Why This Question Trips Everyone Up
You know what’s funny? Most people understand metaphors perfectly fine in regular conversation. Someone says “I’m drowning in work” and you immediately get it. But put that same concept on a test with four answer choices, and suddenly everyone’s second-guessing themselves.
The problem isn’t you. It’s that these questions are designed to be tricky. They throw in answers that sound smart but miss the point completely.
Last semester, I had a student pick an answer about “aquatic terminology in professional settings” for a drowning metaphor. The correct answer? “The person feels overwhelmed and unable to keep up with their workload.” Way simpler, right?
What You’re Actually Being Asked
Strip away all the academic language, and here’s what’s happening:
Someone wrote something poetic. They compared one thing to another thing. Your job is figuring out why they made that comparison and what it tells us.
That’s it. That’s the whole game.
My Process That Actually Works
Forget everything complicated you’ve heard. Here’s what I do, and it works every single time.
First – Circle the weird part. Look for the phrase that doesn’t make literal sense. “Time is a thief” doesn’t work literally because time can’t steal stuff. That’s your metaphor.
Second – Write down both things being compared. In “time is a thief,” that’s time and a thief. Easy.
Third – List what the second thing does. Thieves steal. They take things without asking. They leave you with less than you had. You don’t get it back.
Fourth – Apply those qualities to the first thing. Time takes moments away. You can’t get them back. You end up with less life left. The comparison makes sense now.
Fifth – Find the answer that says this in plain English. Not the fancy one. Not the one using big words. The one that captures the feeling and meaning.
The Answers That Look Right But Aren’t
I’ve seen the same wrong answers a million times. Here’s what to avoid:
Answers that just rename things. If the metaphor says “her smile was sunshine,” don’t pick “the woman’s facial expression is being compared to a celestial body.” No kidding. That’s not explaining anything.
Answers that get too specific about random details. You’ll see stuff like “this references the sun’s nuclear fusion process creating warmth.” Unless the excerpt is actually about physics, this is reaching way too hard.
Answers that focus on what’s impossible. “This statement is false because smiles don’t emit photons” – yeah, we know. Moving on.
Answers that miss the emotional point. The sunshine smile metaphor is about warmth, brightness, and how it makes you feel. If the answer doesn’t touch on that, it’s wrong.
Let Me Show You With Real Stuff
Theory is boring. Let’s look at actual examples.
Say you’ve got this line: “The city was a concrete jungle, where only the strongest survived.”
Here are your answer options:
A) This compares urban environments to tropical rainforests found in equatorial regions.
B) The metaphor suggests the city is dangerous, competitive, and unforgiving, requiring strength and cunning to navigate successfully.
C) Cities and jungles both have living creatures in them.
D) The author is describing buildings made of concrete material.
Option B wins by a mile. A is too focused on geography. C is technically true but misses everything important. D is just… no.
Here’s another one I pulled from a real test: “Her words cut deeper than any knife could.”
The winning answer talked about emotional pain, lasting hurt, and how verbal attacks can wound more severely than physical ones. The wrong answers focused on the impossibility of words having sharp edges or mentioned surgical instruments for some reason.
Context Matters More Than You Think
You can’t just read the one sentence with the metaphor and call it done. Read the whole paragraph at minimum.
I remember this excerpt about chains that everyone got wrong. The metaphor was “chains of responsibility binding him.” Most students picked an answer about slavery or imprisonment.
But the paragraph before it talked about his new job promotion. The paragraph after talked about his family depending on his income. The chains weren’t about oppression – they were about obligation and duty.
Context changed everything.
When You’re Stuck Between Two Answers
This happens constantly. You eliminate two obviously wrong ones, then you’re staring at two that both seem reasonable.
Here’s my tiebreaker: pick the one that explains why the author chose this specific comparison, not just what they compared.
Let’s say the metaphor is “hope is a fragile bird.”
Answer 1: “This compares an emotion to a small animal.”
Answer 2: “The comparison suggests hope is delicate, can easily be destroyed, but also has the potential to soar and sing if protected.”
Answer 1 states facts. Answer 2 explains the meaning behind those facts. Go with Answer 2 every time.
Getting Better At This Without Suffering
You don’t need to read Shakespeare for three hours a day. Just start paying attention.
Next time you’re listening to music, actually listen to the lyrics. Count how many metaphors you hear. Drake, Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar – they’re all using metaphors constantly. Figure out what they mean.
Watch how sports commentators talk. “He’s ice cold from the three-point line tonight.” Not literally frozen. Just missing shots. See how that works?
Even memes use metaphors. “This is fine” dog sitting in a fire? That’s a metaphor for denying problems exist.
Once you start noticing them everywhere, test questions become way easier.
The Stuff Nobody Tells You
Sometimes the “best” answer isn’t perfect. It’s just the most accurate of the four options given. Don’t waste time looking for a flawless explanation. Pick the one that gets closest to the truth.
Also, if you’re taking a standardized test, remember: they want straightforward interpretations. Save your creative, out-of-the-box readings for English class discussions. On tests, go with the obvious meaning.
And yeah, sometimes you’ll disagree with the answer key. That’s normal. Metaphor interpretation has some subjectivity to it. But test makers usually pick interpretations that most readers would agree on.
What This All Comes Down To
Which statement best explains the metaphor in this excerpt? This question is testing whether you understand why writers use creative comparisons instead of just stating facts directly.
They use metaphors because some ideas are hard to express otherwise. How do you describe devastating heartbreak? “It hurt” doesn’t cut it. But “my heart shattered into a thousand pieces” – now we’re talking. That lands differently.
Your job is showing you get what the comparison accomplishes. Not just identifying it exists, but understanding what it communicates that plain language couldn’t.
Find what’s compared. Figure out why. Pick the answer that captures that “why” part. Ignore the ones that overthink it or underthink it.
Do that, and these questions stop being mysterious. They’re actually pretty predictable once you know what you’re looking for.
Practice with song lyrics this week. Seriously, just pick five songs and write down every metaphor you hear. Explain each one in your own words like you’re texting a friend. That’s the skill you need.
Because at the end of the day, which statement best explains the metaphor in this excerpt is just asking: do you understand what this author was really trying to say?
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