Metaphor consistency

Keep your metaphors consistent. Much of what we write and say if expressed metaphorically, and often we do not even notice.  Problems tend to arise in one of two cases: either the writer is unaware that she is using a metaphor in the first place, or else the writer is making a brave attempt at constructing a new metaphor, but does not manage to pull it off.


How do we speak in metaphors?  Here are some random examples of metaphors that we might use in everyday speech. The comment in italics indicates how even the simplest metaphor needs to be treated with care.

A circle of friends (if it is a circle, then you might enlarge, broaden or expand it, but not, say, lengthen or extend it. You might invite or admit  someone into your circle, or exclude  or eliminate someone from it, but you would not, say, ghost someone from it.  Semantically, ghost does not work well with circle  because it is its own metaphor, and a very compact and self-contained one, too.  Other words like delete, erase, wipe do not quite fit with circle (think of better verbs),  but might do at a pinch. You just have to make sure the metaphor doesn't come across too loudly, like an embarrassing uncle dressed in loud colors at your graduation party. 

A political stance (a stance - from the verb to stand - implies a fixed position). Although we usually use the word to refer to belief, we must be careful not to use appropriate verbs. So,  we could change, shift, alter, abandon, modify, adopt, defend, take etc a stance (the metaphor imagines moving from one position to another), but not really enhance, improve, heighten or construct and certainly not dive into, run, feel, fall into/out of,escape  from a stance.

We  might, for instance,  fall into, avoid, escape from, evade, get caught in, break free from a trap, but we would not wrestle with, fight, overcome, conquer, beat, succumb to or surrender to  it

A package of measures might be introduced, developed, assembled, rejected, created, promoted, curated, composed devised, planned, presented, submitted, proposed, delivered, displayed, explained, considered etc - there are hundreds of possibilities - but cannot really be expressed, built, fostered, forged, carved, crystallized, streamlined, guided or grown.


A  blanket of hope/indifference/despair can cover, shroud, stretch over, hide, obscure (and whatever else a blanket can do or have done to it), but should not overwhelm (that carries the idea of a wave of water), puncture, pierce, shift, move, report, speak - the list is endless, since there's a lot a blanket cannot do.

The point of no return can be reached, arrived at,  passed, avoided, traversed, gone beyond, overflown, feared etc, but  is unlikely to be refused, rejected, completed, reversed, escaped....

When you meet, encounter, run into, run up against or discover a wall of silence, you might well want to break through, overcome, puncture, pierce, flatten, destroy, remove, smash or break it down, but you would not dissipate, dissolve, shift, move, lift (that would be a veil of silence) interrupt, stop or halt it.

And so on and so forth. It is an impossibly broad subject to cover with examples, but next time you decide to use typical essay words such as factor, element, aspect, component, feature, ingredient, instrument, means, detail, issue, question, characteristic or trait, consider what verb makes sense with the word you have chosen.