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

Answer 1

1. "Her stomach dropped like a free-falling elevator" is an example of a simile. This comparison suggests that Melanie's stomach felt a sudden and intense sensation of anxiety or fear, similar to what one might feel when descending rapidly in an elevator.

2. "She bent the microphone toward her mouth, like the straw in her pink lemonade" is an example of a simile. This comparison suggests that Melanie positioned the microphone close to her mouth with a gentle and deliberate movement, similar to the way one might adjust a straw in a drink to take a sip.