We can talk endlessly about the beauty and richness of the Russian language. These arguments are just another reason to join such a conversation. So, comparisons.
What is comparison
In fact, this term is ambiguous. This fact is confirmed by the endless examples of comparison that we observe in everyday life. In colloquial speech, it is rather a likening of different objects, a statement that they are equal or similar.
In mathematics, the term “comparison” is intertwined with the similar concept of “relation.” By comparing numbers for equality or inequality, we find the difference between them.
Comparison is also the process of comparing the similarities and differences, disadvantages and advantages of several objects. As examples show, comparisons in sciences such as philosophy, psychology, sociology are a kind of cognitive operations that underlie reasoning about the similarities and differences of the objects being studied. With the help of comparisons, various characteristics of these objects or phenomena are revealed.
Comparison in the literature: definition and examples
Stylistic and literary comparisons have a slightly different meaning. These are figures of speech in which some phenomena or objects are likened to others according to some common characteristic. may be simple, then certain words are usually present in circulation. Among them are: “as”, “as if”, “as if”, “exactly”. But there is also an indirect method of comparison: in this case, comparison is made using the noun in without a preposition. Example: “Onegin lived as an anchorite” (“Eugene Onegin” by A. S. Pushkin).
Similes and metaphors
Comparisons are inextricably linked with another literary concept, metaphor - an expression used in a figurative sense. Actually, the basis of the metaphor is a comparison that is not directly expressed. For example, A. Blok’s line “The streams of my poems run” is a typical metaphor (the word “streams” is used in a figurative sense). But this same line is also a comparison: poems flow like streams.
It is interesting to use metaphorical devices in the case of the so-called negative comparison. Examples of comparison can be easily found in epics. “Not two clouds converged in the sky, but two daring knights converged” - in this example of the Old Russian epic, the similarity of formidable warriors with dark terrible clouds is simultaneously emphasized, and their identity is denied, and an absolutely amazing overall picture is drawn.
Negative comparisons, more typical of works of folk art and their folklore stylizations, play a special role in the perception of the artistic image. Here is a line from A. Nekrasov’s work: “It’s not the huntsman who trumpets the oak wood, it’s the wild head who cackles—after crying, the young widow chops and chops wood.” The second part of the expression (After crying...) is self-sufficient in itself and fully conveys the required meaning. But only the combination of both parts of the sentence allows you to feel all the bitterness, all the tragedy of what happened.
Means of expressive language
Comparisons help explain concepts or phenomena by comparing them with other objects - sweet like honey, sour like vinegar. But the main goal is not to emphasize the characteristic properties of the object. The main thing is the figurative, most accurate expression of the author's thoughts, because one of the most powerful means of expressiveness is comparison. Examples from literature brilliantly illustrate its role in the formation of the image desired by the author. Here is a line of creation from M.Yu. Lermontov: “Harun ran faster than a deer, faster than a hare from an eagle.” One could simply say: “Harun ran very fast” or “Harun ran at great speed.” But, being absolutely true in their essence, such phrases would not achieve even a small degree of the effect that is inherent in Lermontov’s lines.
Peculiarities
Paying tribute to comparisons as powerful exponents of the peculiarities of Russian speech, many researchers were amazed at the rationality of these comparisons. It would seem, what does rationality have to do with it? After all, no one demands special accuracy or literalness from comparisons! But here are dissimilar comparison examples, strings belonging to different people. “There were fire-faced elands here, like glasses of bloody wine” (N. Zabolotsky) and “Fate, you look like a market butcher, whose knife is bloody from tip to handle” (Khakani). Despite all the dissimilarity of these expressions, they are distinguished by a common feature. Both phrases tell about completely ordinary things (about red flowers, about the difficult human fate) and, written in a slightly different form, could easily be lost in any text. But the use of comparisons (“glasses of bloody wine,” “butcher’s knife”) turned out to be exactly the touch that deliberately added special expressiveness and emotionality to simple words. This is probably why in songs and romantic poems, where the emotional mood is already strong, comparisons are even less common than in realistic narratives.
Examples of comparisons in Russian
Russian language is considered one of the most difficult. And at the same time, the creations of domestic classics are recognized throughout the world as the most brilliant, original, and talented. It seems that there is an inextricable connection between these facts. The difficulty of learning a language lies in the considerable number of features, possibilities, and rules present in it. But this also opens up enormous scope for a talented writer who has managed to master cunning techniques. The Russian language is indeed very rich: it contains truly limitless possibilities that allow you to turn an ordinary word into a vivid visual image, make it sound in a new way, so that it remains forever in memory. Poetic works are especially conducive to this. “Our life in old age is like a worn-out robe: it’s both a shame to wear it and a pity to leave it.” This line is an excellent example of the use of similes in literary work.
