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

(4 points)

Answer 1

"The phrase 'her stomach dropped like a free-falling elevator' is a simile comparing her stomach to a falling elevator; it means she felt a sudden, intense drop of nervousness or panic. 'Her voice an impostor as it boomed through the microphone' is a metaphor calling her voice an impostor, meaning the sound felt unfamiliar or fake, as if it didn't belong to her. Both examples emphasize how scared and out-of-place she feels while speaking in front of the audience."