SAT Reading & Writing: Interpret figurative language (metaphor, simile, idiom)
20+ practice questions in Praczo
The concept, explained
- 1
Figurative language — metaphor, simile, personification, idiom — uses comparison to convey meaning beyond the literal.
- 2
Ask what the image emphasizes about the subject. A metaphor calling a city a "living organism" stresses interdependence and growth, not literal biology.
- 3
Identify the tenor (real subject) and the vehicle (image used). The right answer explains what property the image transfers to the subject.
- 4
Eliminate literal interpretations and answers that focus on an unrelated feature of the vehicle.
- ✗ Taking a figurative phrase literally and picking the concrete answer.
- ✗ Choosing an answer that describes the image itself instead of what the image reveals about the subject.
SAT-style practice
A poet writes, "Memory is a stubborn tide that pulls the dead ashore." The phrase most likely suggests that
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