Figures of Speech Quiz for AP English Language

📚 Quick Study Guide

🔍 Simile: A comparison using "like" or "as." Example: The runner was as fast as a cheetah.
• ✨ Metaphor: A direct comparison, stating something *is* something else. Example: The world is a stage.
• 🎭 Personification: Giving human qualities to inanimate objects or animals. Example: The wind whispered secrets.
• 🗣️ Hyperbole: An exaggeration. Example: I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.
• 💫 Understatement: Presenting something as less significant than it is. Example: "It's just a scratch" (when it's a huge wound).
• irony: A contrast between what is said and what is actually meant (verbal), what occurs and what is expected (situational), or what a character knows versus what the audience knows (dramatic). Example: A fire station burning down (situational).
📢 Allusion: A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art. Example: He's a real Romeo.

✍️ Practice Quiz

1. Which figure of speech is used in the sentence: "The snow is a white blanket"?
1. Simile
2. Metaphor
3. Personification
4. Hyperbole


2. Identify the figure of speech in the following sentence: "The flowers danced in the breeze."
1. Simile
2. Metaphor
3. Personification
4. Understatement


3. Which of the following sentences contains a hyperbole?
1. She is as sweet as pie.
2. I've told you a million times!
3. The sun smiled down on us.
4. He's a diamond in the rough.


4. What figure of speech is evident in the statement: "Saying 'It's a bit nippy' when it's -40 degrees outside"?
1. Metaphor
2. Understatement
3. Irony
4. Allusion


5. Which sentence uses a simile?
1. The moon was a ghostly galleon.
2. He fought like a lion.
3. Opportunity knocked on the door.
4. Time is a thief.


6. Identify the figure of speech: "He was a Good Samaritan after helping the elderly woman."
1. Simile
2. Metaphor
3. Allusion
4. Personification


7. In the sentence, "My backpack weighs a ton," which figure of speech is used?
1. Understatement
2. Metaphor
3. Hyperbole
4. Simile