a simile on the radio that breaks the rule. It was something along the lines of "Much in the same way that the earth revolves around the sun, we will continue bringing you great music."

I'm curious how many forms of simile we might brainstorm that break the rule as well.

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Finding an example of a simile without 'as' or 'like' is like finding a needle in a haystack.

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I don't think that the sentence you describe is not a special kind of simile; it's better described as a particularly obviously stated metaphor. [For the record, I used to teach English. While in graduate school, I took an afternoon job, teaching grammar--and only grammar--at a local private day school. An absurd situation. No wonder my predecessor had quit. I quite probably developed the only 6th-graders in town who actually could explain a nominative absolute. Of course, I cheated on the curriculum by my reading to them as well. Otherwise, we all would have gone mad.] Theoretically, a simile need not include the words "like" or "as" to set up a comparison, but I've never seen such a comparison that couldn't better be parsed as a low-tension (because of little surprise or novelty) metaphor.

I am entirely willing to be convinced that a comparison without "like" or "as" could be a simile; I just haven't seen one yet. It's like the famous black swan!

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Please strike the "not" from "not a special" in my first line above. Clumsy fingers today! Thank you.

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I'd call it a metaphor.

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I'm with littlek. Metaphors are figures of speech. A simile is one sort of metaphor.

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We could also just call it a plain old "comparison" or "analogy."

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Hmm... not to be rude, but by definition, the first example is a simile. I'm a little confused at the debate.

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SCoates wrote:

Hmm... not to be rude, but by definition, the first example is a simile.

No, it is not. A simile, by definition, uses "like" or "as".

Britannica wrote:

simile:

figure of speech involving a comparison between two unlike entities. In the simile, unlike the metaphor, the resemblance is explicitly indicated by the words like or as.

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9067844/simile

You will find some reference works that state otherwise (even some grammar dictionaries), (some include "resemble", some say smilies almost always use "like" or "as" but will usually not be able to produce any examples) but the use of "like" and "as" is not something teachers came up with to teach it but has been a defining characteristic of a simile.

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Ragman wrote:

Finding an example of a simile without 'as' or 'like' is like finding a needle in a haystack.

or akin to finding the straw that broke the camel's back

sweeting is such part sorrow

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Miklos7 wrote:

I don't think that the sentence you describe is not a special kind of simile; it's better described as a particularly obviously stated metaphor. [For the record, I used to teach English. While in graduate school, I took an afternoon job, teaching grammar--and only grammar--at a local private day school. An absurd situation. No wonder my predecessor had quit. I quite probably developed the only 6th-graders in town who actually could explain a nominative absolute. Of course, I cheated on the curriculum by my reading to them as well. Otherwise, we all would have gone mad.] Theoretically, a simile need not include the words "like" or "as" to set up a comparison, but I've never seen such a comparison that couldn't better be parsed as a low-tension (because of little surprise or novelty) metaphor.

I am entirely willing to be convinced that a comparison without "like" or "as" could be a simile; I just haven't seen one yet. It's like the famous black swan!

Huh?

I've seen thousands of them....like, every day when I walk to work.....I think it's more like the famous blue rose.

http://www.wwt.org.uk/research/images/Black_Swan06.jpg

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Robert Gentel wrote:

SCoates wrote:
Hmm... not to be rude, but by definition, the first example is a simile.

No, it is not. A simile, by definition, uses "like" or "as".

Britannica wrote:
simile:

figure of speech involving a comparison between two unlike entities. In the simile, unlike the metaphor, the resemblance is explicitly indicated by the words like or as.

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9067844/simile

You will find some reference works that state otherwise (even some grammar dictionaries), (some include "resemble", some say smilies almost always use "like" or "as" but will usually not be able to produce any examples) but the use of "like" and "as" is not something teachers came up with to teach it but has been a defining characteristic of a simile.

But I just came up with an example that doesn't, so...

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... it's not a simile.

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@Robert Gentel,

I'm a high school english teacher and it is a constant frustration to me the way students have been taught, since kindergarten, that the only difference between a simile and a metaphor is that one uses "like" or "as" and the other doesn't.

A simile is a comparison between two things where one this is said to be 'similair' to the other thing. A metaphor is a comparison where one this is said 'to be' the other thing, or stand for the other thing. The like or as rule was made by lazy teachers and unfortunately co-opted by some reference books. It is true that most of the time a simile will contain like or as, but not always, and simple rote memorization of that rule prevents a deeper understanding of the concepts.

Here's an example I gave my students today: "He looked the way a beaten dog might look."

This is a simile, a comparison between two things, in this case a person and a beaten dog, where they are said to be alike, but not the same thing.

"He was a beaten dog," would be a metaphor.

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@giantcontessa,

giantcontessa,

Welcome to able2know. I personally am not a fan of the "like or as" clause and understand the fundamental differences between the two. However, if enough authoritative references define it that way then my qualms seem to have been overruled.

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A simile that doesn't use "like" or "as."

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