Teaching Analogies

Analogies can be hard for some students to understand, but if teachers approach analogies appropriately with their students, they will not have a problem when it comes to understanding how to select the best answer.

Analogies are comparisons in which two related words are paired together. For example, watch: wrist::necklace:______. To read this analogy, you would say watch is to wrist as necklace is to ________.

To solve this analogy, you must determine exactly what relationship is present. In this example, the relationship involves location. A watch is located on one’s wrist while a necklace is located or worn on one’s neck, so neck would be the correct answer.

The key to solving analogies is to determine the relationship that is present among the words that compose the analogy. If the relationship between the words expresses a relationship of synonyms, then one would choose the answer choice that has words that are used as synonyms.

Besides synonyms and antonyms, other relationships that may be present include the following :

• Location
• Degree (lesser or greater)
• Performer and Object
• Performer and Action
• Action and Object
• Cause and Effect
• Characteristic
• Part of the Whole
• Subject and Action

Remind students that some analogies have similar answer choices. To decide on the best answer among several choices, look for grammatical relationships in addition to the above stated relationships.

Hint: Tell students that if they think the relationship is performer and object or performer and action, remind them that in order to have a performer they must have a person. Likewise, if they think the relationship is performer and object, remind students that in addition to having a person they must have an object, which is a thing.

In addition to improving critical thinking skills, being able to do analogies will help students succeed on standardized tests. College entrance exams, graduate exams, and some proficiency exams require students to solve analogies.