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Chapter 14: FIGURES OF SPEECH

REVIEW SUGGESTIONS

A.   Identify the figures of speech.

1. Judd rocketed past three tacklers.

2. a gaunt and ghastly gorilla

3. a face as blank as a frying pan

4. a tightfisted philanthropist

5. Ah, Nathan Hale, what a debt our nation owes you!

6. Those razor blades aren't ideal toys for the baby.

7. Voom! Pow! Barrongh!—and the battle was under way.

8. The sleepless patient was given a needle.

9. I swallowed so much water that the lake went dry.

10. The birds retired and set their alarm clocks for four a.m.

KEY:   1. metaphor, 2. alliteration, 3. simile, 4. oxymoron, 5. apostrophe,

6. litotes, 7. onomatopoeia, 8. metonymy, 9. hyperbole, 10. personification.

B.   Make up examples of a simile, a metaphor, and personification, dealing with football.

KEY:  Examples—[Simile] The football came to him like a homing pigeon. [Metaphor] The quarterback rifled a forward pass. [Personification] The football fell on its ear, jumped up, then staggered drunkenly to a halt.

C.   Make up examples of antithesis, irony, and hyperbole, dealing with work.

KEY:  Examples-[Antithesis] Work is what you have to do; play is what you choose to do. [Irony] I'm glad you slept all morning; I don't want you to die of overwork. [Hyperbole] Johnny wrote so much that he used a barrel of ink just to dot the is and cross the /s.

D.   Make up examples of alliteration, litotes, and oxymoron, dealing with food.

KEY:   Examples—[Alliteration] I ordered a Hugo's Huge Heavenly Hamburger. [Litotes] Our pecan pie was not lacking in calories. [Oxymoron] The dessert looked disgustingly attractive.

E.    Illustrate the use of Biblical allusions.

KEY:   Examples—The mark of Cain was on my forehead. Our fullback is a regular Samson. During my vacation it rained forty days and forty nights. There stood Jason without a fig leaf to cover him.