Review Quiz: Top 20 Figures of Speech

This quiz should help you to understand and remember the terms and concepts introduced in the Top 20 Figures of Speech. For each question below, choose the one figure of speech that is most clearly illustrated by the short passage. (To review a definition, simply click on the term to visit the glossary entry.) When you're done, compare your answers with those at the bottom of the page.

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1. Well, son, I'll tell you:
   Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
   It's had tacks in it,
   And splinters,
   And boards torn up,
   And places with no carpet on the floor--
   Bare.
   (Langston Highes, "Mother to Son")
   (a) synecdoche
   (b) metaphor
   (c) irony
   (d) pun



2. Why should white people be running all the stores in our community? Why should white people be running the banks of our community? Why should the economy of our community be in the hands of the white man? Why?
   (Malcolm X)
   (a) antithesis
   (b) litotes
   (c) anaphora
   (d) understatement



3. substituting the word “euthanasia” for “mercy killing" or "killing the terminally ill"
   (a) hyperbole
   (b) euphemism
   (c) assonance
   (d) oxymoron



4. I had so much homework last night that I needed a pickup truck to carry all my books home!
   (a) synechdoche
   (b) onomatopoeia
   (c) pun
   (d) hyperbole



5. Let's just say that Ms. Hilton is not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.
   (a) paradox
   (b) litotes
   (c) apostrophe
   (d) chiasmus



6. The chug-a, chug-a, chug-a of the train echoed down the hill, while a cloud of smoke rose up to the blue western sky.
   (a) simile
   (b) metonymy
   (c) anaphora
   (d) onomatopoeia



7. But the prisoner would not answer, he only lay with wide, dark, bright, eyes, like a bound animal.
   (D. H. Lawrence, England, My England)
   (a) oxymoron
   (b) euphemism
   (c) anaphora
   (d) personification



8. You have a lot of work to do, so I'll lend you a hand.
   (a) assonance
   (b) apostrophe
   (c) irony
   (d) synechdoche



9. The wind had blown off, leaving a loud, bright night, with wings beating in the trees and a persistent organ sound as the full bellows of the earth blew the frogs full of life.
   (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby)
   (a) chiasmus
   (b) alliteration
   (c) pun
   (d) oxymoron



10. O Western wind, when wilt thou blow
    That the small rain down can rain?
    Christ, that my love were in my arms,
    And I in my bed again!
    (Anonymous, "O Western Wind")
    (a) litotes
    (b) paradox
    (c) apostrophe
    (d) anaphora



11. The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.
    (Benjamin Franklin)
    (a) hyperbole
    (b) chiasmus
    (c) litotes
    (d) anaphora



12. We talked with each other about each other
    Though neither of us spoke —
    (Emily Dickinson)
    (a) metonymy
    (b) paradox
    (c) synecdoche
    (d) personification



13. The earth laughs beneath my heavy feet
    At the blasphemy in my old jangly walk
    (Billy Corgan, "Thirty-three")
    (a) euphemism
    (b) simile
    (c) antithesis
    (d) personification



14. I dig my toes into the sand.
    The ocean looks like
    A thousand diamonds strewn
    Across a blue blanket.
    (Incubus, "Wish You Were Here")
    (a) chiasmus
    (b) simile
    (c) onomatopoeia
    (d) synecdoche



15. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.
    (Vergil)
    (a) simile
    (b) irony
    (c) metonymy
    (d) assonance



16. Why do we wait until a pig is dead to cure it?
    (a) pun
    (b) personification
    (c) anaphora
    (d) synechdoche



17. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way."
    (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)
    (a) antithesis
    (b) litotes
    (c) simile
    (d) understatement



18. My wishes raced through the house high hay
    And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, . . .
    (Dylan Thomas, "Fern Hill")
    (a) simile
    (b) irony
    (c) metonymy
    (d) assonance



19. And he was rich, yes, richer than a king,
    And admirably schooled in every grace:
    In fine--we thought that he was everything
    To make us wish that we were in his place.
    
    So on we worked and waited for the light,
    And went without the meat and cursed the bread,
    And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
    Went home and put a bullet in his head.
    (E. A. Robinson, "Richard Cory")
    (a) chiasmus
    (b) litotes
    (c) antithesis
    (d) irony



20. Prospective buyers are advised not to rely heavily on the front brakes, which are not connected.
    (advertisement for a replica 1925 Rolls-Royce WWI Armored Car)
    (a) antithesis
    (b) simile
    (c) anaphora
    (d) understatement

Answers:

1. (b) metaphor
   
2. (c) anaphora
   
3. (b) euphemism
   
4. (d) hyperbole
   
5. (b) litotes
   
6. (d) onomatopoeia
   
7. (a) oxymoron
   
8. (d) synechdoche
   
9. (b) alliteration
   
10. (c) apostrophe
    
11. (b) chiasmus
    
12. (b) paradox
    
13. (d) personification
    
14. (b) simile
    
15. (c) metonymy
    
16. (a) pun
    
17. (a) antithesis
    
18. (d) assonance
    
19. (d) irony
    
20. (d) understatement

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Review Quiz on Rhetorical Terms