Figures of Speech

(Click on the question number for the answer.)

1 Creative Writing
The word "bittersweet" and the phrase "be cruel to be
kind" are examples of what figure of speech?

2 Strange Statements
What figure of speech is found in this statement?
a. This is no time to pull the rug out
b. in the middle of the stream.
A. synechdoche
B. onomatopoeia
C. allusion
D. antithesis
E. mixed metaphor

3 Jingling John Milton

Milton defined rhyme as "the jingling sound of like endings." What figure of speech
could be defined as "the jingling sound of like beginnings?"

4 Echoic Words
Which word does not suggest the actual sound it describes?
A. yell
B. hum
C. gurgle
D. rustle
E. cackle

5 Figurative Language
The affirmative expressed by the negation of its opposite is called ...
A. litotes
B. sarcasm
C. allusion
D. metonymy
E. hyperbole

6 Choice Words
After hurtling over the handlebars of his mountain bike, the racer tumbled down a rocky
hillside, only to land in a bed of cactus. He then rolled over and said, "Boy, am I having a
good time!" This illustrates what figure of speech?

7 Literature
Which work is an example of extended metaphor?
A. The Raven
 B. Casey at the Bat
C. Paul Revere's Ride
D. Swiss Family Robinson
E. O Captain! My Captain!

8 Descriptions
What literary device is used when a description of Elizabethan poets depicts them using
electronic word processors?

9 The Theater
Dramatic irony occurs when the words or acts of the characters in a play carry a meaning
unperceived by them but ---- the audience.
A. ignored by
B. offensive to
C. understood by
D. irrelevant to
E. unappreciated by

10 Transformations
Transform this line which includes a simile into a metaphor.
a. My love is like a red red rose.

11 A Little Alliteration
Using alliteration, complete this statement about a guy named Philip.
A. lived in Shiloh
B. toward the sky did leap
C. grew stronger than an ox
D. found five fingers fractured
E. was much like a small puppy

12 Poetic Techniques
If a poet speaks of "the departed" instead of harshly saying "the dead" he is using which
literary device?

13 Oxymorons
Which is not an oxymoron?
A. planned chaos
B. macabre torture
C. trained incapacity
D. sophisticated rube
E. disciplined relaxation

14 Graffito
Classify this bit of graffito.
a. Cogito ergo spud.
b. I think, therefore I yam.
15 Figurative Language
What figure of speech is present in these examples?
- As he fled, he ran right into the law.
- The town was starving within days.

16 Magnificent Metaphors
To what was Philip Morrison referring when he spoke of "the enduring thermonuclear
gift of bright Apollo?"

17 Apostrophe
Which line illustrates apostrophe as a figure of speech?
A. So Doc, what's up?
B. And thou, Dejection, begone!
C. Unhand her, you brutish knave!
D. A thousand smiles greeted her.
E. Life is like a box of chocolates.

18 Euphemisms
Which word is not paired with an appropriate euphemism?
A. hated - out of favor
B. dead - beyond the pale
C. fat - on the plump side
D. stupid - slow on the uptake
E. ugly - not much to look at

19 Sandburg Says
What figure of speech did Carl Sandburg use when he wrote of "pigs so thin the farmer
had to tie knots in their tails to keep them from crawling through the cracks in their
pens"?

20 Metaphors
Choose the example of a metaphor.
A. clockwork men
B. tall as the truth
C. light winced on their knives
D. dead fish are polished marble
E. It's absolute zero out there.

21 Colorful Communication
What figure of speech is illustrated in these lines?
- The Pentagon categorically denied it.
- The White House issued this report.
- We demand action from city hall.
22 Literary Lingo
It is difficult to draw a distinction between the pathetic fallacy and ...
A. simile
B. hyperbole
C. metonymy
D. onomatopoeia
E. personification

23 Forms of Expression
Identify the literary device used below.
a. It is certainly not an insignificant issue!
A. litotes
B. hyperbole
C. apostrophe
D. antonomasia
E. personification

24 Onomatopoeia
What is the most common example of onomatopoeia regarding a locomotive?

25 They Can't Bear It

What literary device is used in this example?
a. The Puritans hated bear fights not because
it gave pain to the bears but because it
gave pleasure to the spectators.
A. apostrophe
B. onomatopoeia
C. antithesis
D. hyperbole
E. litotes

26 Contradiction
Consider the statement "In death, there is life." Such seemingly self-contradictory
statements are called ...

27 Literary Devices
Metonymy is exemplified in which line?
A. our dearly departed
B. to live by the sword
C. the gnashing of teeth
D. not in a thousand years
E. twenty tiny toddlers teething

28 Figures of Speech
What figure of speech is illustrated in this line?
a. Anarchy has a thousand faces in Somalia.
 29 Similes
Which line does not include a simile?
A. He looked like he had fallen.
B. Like a gazelle, she ran away.
C. The ship went down like lead.
D. Bo ran like a frenzied windmill.
E. Her hand was as soft as velvet.

30 Vocal Gymnastics
Tongue twisters usually involve ...
A. irony
B. metaphors
C. alliteration
D. onomatopoeia
E. personification

Top of page

Answers to Figures of Speech quiz

1. oxymoron
2. E
3. alliteration
4. A
5. A
6. irony (or sarcasm)
7. E
8. anachronism
9. C
10. My love is a red red rose.
11. D
12. euphemism
13. B
14. pun
15. synecdoche
16. the Sun (sunlight)
17. B
18. B
19. hyperbole
20. D
21. metonymy
22. E
23. A
24. choo-choo
25. C
26. paradoxes
27. B
28. personification
29. A
30. C