About the work of A.S. Pushkin
The great poet was a recognized genius in mastering the most complex. The comparisons used in his poems and poems are striking in their unexpectedness and at the same time accuracy and precision.
“His beaver collar is silvered with frosty dust” - this is a line from the poem “Eugene Onegin”. Only a few words, but the capital’s boulevard, covered with snow, and a young dandy heading to the ball emerge before my eyes. And then there’s the episode at the ball: “He walked in: and the cork hit the ceiling, the current flowed out from the comet.” If Pushkin had written that a footman had opened a bottle of champagne, he would not have deviated from the truth. But would this picture of extraordinary, festive, sparkling fun have emerged so clearly then?
And this is from the poem “The Bronze Horseman”: “And before the younger capital, old Moscow faded, like a porphyry-bearing widow before the new queen.” Is it possible to more accurately convey the atmosphere of a certain patriarchy and even abandonment that reigned in Moscow after the city of Petra was named the capital of Russia? “Let the Finnish waves forget their ancient enmity and captivity!” - this is about how the waters of the Neva were encased in granite. Yes, probably, this could be stated without comparisons, but would the pictures drawn by the author appear so clearly before the eyes?
And more about Russian poetic creativity
There are plenty of wonderful examples of the use of comparative images in the works of other Russian poets. Amazing comparisons in Bunin's poem “Childhood” accurately convey the atmosphere of a hot summer day, the sensations of a child who enjoys the sun and the aromas of the forest. The author’s sand is silk, the tree trunk is a giant, and the sun-drenched summer forest itself is sunny chambers.
No less remarkable, although completely different examples are present in the works of other Russian wordsmiths. Comparisons in Yesenin’s poem “Good morning!” reveal to the reader a summer dawn. Golden stars are dozing, instead of river water there is a mirror of the backwater, there are green catkins on the birch trees, silver dews are burning, and the nettles are dressed in bright mother-of-pearl. In fact, the entire poem is one big comparison. And how beautiful it is!
We can talk about comparisons in S. Yesenin’s works for a long time - they are all so bright, imaginative and at the same time different. If in the work “Good Morning” the atmosphere is light, joyful, pleasant, then when reading the poem “Black Man” there is a feeling of heaviness, even disaster (it is not for nothing that it is considered a kind of requiem by the author). And this atmosphere of hopelessness is also formed thanks to unusually accurate comparisons!
“The Black Man” is a tragically unique poem. A certain black man who appeared either in a dream or in the author’s feverish delirium. Yesenin is trying to understand what kind of vision this is. And then a whole series of brilliant comparisons: “Just like a grove in September, the brain is showered with alcohol,” “My head flaps its ears like the wings of a bird, its legs can no longer loom on its neck,” “In December in that country the snow is pure as hell, and snowstorms make merry spinning wheels.” You read these lines and see everything: the bright frosty winter, and enormous human despair.
Conclusion
You can express your thoughts in different ways. But for some it is faded and dull phrases, or even completely incoherent babble, while for others it is luxurious, flowery paintings. Comparisons and others allow you to achieve figurative speech, both written and oral. And you should not neglect this wealth.
- Natasha’s cheeks turned pink, as if (as if, like, as if, as if, exactly) two apples (the usual, simplest comparison, using a comparing conjunction).
- Natasha's cheeks looked like (resembled) two pink apples (the same simple comparison, but instead of conjunctions there are other parts of speech).
- Natasha's cheeks turned pink like red apples (the object with which the comparison is being made is put in the Instrumental case).
- Natasha's cheeks and apples became more and more pink (the two objects being compared are connected by a hyphen).
- Natasha's apple cheeks were pinker than ever (an unusual definition was used for comparison purposes).
Comparison is a stylistic device in language when a phenomenon or concept is clarified and clarified by comparing it with another phenomenon or concept. Comparisons can be negative and detailed.
Examples of comparisons and ways to express them:
A comparison is a stylistic device that is based on a figurative comparison of states or several objects. Writers very often use comparisons in their works and this expresses their subtext very well. For example, the words of A. S. Pushkin
Also in nature it is very well expressed and applied
Comparison- identifying a common feature by comparing (assimilating) one phenomenon to another. Stylistic device in Russian language and literature. The letter is separated by commas. Comparison can be simple (as if) or indirect.
