Metaphors

upward

positive: She’s flying high in her new job. (She’s doing very well in her new job.)

downward

negative: He’s been down in the dumps all day. (He’s been depressed all day.)

time

money: His mistake cost us 10 hours. (His mistake wasted 10 hours.)

unseen

gone: His problems went away. (His problems disappeared.)

argument

war: He shot my thesis full of holes. (He said my thesis was not valid.)

sports

war: Our team was killed yesterday! (Our team lost yesterday.)

journey

experience: She went through some hard times. (She experienced difficult times but has since recovered.)

ideas

items for sale: I’m not buying your story. (I don’t believe your story.)

effort

plants: All of our hard work has finally borne fruit. (Our hard work has finally led to good results.)

movement

change: His confident came back. (His confidence returned.)

things

people (personification): Opportunity was knocking at my door. (I received an opportunity.)

overstated descriptions

exaggeration: A million people came to my house last night. (Many people came to my house last night.)