Figures of Speech Exercise

Directions: Working with a partner, read the following paragraph and 1) underline the
figures of speech. 2) label them as: simile, metaphor, euphemism, oxymoron,
onomatopoeia and/or alliteration
He started out as a paid volunteer for the Cocamamy Crudgeon Company and worked
alliteration
himself into a temporary full-time position. The building he worked in was a huge,
oxymoron
monolithic structure that seemed to spring up from the cement like a huge pointing
simile
finger. In the listless lilting liposuction of life this was a job of Lilliputian proportions.
alliteration
At first, he liked the position, but lately his boss seemed politely insulting towards
oxymoron
Him, which caused him to respond in a passive aggressive manner. The relative truth of
Oxymoron
oxymoron
the matter was that he needed this job to pay for his mortgage and feed his burgeoning
small crowd of a family. He let out a singular silent scream of painful remorse when his
oxymoron
alliteration
inconsiderate, insidious, incoherent, idiot of a boss asked him to work overtime for the
alliteration
ten-thousandth time for very little overtime pay or gratitude from the firm.
Exaggeration (hyperbole)
His boss started out in a low mumbled schoolmarmish tone: On the road of life
metaphor
there are many crossroads and this is one of them. To live, to struggle, to work tis
divine. We need your support tonight. We cant get this project completed without your
diligent determined skills that will bring closure to this project and enable our team to
alliteration
metaphor
bond together in a multiplicity of joyous accomplishment.
Metaphor
metaphor
He heard the sounds, but the words seemed garbled, as if he was listening under
simile
water. He had heard similar speeches before the last 7 projects that always seemed to give
a lot of attention and praise to his boss, but never anything to the peons that labored under
metaphor
him. His response was also somewhat poetic as he said, that he would rather take the
path less traveled, so he would have time to smell the roses with his wife and 7 kids.
Metaphor
metaphor

Cont. Figures Paragraph

He sensed that he was heading onto a bridge over troubled waters , so he quickly added
metaphor
that he would only be able to work until 8:00 that evening.
The boss came back with a death stare and droned on about being a team player
Metaphor
metaphor
and reaching towards the higher goal for the betterment of all and being all that he could
metaphor
metaphor
be, etc.
He became sadly amused at this and reached a preliminary conclusion about his
oxymoron
oxymoron
work situation. He decided to look for a job that would let him have at least a little
serious fun while he was still able. He felt that in the tree of life their needs to be at least
oxymoron
metaphor
some edible fruit to sustain him through the harsh winters of his previous discontent. He
metaphor
wrote on his resume that he had been a computer insertion specialist, which meant he had
euphemism
been doing drudgerous data entry diligently and dutifully for the last decade. Tic tock
alliteration
onomatopoei
time was creeping up on him he needed to strike while the iron was hot. He had rode this
metaphor
metaphor
horse to death. It was time to get out of Dodge. Finish this with your own ending using a
metaphor
similes, oxymoron, metaphor, onomatopoeia, euphemism and/or alliteration if you feel
poetic.
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