Melanie walked out onto the stage, and her stomach dropped like a free-falling elevator. She crept slowly over to the podium and bent the microphone toward her mouth, like the straw in her pink lemonade. She gathered up all of her courage and began to speak, her voice an impostor as it boomed through the microphone. She flinched at its unfamiliarity and scanned the room for her mother's face.

Question

Melanie walked out onto the stage, and her stomach dropped like a free-falling elevator. She crept slowly over to the podium and bent the microphone toward her mouth, like the straw in her pink lemonade. She gathered up all of her courage and began to speak, her voice an impostor as it boomed through the microphone. She flinched at its unfamiliarity and scanned the room for her mother's face.

In three to five sentences, identify two examples of figurative language from the passage above and explain what each example of figurative language means.
In three to five sentences, identify two examples of figurative language from the passage above and explain what each example of figurative language means.

Answer 1

One example of figurative language in the passage is the comparison between Melanie bending the microphone toward her mouth and a straw in her pink lemonade. This is a simile, as it uses the word "like" to directly compare two things. The comparison highlights Melanie's careful and delicate actions, similar to how one would handle a fragile straw in a drink.

Another example of figurative language in the passage is the description of Melanie's voice as an impostor that boomed through the microphone. This is personification, as it attributes human qualities (being an impostor) to an inanimate object (voice). This figure of speech emphasizes the disconnect Melanie feels with her own voice, which appears different and unfamiliar to her in that moment.