What is an analogy?

Here's an example:

apple : fruit :: carrot : vegetable

First off, how do we read this?

We say, "apple is to fruit as carrot is to vegetable."

Now, let's look more closely at the analogy. We should be able to see that apple is related to fruit in the same way that carrot is related to vegetable.

In both cases, the first word is a member of the group of the second word--an apple is a kind of fruit; a carrot is a kind of vegetable.

When we explain the relationship in a sentence, we have made a relationship sentence, a relationship, a connection, or a bridge between the two words. At TestMagic, we will use the word bridge.

It is very important to make good bridges between the two words.

Let's do some practice.

Learn by doing

The first thing that we will do is learn how to make a relationship sentence for the analogies. For a couple of these problems, more than one answer may be possible. As usual, the analogies will become harder as we go on.

1.

analogy

happy : sad

bridge

2

analogy

car : vehicle

bridge

3

analogy

pen : ink

bridge

4

analogy

pen : write

bridge

5

analogy

cup : liquid

bridge

6

analogy

travel : location

bridge

7

analogy

language : communicate

bridge

8

analogy

insult : harm

bridge

9

analogy

tree : root

bridge

10.

analogy

watch : time

bridge