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Quiz about Identify These Figures of Speech
Quiz about Identify These Figures of Speech

Identify These Figures of Speech Quiz


Here are examples of 15 different figures of speech. I will give you the example, and you identify which figure of speech it is from the 4 choices given. Each figure of speech will only be used once as a correct answer.

A multiple-choice quiz by chessart. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
chessart
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
26,283
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
15
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
9 / 15
Plays
10276
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
Last 3 plays: sherry0709 (9/15), Guest 37 (4/15), Guest 205 (0/15).
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Question 1 of 15
1. 'Out in the porch's sagging floor, Leaves got up in a coil and hissed, Blindly struck at my knee and missed.' Hint


Question 2 of 15
2. George Bush talked during his campaign about 'compassionate conservatism', which to many liberals sounds like a(n) ___________________. Hint


Question 3 of 15
3. 'Necessity is the mother of invention.' Hint


Question 4 of 15
4. 'The poor people of Ireland should rid themselves of poverty by selling their children to the rich to eat.' Hint


Question 5 of 15
5. The phrases 'the humming bee', 'the cackling hen', and 'the buzzing saw' are examples of ________________. Hint


Question 6 of 15
6. 'How many times have I told you to clean your room?' Hint


Question 7 of 15
7. 'To err is human, to forgive divine.' Hint


Question 8 of 15
8. 'My uncle passed away in 1970.' Hint


Question 9 of 15
9. 'When Detroit increased auto production recently, Wall Street applauded and the White House took credit.' Hint


Question 10 of 15
10. 'My rancher uncle bought 50 head of cattle last week.' Hint


Question 11 of 15
11. 'My son's teacher made it clear that cheating on tests was no laughing matter.' Hint


Question 12 of 15
12. 'Hail divinest Melancholy, whose saintly visage is too bright to hit the sense of human sight.' Hint


Question 13 of 15
13. 'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!' Hint


Question 14 of 15
14. 'Christianity shone like a beacon in the black night of paganism.' What figure of speech is "Christianity shone like a beacon"? Hint


Question 15 of 15
15. In Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis are buried President Benjamin Harrison, 3 Vice-Presidents, 15 Senators and Governors, and John Dillinger.' Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Mar 28 2024 : sherry0709: 9/15
Mar 28 2024 : Guest 37: 4/15
Mar 27 2024 : Guest 205: 0/15
Mar 26 2024 : Guest 82: 10/15
Mar 26 2024 : frinkzappa: 4/15
Mar 25 2024 : donkeehote: 15/15
Mar 25 2024 : Guest 154: 8/15
Mar 25 2024 : Guest 1: 5/15
Mar 25 2024 : Guest 103: 12/15

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. 'Out in the porch's sagging floor, Leaves got up in a coil and hissed, Blindly struck at my knee and missed.'

Answer: metaphor

A metaphor is an implied comparison, as contrasted with a simile which is an explicit comparison using either 'like' or 'as'. The passage is from Robert Frost's 'Bereft'.
2. George Bush talked during his campaign about 'compassionate conservatism', which to many liberals sounds like a(n) ___________________.

Answer: oxymoron

An oxymoron is a combination of two seemingly contradictory or incongruous words.
3. 'Necessity is the mother of invention.'

Answer: personification

Personification is the representation of inanimate objects or abstract ideas as living beings.
4. 'The poor people of Ireland should rid themselves of poverty by selling their children to the rich to eat.'

Answer: irony

Irony is a dryly humorous or lightly mode of speech, in which words are used to convey a meaning contrary to their literal sense, as in the above quote from the Irish satirist Jonathan Swift.
5. The phrases 'the humming bee', 'the cackling hen', and 'the buzzing saw' are examples of ________________.

Answer: onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is the imitation of natural sounds by words. Aren't you glad I didn't make this one a fill-in-the-blank!
6. 'How many times have I told you to clean your room?'

Answer: rhetorical question

A rhetorical question is one asked not to gain information, but to assert more emphatically the obvious answer to what is being asked.
7. 'To err is human, to forgive divine.'

Answer: antithesis

Antithesis is the juxtaposition of two words, phrases or sentences contrasted or opposed in meaning in such a way as to give emphasis to contrasting ideas.
8. 'My uncle passed away in 1970.'

Answer: euphemism

Euphemism is the substitution of a delicate or inoffensive term for one that has coarse, sordid, or otherwise unpleasant associations, as in the use of 'pass away' for 'die' in the above example.
9. 'When Detroit increased auto production recently, Wall Street applauded and the White House took credit.'

Answer: metonymy

Metonymy is a figure of speech in which the name of one thing is used for the name of something else that is associated with it, as in the above use of 'Detroit' for 'the auto industry', 'Wall Street' for 'the stock market', and 'the White House' for 'the President'.
10. 'My rancher uncle bought 50 head of cattle last week.'

Answer: synecdoche

A synecdoche is a rhetorical device whereby the part is taken for the whole, the whole for the part, the species for the genus, and vice versa, as in the use of 'head' to stand for whole animals.
11. 'My son's teacher made it clear that cheating on tests was no laughing matter.'

Answer: litotes

Litotes is understatement employed for the purpose of enhancing the effect of the ideas expressed, as in the phrase 'no laughing matter'.
12. 'Hail divinest Melancholy, whose saintly visage is too bright to hit the sense of human sight.'

Answer: apostrophe

Apostrophe is a device by which an actor turns from the audience, or writer from reader, to address a person who usually is either absent or deceased, an inanimate object, or an abstract idea, as in Milton's addressing the spirit of melancholy in the above passage from his poem 'Il Pensero'.
13. 'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!'

Answer: hyperbole

Hyperbole is an exaggeration.
14. 'Christianity shone like a beacon in the black night of paganism.' What figure of speech is "Christianity shone like a beacon"?

Answer: simile

A simile is an explicit comparison, using 'like' or 'as'.
15. In Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis are buried President Benjamin Harrison, 3 Vice-Presidents, 15 Senators and Governors, and John Dillinger.'

Answer: anticlimax

Anticlimax ia a sequence of ideas that abruptly diminish in dignity or importance at the end of a sentence or passage. Some might say this question is an anticlimax to this quiz, dealing as it does with one of the lesser-known figures of speech.
Source: Author chessart

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ponycargirl before going online.
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This quiz is part of series Words and Language:

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