Comparison in Russian is a stylistic device through which you can describe the properties of one object by comparing its qualities with another. There are various comparison techniques in Russian, for example, using degrees of qualitative adjectives:
- positive degree (qualitative);
- comparative (better quality);
- excellent (best quality).
There is also a figurative comparison. An example of such a comparison can be found in books - this is when a certain object is compared with a certain image. For example: The weather is cold, like winter. Here the word weather is a subject of comparison, and like winter is an image.
Comparison in Russian is the comparison in oral or written speech of two objects or phenomena that have common characteristics. Can also be used to explain one phenomenon in terms of another.
Examples of comparisons.
Comparison- this is a special literary device based on the comparison of two objects or phenomena between which egalitarian relations can be established. With the help of comparison, artistic speech becomes more vivid and expressive, the character of the characters is revealed more fully.
In the literature, comparisons are created in several ways:
Using comparative unions as if, as if, as, exactly etc.
Form of the instrumental case.
Comparative degree of an adjective or adverb.
With words similar And like.
Some comparisons, due to frequent use, have become stable expressions, therefore they have turned from comparisons into phraseological units. For example:
Comparison in Russian means a comparison of various objects or phenomena in order to explain an object with another object or one phenomenon with another phenomenon. In other words, comparison means the likening of one object to another by identifying common features or characteristics.
Here are some examples:
Sunny smile - here the smile is compared to the sun, meaning just as bright and warm.
His eyes are as deep as the sea - his eyes are compared to the depths of the sea;
She is as beautiful as the rose of May - she is compared to the rose of May.
In russian language comparisons(lat. comparatio) is one of the artistic stylistic devices designed to more fully express one’s thoughts so that the reader can vividly imagine the pictures and events being described. This is likening, contrasting two different objects, in order to then assert that they are similar or different, identifying their common features.
1.Simple Comparison Method- with the use of words: as, exactly, as if, as if, as if.
Rose petals turned red on the snow, How drops of blood.
Her eyes sparkled as if diamonds.
She was so thin as if reed.
The face was so white exactly carved from marble.
2.Indirect comparison method(used with a noun in the instrumental case)
He lived hamster- He pulled everything into his hole. Compare: He lived How hamster. those. the previous words are not applied, but are implied.
3.Non-union comparisons:
My home is my castle.
4.Comparison by metaphor(Expression used in a figurative sense).
A. Typical metaphor- We read from A. Blok Streams of my poems run - the poems are called streams.
B. Negative metaphor- More often in ancient Russian epics, songs and tales - It’s not thunder that rumbles, it’s not a mosquito that squeaks, it’s godfather to godfather who drags pike perch.
IN. Comparisons - set phrases - comparisons:
Sweet like honey, sour like vinegar, bitter like pepper.
G. Animal comparisons:
Line M.Yu. Lermontov: Harun ran faster than a deer, faster than a hare from an eagle
D. Comparisons are frightening visual images:
Fate, you are like a market butcher, whose knife is bloody from tip to handle (Khakani).
The talent of a writer is manifested in the ability to use comparisons, and therefore for one it is bright pictures, and for another it is incoherent babble.
It is the process of comparing several objects and their qualities/characteristics. For example, in literature it is often used to give the story even greater expressiveness.
There are several types of comparisons (for example, using conjunctions AS, AS WHAT, etc.; using metaphors, etc.):
For example,
He is as strong as a bull.
Comparison in any language (and in Russian in particular) is, in essence, rhetorical figure, formed by various linguistic primas. This term can be called both linguistic and literary at the same time. Any trope, including comparison, is studied in vocabulary, but is also used in spoken language and in any other styles; and in fiction.
It can be explained to students this way:
In order to figuratively and beautifully compare two (or several) people, animals, two objects or two qualities, writers and poets use comparisons.
Similes and metaphors are different linguistic concepts, so there is no need to confuse them. Otherwise we will make a mistake.
Since the question was sent to the zone of the Russian language, in particular syntax, then, when considering comparisons, we now need to focus specifically on the linguistic primaries of comparison.
Here are some of my examples with explanations:
The purpose of the lesson: determine the role of comparison as a figurative and expressive means in the Russian language.
Tasks:
- Study theoretical material, give a definition of comparison.
- Analyze literary texts, determine ways of expressing comparison.
