Analogies

An analogy is a word relationship or word puzzle. It transfers information from a particular subject to another particular subject. Making and understanding analogies are important skills that help students in problem solving, decision making, perception, memory, creativity, emotion, explanation, and communication. Analogy is behind basic tasks such as identification of places, objects, and people. Analogy problems ask for missing information that completes the relationship.

The analogy is stated as "Finger is to hand as toe is to foot." The relationship is part to whole.

ESL students can profit from learning analogies to expand their English vocabulary, to see how pairs of words are related, and to understand new content by relating it to known content.

Here are some more examples: The relationship shows youth and maturity.
The relationship shows antonyms.
The relationship shows social science content. The president is the chief executive of the country while the governor is chief executive of the state.

Complete the following analogies and then explain the relationship:

Online analogy practice:

• http://www.rhlschool.com/eng4n13.htm
• http://a4esl.org/q/h/vm/analogies01.html
• http://a4esl.org/q/h/fboo7-ck.html
• http://a4esl.org/q/t/z/zz67fck.htm
• http://www.quia.com/pop/14975.html
• http://quia.com/tql/168422.html