Figurative Language AP Lit

Question 1

simile

Answer 1

a comparison using “like” or “as”

Question 2

metaphor

Answer 2

a comparison without using like or as

Question 3

personification

Answer 3

the giving of human qualities to an animal, object, or idea

Question 4

metonymy

Answer 4

substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it

Question 5

hyperbole

Answer 5

exaggeration

Question 6

understatement/euphemism

Answer 6

• the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is
• a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing

Question 7

paradox

Answer 7

a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth

Question 8

oxymoron

Answer 8

words that seem to contradict each other (paper towel, jumbo shrimp)

Question 9

apostrophe

Answer 9

address to an absent or imaginary person

Question 10

litotes

Answer 10

ironic understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (e.g., you won’t be sorry, meaning you’ll be glad)

Question 11

synecdoche

Answer 11

a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa (check out my new wheels)