- Find out the figurative and expressive features of comparison.
Equipment: handouts, presentation, reference literature.
DURING THE CLASSES
1. Teacher: Imagine looking up into the summer sky and watching the clouds pass by. They swim slowly, constantly changing their shapes and surprising you with their whiteness. Try to name the word “clouds” with other words that, to one degree or another, spoke about the signs and properties of this object. (slide 1)
Students name various associations associated with clouds.
Teacher: Tell me, what did you do to call the clouds that? (Compared, contrasted, found common features)
2. Teacher: I will never tire of repeating how rich our Russian language is, what inexhaustible possibilities it has, so that an ordinary word can sound in a new way, turn into a visual image, and remain in memory forever. It is no coincidence that I offered you the task with clouds, and today we will study comparison as one of the linguistic means of expressiveness. (slide number 2)
Tell me, how can I study? ( Read, ask, observe, analyze, compare, etc.)
I wrote your possible actions on the board. Don't you think that all the actions you listed can be classified as one type of activity? Which one do you think?
3. Teacher: Each of you has a research map. There are folders on the tables with research materials that will help you in class.
Research map
Teacher: This is not the first time we have been exploring means of expression, so I think it will not be difficult for you to fill out the first three positions in the map.
Checking: (slides No. 3, 4)
Let's assume that comparison has its own figurative and expressive functions in speech (slide number 5)
What tasks do you think you will need to complete to achieve the goal of the entire research work. (slide number 6)
4. Work in groups to study theoretical material.
Teacher: There are various sources on your desks from which you can take the necessary theoretical material for yourself. We work in groups according to the following plan (slide No. 7)
- Read the theoretical material carefully
- Find keywords in the text
- Answer the question: “What is called comparison?”
- Discuss the definition as a group
- Draw a general conclusion (definition, diagram, schematic drawing, etc.)
Presentation from groups (listening to definitions, diagrams)
5. Teacher: Now let’s analyze the texts and find out what ways the expression has a comparison.
Group work
Task for group No. 1
- Answer the questions:
- Draw a conclusion: how can the comparison be expressed?
1. Snow dust stands in the air like a column.
2. His face was kind lips
with a straw.
3.A rainbow hung like a multi-colored beam in the sky.
4.But he kept sounding like a nightingale and didn’t want to listen to anyone’s advice.
5. And far between the mounds
Dark gray snake
Until the fading mists
The way home runs.
Group assignment No. 2
- In examples from fiction, find those words with the help of which one object or phenomenon is likened to another.
- Answer the questions:
3. Draw a conclusion: how can the comparison be expressed?
Examples from texts for analysis
1. The skies opened up like an ocean,
And the earth sleeps and warms like the sea...
2. From above I saw Moscow like an anthill.
3. Mountains, like mighty giants, surrounded the valley.
4. Like old women, the huts tilted on their sides.
Group assignment No. 3
1. In examples from fiction, find those words with the help of which one object or phenomenon is likened to another.
2. Answer the question: What words are used to make the comparison?
3. Draw a conclusion: how can the comparison be expressed?
Examples from texts for analysis
1. Like a gentle animal, the blizzard entered our yard.
2. When Nastya cried, she looked like a small child.
3. Huge trees look like forest giants.
4. A mountain stream in spring is like a noisy river rushing from sky-high cliffs
Group assignment No. 4
1. Study theoretical material
2. Build a diagram “Basic ways of expressing comparison”
3. Evaluate the answers of speakers from groups 1, 2, 3
4. Draw a conclusion about the main ways of expressing comparison.
Text to study
In the Russian language there are about ten ways of expressing comparison. These methods relate to lexical, syntactic and morphological units. To the main ones, i.e. The most common are three methods:
1. Instrumental case of a noun (Varka shadow wandered around the empty yard.)
2. Comparative phrases with conjunctions: as, as if, as if, exactly (Whiteer than snowy mountains, clouds are moving to the west.)
3. Comparative constructions with words: similar, similar. (Her love for her son was like madness.)
6. Group performances:
Performance of group 1 (slide No. 8)
There is an opinion that the comparison in the form of the instrumental case of a noun comes from ancient beliefs about werewolf: then people believed that a person could, under certain conditions, turn into an animal, a bird, a tree, i.e. "turn around" them. Remember the hero of a Russian folk tale who, upon hitting the ground, turns into a gray wolf. Thus, the form of the instrumental case was born of a certain fantastic content.
