Figures of Speech

Question 1

the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables

Answer 1

alliteration

Question 2

'’You’ll never put a better bit of butter on you knife”

“I saw Susie sitting in a shoe sine shop. Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.”

Answer 2

Alliteration

Question 3

repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses to achieve an effect

Answer 3

anaphora

Question 4

“We shall go on to the end , we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight growing confidence and strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

Answer 4

anaphora

Question 5

an opposition or contrast of ideas. Two ideas are put together to achieve a contrasting effect

Answer 5

antithesis

Question 6

“Speech is silver, but silence is gold.”

Answer 6

Antithesis

Question 7

when you speak up into an object, an idea, or someone who doesn’t exist as if it is a living person

Answer 7

apostrophe

Question 8

“Hello darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to talk to you again.”

Answer 8

Apostrophe

Question 9

identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words

Answer 9

Assonance

Question 10

“It beats as it sweeps as it cleans.”

Answer 10

assonance

Question 11

a verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed

Answer 11

chiasmus

Question 12

“I flee who chases me, and chase who flees me.”

Answer 12

chiasmus

Question 13

a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or unpleasant

Answer 13

euphemism

Question 14

“Pre-loved”

instead of saying second hand

Answer 14

euphemism

Question 15

an extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect

Answer 15

hyperbole

Question 16

“I have a million things to do before being successful.”

Answer 16

hyperbole

Question 17

• the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning
• a statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea

Answer 17

irony

Question 18

where actions or events have opposite result from what is expected

Answer 18

situational irony

Question 19

where someone says the opposite of what they really mean or intend

Answer 19

verbal irony

Question 20

occurs when the audience or reader of the text knows something that the characters do not

Answer 20

dramatic irony

Question 21

A pilot in the story with a fear of heights.

Answer 21

situational irony

Question 22

Saying “Oh, you’re great!” after failing the exam.

Answer 22

verbal irony

Question 23

In horror movies, the audience is aware that there is a killer in the house, but the characters in the story does not know.

Answer 23

dramatic irony

Question 24

consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating

Answer 24

Litotes

Question 25

If a person is very intelligent, someone might say “He’s not dumb.” or “He’s not unintelligent.”

Answer 25

Litotes

Question 26

involves a comparison between two relatively unlike things without the use of “like” or “as”

Answer 26

metaphor

Question 27

He has a heart of stone.

Answer 27

metaphor

Question 28

a word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated; also, the rhetorical strategy of describing something indirectly by referring to things around it

Answer 28

metonymy

Question 29

• Let me give you a hand.

- A pen is mightier than a sword.

Answer 29

metonymy

Question 30

the formation or use of words that imitate sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to

Answer 30

onomatopoeia

Question 31

• “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is.”

- The firecracker made a loud ka-boom!

Answer 31

Onomatopoeia

Question 32

incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side

Answer 32

oxymoron

Question 33

“A yawn may be defined as a silent yell.”

Answer 33

oxymoron

Question 34

contrary to expectations, existing belief or perceived opinion. It s a statement that appears to be self-contradictory

Answer 34

paradox

Question 35

• War is peace

- You can save money buy spending it.

Answer 35

Paradox

Question 36

an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human abilities

Answer 36

personification

Question 37

The stars dance playfully in the moonlit sky.

Answer 37

personification

Question 38

a play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words

Answer 38

pun

Question 39

• When it rains, it pours.
• A horse is a very stable animal.
• Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

Answer 39

pun

Question 40

stated comparison (usually formed with “like” or “as”) between two fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common

Answer 40

simile

Question 41

My love is like a red, red rose.

Answer 41

Simile

Question 42

a part is used to represent the whole, the whole for a part, the specific for the general, the general for the specific, or the material for the thing made from it

Answer 42

synecdoche

Question 43

his parents both him a set of wheels

Answer 43

synecdoche

Question 44

in which a writer or a speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is

Answer 44

understatement

Question 45

“I have to do this operation. This isn’t that serious. I have this tiny little tumor in his brain.”

Answer 45

understatement