Grammar - Grade 3 List View

Review these list items to study and edit your keyphrase and other memory aids.
Grammar Point
adverb (fukushi)
adv 
word usually written using kana alone
uk 
A Keyphrase should be a short phrase that brings to mind and helps to remember the information on this frame.
言わばいわば

so to speak, so to call it, as it were

言わば + Phrase

The adverb 言わば is used to introduce a metaphor, a simile, or a more descriptive way of explaining a situation. It signals that the speaker is about to use a figurative expression rather than a literal one.

言わば + Noun / Metaphorical Phrase

言わば is placed before the noun or descriptive phrase that acts as the metaphor to clarify that the speaker is speaking figuratively.

He is, so to speak, a walking dictionary.

This place is, as it were, my second home.

The internet is, so to speak, a huge library.

Note

言わば is often paired with expressions that indicate a comparison or a definition, such as ～のような (like/as if). It is more formal and literary than the similar expression 'まるで'.

Words: 
言わばいわば
謂わばいわば
Radicals of radicals