Already in the first literary monuments, this form of comparison became quite widespread. So, for example, in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” we hear the following lines: “The prophetic Boyan, even if you wanted to create a song, spread like a thought along the tree, like a gray wolf through the winter, like a crazy drake under the clouds...”
Comparisons in the instrumental case are quite common in colloquial speech: “tears in a stream”, “a shock of hair”, “flashed like lightning”.
Comparison in the form of the instrumental case is a characteristic feature of oral folk art, but in fiction we also find many examples of the use of this means of expression.
Performance of group 2 (slide No. 9)
Additional student message:
Comparative turnover with unions as if, as if, exactly came into our speech much later, when a certain syntactic system was formed, close to the modern Russian language. Comparative expressions are most widespread in fiction, in particular in poetry.
Researchers note that comparative phrases are most often found in the works of Lermontov, Yesenin, Blok and Tsvetaeva.
Performance by group 3 (slide No. 10)
Additional student message:
Comparative constructions with words like,
cool are more often used in colloquial speech, their figurative character is slightly reduced, since they are based on a simple comparison, often external. “The mountain looks like a bear,” “barks like a dog,” “he looks like a scarecrow.”
However, this form of comparison has found its place in fiction. Most often it is found in the works of Turgenev and Korolenko.
Group 4 – a group of experts will evaluate the performance of the first three groups.
6. Teacher: And now we have to determine the role of comparisons in speech and draw the main conclusion. To do this, you must compare two texts, one of which has all comparisons removed.
Text No. 1. Having climbed to the top of the mountain, we saw a lake. It was surrounded by rocks rising upward. Lush greenery stretched along the shore. The sun was setting. Its fading rays fell on the smooth surface of the water. The evening sky seemed even higher and was reflected in the mountain lake. Rare clouds slowly floated overhead and dissolved before they were out of sight.
Text No. 2. Having climbed to the top of the mountain, we saw a lake that looked like a large silver bowl. It was surrounded by rocks rising up in cascades. The lush greenery on the shore spread out like an emerald carpet. The sun was setting. Its fading rays fell on the glass-smooth surface of the water. The evening sky seemed even higher and, as if in a mirror, was reflected in the mountain lake. Rare clouds, like lost travelers, slowly floated overhead and dissolved before they were out of sight.
Groups report proposals for the main conclusion. Speeches from groups are recorded on the board:
Comparison helps to more accurately represent an object or phenomenon
- comparisons help to visualize the described objects more clearly
- speech becomes brighter and more expressive
- comparisons help to see new, invisible sides in a subject
- comparisons are most often used in literary texts and colloquial speech
- comparison has its own means of expression, by which they differ from other tropes.
We write down the general conclusion
7. Teacher: I think that our current research can be continued in the following creative works:
- Comparisons in Russian proverbs and sayings.
- The role of comparisons in the work of M.Yu. Lermontov.
- Comparisons in youth colloquial speech.
- Detailed comparison, its role in the text. (slide number 11)
8. Teacher: And now I would like to summarize our lesson. I invite each group to write sequels on the topic “Comparison” (slide No. 12). Let's listen to sequels.
9. Homework:
Individual task
Level 1
Find comparisons in the text and indicate their method of expression.
1. The east is burning with the dawn of a new...
2. …And dozes, rocking,
And the snow is pouring
She is dressed like a robe.
3. The passions in him burned like a fire.
4. The trees bent over the stream and looked like a large green tent.
5. A cloud, like a big black bird, covered half the sky.
6. His words sounded like a sentence to me.
Level 2
Complete the text with comparisons.
The sun ____________________________ rolled out from behind the horizon. Drops of dew glistened on the grass ____________________________. The forest was waking up. The voices of the birds began to ring ___________________________. Suddenly, to the left of the path, I saw an old tree. It looked like ______________
______________________.
Level 3
Compose a text (5-6 sentences) on the topic “Winter Landscape”, using comparisons in its various forms.
Literature (real) represents the true craft of creating texts, the creation of a new object through words. As with any complex craft, literature has its own special techniques. One of them is “comparison”. With its help, for greater expressiveness or ironic contrast, certain objects, their qualities, people, and their character traits are compared.
The kettle with its raised trunk puffed on the stove, like a young elephant rushing to a watering hole..
─ Ironic likening a small inanimate object to a large animal by juxtaposing the long spout of a teapot and an elephant's trunk.
Comparison: Definition
There are at least three definitions of comparison in the literature.
