Figurative Language

Question 1

Allusion

Answer 1

a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature.

• Example: I have experienced lonely times when I wanted to click my ruby slippers and say, “There’s no place like home.”
• Tone: The author’s word choice in this example communicates a tone of acceptance.
• Mood: The author’s diction creates a melancholy mood.

This is an allusion to Dorothy’s famous line in The Wizard of Oz.

Question 2

Hyperbole

Answer 2

a figure of speech that uses exaggeration for emphasis.

• Example: The mean girl’s words felt like a million knives.
• Tone: The author’s word choice in this example communicates a matter-of-fact tone.
• Mood: The author’s diction creates a sympathetic mood.

Question 3

Irony

Answer 3

a figure of speech in which words convey the opposite of their literal meaning, or a situation is contradictory to what one would expect.

Question 4

Metaphor

Answer 4

a comparison of two unlike things that does not use comparison words. One thing directly represents another.

• Example: In some cultures, women are an untouchable plague.
• Tone: The author’s word choice in this example communicates an observant tone.
• Mood: The author’s diction creates a shocking mood.

Question 5

Rhetorical Question

Answer 5

a question asked for effect rather than an actual answer.

• Example: “How many years can some people exist before they are allowed to be free?” —”Blowin’ in the Wind”
• Tone: The author’s word choice in this example communicates a matter-of-fact tone.
• Mood: The author’s diction creates a depressing mood.

Question 6

Simile

Answer 6

a comparison of two unlike things that uses “like” or “as.”

• Example: The students felt that the scholarship to the new school was like a blank check for a bright future.
• Tone: The author’s word choice in this example communicates a detached tone.
• Mood: The author’s diction creates a hopeful mood.

Question 7

Paradox

Answer 7

A statement that appears to contradict itself but can be true.

• Example: The weak will be strong
• Tone: The author’s word choice in this example communicates a factual tone
• Mood: The author’s diction creates a hopeful mood

Question 8

Personification

Answer 8

a type of metaphor in which nonliving or nonhuman things are given human characteristics or abilities.

• Example: The family desperately needed to move out of the decaying house that groaned and moaned every time someone entered
• Tone: The author’s word choice in this example communicates a desperate tone
• Mood: The author’s diction creates a melancholy mood