Question

Use the paragraph to complete the activity.

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

Answer 1

[AI-generated answer — Bot GPT 3.5]

One example of figurative language in the passage is "her stomach dropped like a free-falling elevator." This is a simile, comparing the feeling in Melanie's stomach to the sensation of an elevator falling rapidly. It emphasizes the sudden, overwhelming fear and anxiety she is experiencing. Another example is "her voice an impostor as it boomed through the microphone." This is a metaphor, suggesting that Melanie's voice feels unfamiliar or estranged to her in this moment. It conveys the idea that she is not used to speaking in public and feels disconnected from her own voice.