Figurative Language

Question 1

Simile

Answer 1

A figure of speech that directly compares two different things using “like” or “as”.

Question 2

Metaphor

Answer 2

A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one thing is another.
Example: “Time is a thief.”

Question 3

Types of Irony

Answer 3

Verbal Irony: When someone says something but means the opposite.
Example: Saying “What a beautiful day” during a thunderstorm.
Situational Irony: When the outcome is different from what was expected.
Example: A fire station burns down.
Dramatic Irony: When the audience knows something the characters do not.
Example: In a horror movie, the audience sees the killer hiding while the victim remains unaware.

Question 4

Paradox

Answer 4

A statement that seems self-contradictory but may reveal a deeper truth.
Example: “Less is more.”

Question 5

Oxymoron

Answer 5

A figure of speech that combines contradictory terms.
Example: “Jumbo shrimp.”

Question 6

Hyperbole

Answer 6

Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. (E.g. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse)

Question 7

Understatement

Answer 7

Deliberately minimizing something for emphasis or ironic effect.
Example: “I’m just a little bit tired” (after running a marathon).

Question 8

Apostrophe

Answer 8

Apostrophe: Addressing an absent or imaginary person or thing as if present.
Example: “Oh, Death, where is thy sting?”

Question 9

Euphemism

Answer 9

Substituting a mild or indirect word or phrase for a harsh or blunt one.
Example: “He passed away” instead of “He died.

Question 10

Personification

Answer 10

Giving human characteristics to non-human entities.
Example: “The stars danced in the sky.”

Question 11

Allusion

Answer 11

A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing, or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance.
Example: “She had a smile like Mona Lisa.”

Question 12

Imagery

Answer 12

Language that appeals to the senses, creating mental pictures.
Example: “The autumn leaves danced in the wind.”

Question 13

Metonymy

Answer 13

Substituting the name of one thing with another thing closely associated with it.
Example: Referring to the president’s actions as “the White House said.”

Question 14

Synecdoche

Answer 14

A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole or vice versa.
Example: “All hands on deck” (referring to sailors).

Question 15

Juxtaposition

Answer 15

Placing two things close together to highlight their differences.
Example: Contrasting poverty with wealth in a single neighborhood.

Question 16

Assonance

Answer 16

Repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.
Example: “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.”

Question 17

Consonance

Answer 17

Repetition of consonant sounds in nearby words.
Example: “Pitter-patter, pitter-patter”

Question 18

Alliteration

Answer 18

Repetition of the same initial consonant sound in nearby words.
Example: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”

Question 19

Conceit

Answer 19

An extended metaphor that compares two very dissimilar things in a surprising or clever way.
Example: John Donne’s comparison of two lovers to the legs of a compass in “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning.”

Question 20

Euphony

Answer 20

The quality of being pleasing to the ear, often achieved through the use of harmonious sounds.
Example: “Cellar door” (often cited as a euphonious phrase).

Question 21

Cacophony

Answer 21

Cacophony: A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds.
Example: “Crash, bang, wallop!”

Question 22

Caesura

Answer 22

Caesura: A pause or break within a line of poetry, usually marked by punctuation.
Example: “To be or not to be, that is the question.”

Question 23

Antithesis

Answer 23

A rhetorical device in which two contrasting ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect.
Example: “Speech is silver, but silence is gold.”

Question 24

Enjambment

Answer 24

The continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
Example: “I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills.”

Question 25

Satire

Answer 25

A literary work that uses humor, irony, or ridicule to criticize or mock people, society, or institutions.
Example: Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” satirizes the British government’s handling of poverty in Ireland by suggesting the absurd solution of eating babies.