Figures of Speech

Question 1

Simile

Answer 1

Direct comparison
Describes something by comparing it so something else, using the words “like” or “as”

Question 2

Metaphor

Answer 2

Indirect comparison
Describes one thing in terms of another, using a statement instead of a comparison

Question 3

Personification

Answer 3

Describes the appearance or behaviour of an inanimate object by giving it a quality or characteristic of a living creature

Question 4

Oxymoron

Answer 4

Is the placement side by side of two contrasting ideas or statements

Question 5

Hyperbole

Answer 5

Is a deliberate exaggeration in order to make a point

Question 6

Euphemism

Answer 6

Is a less harsh word used to avoid causing offense or hurt

Question 7

Pun

Answer 7

A device that makes use of different meanings of two identical or similar-sounding words

Question 8

Alliteration

Answer 8

Repetition of consonant sounds at the start of words

Question 9

Assonace

Answer 9

Repetition of vowel sounds in words

Question 10

Onomatopoeia

Answer 10

A word that sounds like the thing it describes or sound immitations

Question 11

Innuendo

Answer 11

A hint, or when something has been implied

Question 12

Paradox

Answer 12

Sounds like a contradiction but is actually true

Question 13

Irony

Answer 13

When you say the opposite of what you mean

Question 14

Idiom

Answer 14

A widely used saying or expression containing figurative meaning

Question 15

Antithesis

Answer 15

Opposite things or ideas next to each other in order to draw out their contrast

Question 16

Circumlocution

Answer 16

Is the use of a purposely wordy description

Question 17

Epigram

Answer 17

A clever and memorable statement

Question 18

Litotes

Answer 18

Use a double negative to create a positive

Question 19

Metonymy

Answer 19

A literary device in which a word or object stands in for a closely related word or object

Question 20

Pleonasm

Answer 20

Is the use of more words than necessary to convey meaning

Question 21

Synecdoche

Answer 21

When a smaller unit is used to signify a larger unit or vice versa

Question 22

Understatement

Answer 22

The intentional downplaying of a situation

Question 23

Antimetabole

Answer 23

A phrase is repeated, but with the order of words reversed

Question 24

Anaphora

Answer 24

The use of a word referring back to a word used earlier in a text or conversation

Question 25

Sibilance

Answer 25

Wherein a hissing sound is created in a group of words through the repetition of ‘s’ sounds

Question 26

Parable

Answer 26

A short fictional story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle

Question 27

Fable

Answer 27

A legendary story that tells about the happenings of something supernatural

Question 28

Climax

Answer 28

A series of phrases or sentences is arranged in ascending order of rhetorical forcefulness

Question 29

Allusion

Answer 29

A reference to an aspect of literature

Question 30

Articles

Answer 30

The words “a” or “an” or “the” which precede nouns or adjectives

Question 31

Enjambment

Answer 31

When a sentence runs into the next line without a break

Question 32

Imagery

Answer 32

Language that appeals to the senses. Descriptions of people or objects stated in term of our senses in the reader’s mind

Question 33

Allegory

Answer 33

A story in which the characters represent abstract (symbolic) qualities or ideas

Question 34

Cliché

Answer 34

A phrase, line or expression that has been so over-used it has become common place and unoriginal