Style

Ganges

Suggest improvements for the highlighted area: Any visitor to the Ganges is likely to see a wide variety of birds. Parakeets flash by. A vulture circles above, patiently waiting for its next meal. The fork-tailed tern screams like a banshee before diving like a bomber to catch its prey. A hoopoe, with its slender, downward-curving bill, putters around looking for grubs. And long-legged storks wade through shallow waters, playing the decision close to the vest right down to the wire before snapping up fish. Answer: - Good Figures of Speech - Another figure of speech is the metaphor, a comparison implied by saying something is something else: The crest on the head of the hoopoe is a fan that spreads at the sound of danger. - Style: Use good metaphors. - Suggestion: Use fresh figures of speech. The comparison implied in a striking metaphor can surprise or educate the reader. Another sentence in our opening paragraph could use a comparison to make it come alive: A vulture circles above, patiently waiting for its next meal. With a metaphor we can paint a more vivid picture: Above, a vulture soars in a holding pattern, patiently waiting for its next meal. Note: Try to use only good metaphors -- those that are brief, fresh, and consistent.

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