For a literary text, the first definition would be more correct. But the most talented authors of fiction successfully work with the second and third definitions, so great is the role of comparison in the text. Examples of comparisons in literature and folklore of the last two types:
He is stupid as an oak, but cunning as a fox.
Unlike Afanasy Petrovich, Igor Dmitrievich was built as thin as a mop handle, just as straight and elongated.
The pygmies of the Congo Delta are like children in stature; their skin is not black like that of blacks, but yellowish, like fallen leaves.
In the latter case, along with the use of “negative comparison” (“not”), direct assimilation (“as if”) is combined.
The Russian language is so rich that authors of literary works use a huge number of types of comparisons. Philologists can only roughly classify them. Modern philology identifies the following two main types of comparison and four more comparisons in fiction.
- Direct. In this case, comparative phrases (conjunctions) “as if”, “as”, “exactly”, “as if” are used. He bared his soul to him, like a nudist bares his body on the beach..
- Indirect. With this comparison, no prepositions are used. The hurricane swept away all the garbage from the streets with a giant wiper.
In the second sentence, the noun being compared (“hurricane”) is used in the nominative case, and the noun being compared (“janitor”) is used in the instrumental case. Other types:
Back in the 19th century, philologist and Slavist M. Petrovsky identified the “Homeric” or “epic” likeness from extensive comparisons in literature. In this case, the author of a literary text, not caring about brevity, expands the comparison, distracting himself from the main plot line, from the subject being compared as far as his imagination will allow him. Examples can easily be found in the Iliad or among postmodernists.
Ajax rushed at the enemies, like a hungry lion at the frightened sheep that had lost their shepherd, who were left without protection, defenseless, like unattended children, and could only timidly moan and back away in fear of the lion's thirst for blood and murder, which seizes the predator like madness, intensifying when he senses the horror of the doomed...
It is better for a novice author of literary texts not to resort to the epic type of comparisons. A young writer needs to wait until his literary skill and sense of artistic harmony develop. Otherwise, an inexperienced beginner himself will not notice how, winding around one another, like threads from different balls, such “free associations” will carry him away from the plot of his main narrative and create semantic confusion. So comparisons in a literary text can not only simplify the understanding of the subject being described (a tiger is a huge predatory cat), but also confuse the narrative.
Comparison in verse
The role of literary comparison in poetry is especially important. The poet uses the richness of language to create a unique and aesthetically valuable work of art, or rather to convey his thoughts to the reader.
It's often hard and bad for us
From the tricks of tricky fate,
But we are with the humility of camels
We carry the humps of our misfortunes.
With these lines, the poet explains to the reader his own idea that most of the troubles that happen in life are natural, like the humps of camels, that sometimes you simply cannot get rid of them, but you just need to “carry through” them for a while.
Without you, no work, no rest:
Are you a woman or a bird?
After all, you are like a creature of air,
"balloon" - pampered girl!
In most poems, the authors use comparisons to create a bright, beautiful, and easily memorable image. Most of all such colorful comparisons are in the texts of N. Gumilyov and Mayakovsky. But I. Brodsky remains an unsurpassed master of using detailed comparisons in artistic literary versification.
Comparisons are also used in spoken language. When writing any text, even a school essay, you cannot do without comparisons. So you need to firmly remember several rules of punctuation of the literary Russian language. Commas are placed before comparative phrases with words:
- as if
- as if,
- as if,
- like,
- exactly,
So when you write:
- He was taller than the teenager she remembered.
- The day flared up quickly and hotly, like a fire into which gasoline was suddenly poured.
─ in these situations, make no mistake, commas are necessary. Much more problems await you with the conjunction “how”. The fact is that, even if the particle “how” is part of a comparative phrase, a comma in front of it is not needed if:
It can be replaced with a dash. The steppe is like a sea of grass.
This union is part of a stable phraseological unit. Faithful as a dog.
The particle is included in the predicate. For me the past is like a dream.
The conjunction, within the meaning of the sentence, is replaced by an adverb or noun. He looked like a wolf , possible substitutions: looked wolfish , looked like a wolf .
Where else are commas not needed?
According to the rules of punctuation, commas are not needed before “as” and when it is preceded by adverbs or particles in a sentence:
It's time to finish, it seems like midnight has struck.
“As” is not separated by commas if it is preceded by a negative particle.
He looked at the new gate not like a ram.
So, when you resort to comparisons to decorate or make your text more understandable, remember the insidiousness of the particle “how” and the rules of punctuation, and you will be fine!