Top 50 Questions on Figures of Speech in English- Figures of speech are an integral part of the English language and literature. Do you want to practice figures of speech objective questions for the examination? Are you looking for the top 50 figures of speech questions for UPSC, UGC NET, PGT English, or other examination?
What are the figures of speech?
A figure of speech is a poetic device that is used in a language to produce a greater effect on the reader of the listener. They are also called images for in theme one thing is presented in the image of another.
Wren and Martin define a figure of speech as, ”Figure of speech as, a departure from the ordinary form of expression or the ordinary course of ideas in order to produce a greater effect.”

Top 50 Questions on Figures of Speech in English
1- What is the device called by which non-human and non-living nature is credited with human emotion?
A- Pathetic Fallacy B-Objective C-Parody D-Unification of Sensibility
2-‘Authority forgets a dying king’ is an example of
A- Personification B-Apostrophe C-Hyperbole D-Metaphor
3- The term ‘Onomatopoeia ‘ and ‘Oxymoron’ came from
A- Greek B-Latin C-Roman D-French
4- Almost the whole of Modern English Poetry is dominated by
A- Iambic Pentameter B-Iambic Hexameter C-Iambic Heptameter D-Iambic tetrameter
5- ”A lovelier flower on Earth was never sown” has the figure of speech called
A- Hyperbole B-Oxymoron C-Metaphor D-Implied Simile
6- Which of the following is a direct address either to an absent person or to an abstract or inanimate entity?
A- Apostrophe B-Ode C-Epode D-Hyperbole
7-Pun is a play on words that are similar
A- In sound but diverse in meaning B- In meaning but diverse in sound
C- Both in sound and meaning but with different sound D-None
8- Which of the following words show oxymoron?
A- Sweet Pain B- Chatter Chatter C-Rivers of Blood D-O Death
9- Which figures of speech are employed in this line?
” O Wild west wind, thou breathe of Autumn’s being”
A- Personification B-Oxymoron C-Apostrophe D-Metaphor
10- In the following statement which figures of speech are used
” His honor rooted in dishonor stood. And faithful unfaithful kept him falsely true”
A- Oxymoron B- Personification C-Apostrophe D-Onomatopoeia
11- Which of the following sentences has figures of speech called ‘Apostrophe?
A- O Death! here is thy sting B-The more haste, the less speed C-Death lays his icy hands on kings
12- The use of the word with humor satirical intention so that the meaning is directly the opposite of what is said?
A- Irony B-Jonenillia C-Hyperbole D-Personification
13-What is a literary man or a writer of literary works termed as?
A- Literateur B-Lampoon C-Limerick D-Literature
14- ”Life is but a walking shadow” is an example of
A- Metaphor B-Hyperbole C-Apostrophe D-Simile
15- ”The snakes are hissing and the bees are buzzing ” s an example of
A- Onomatopoeia B-Apostrophe C-Personification D-Oxymoron
16- A lie has no legs
A- Personification B-Metaphor C-Apostrophe D-Alliteration
17-Onomatopoeia means
A- Echoing of the sense by the sound, shape, size o movement
B- Echoing the same sound repeatedly
C-Echoing of the same sense or meaning in different words
D-None
18-Socratic irony is retention to
A- Ignorance in place of knowledge
B-Admiration in place of contempt
C- Affection in place of disgust
D- Enthusiasm in place of disinterestedness
19-Love is blind
A- Personification B-Simile C-Metapho D-Alliteration
20- How happy is he here!
A- Alliteration B-Personification C- Simile D-Antithesis
21- The wish is father to the thought.
A- Personification B-Alliteration C-Metaphor D-Simile
22- ”Break, Break, Break on thy cold grey stones, O sea!
A- Apostrophe B-Oxymoron C-Personification D-Metaphor
23-I loved Ophelia, forty thousand brothers Could not with all their quantity of love make up the sum.
A- Hyperbole B-Metaphor C-Alliteration D-Simile
24-What is meant by Synecdoche?
A- A part of something used to signify the whole
B- The hole of something used to signify a part
C- An inanimate object endowed with human feeling
D- The terms with a pronunciation similar to their meaning
25- What is the term used to denote the use of one term to mean another with which it has become closely associated as ‘the crown stands for the king
A- Metonymy B-Prospopeia C-Synecdoche D-Onomatopoeia
26- M cheeks grow cold with the warmth of the air
A- Antithesis B-Simile C-Hyperbole D-None
27- Frailty, thy name is a woman!
A- Apostrophe B-Oxymoron C-Metaphor D-Personification
28- The night is dark as a black stone.
A- Simile B- Metaphor C-Onomatopoeia D-Alliteration
29-Break, break, break big boulder beside the river
A- Alliteration B-Antithesis C-Apostrohe D-Personification
30- The city’s voice itself is soft like solitude’s
A- Simile B-Onomatopoeia C-Personification D-Metaphor
31- In trochaic
A- A stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed syllable
B- An unstressed syllable follows tow stressed syllables
C- Two stressed syllables follow one unstressed syllable
D-None
32- She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream
A- Simile B-Oxymoron C-Personification D-Metaphor
33-Life! I know not what thou art.
A- Apostrophe B-Oxymoron C-Personification D-Simile
34- The naughty boy is cunningly simple.
A- Oxymoron B-Metaphor C-Hyperbole D-Alliteration
35-I hear lake after lapping with low sounds by the shore
A- Onomatopoeia B-Simile C-Oxymoron D-Personification
36-Life is but a walking shadow.
A- Metaphor B-Apostrophe C-Simile D-Hyperbole
37- The feet of two-syllable in which the unstressed syllable precedes the stressed one is called
A- Iambic B-Anapaestic C-Trochaic D-Dactylic
38- Bathos means
A- Unintentional, ludicrous descent from the exalted to the commonplace
B- Intentional, ludicrous, descent from the exalted to be commonplace
C- Both
D-None
39- An extended narrative which carries a second meaning along with its surface story would be called
A- Allergy B-Litotes C-Symbol D-Synecdoche
40- A special form of understatement, which assets on affirmative by negating the contrary is
A- litotes B-Meiosis C-Irony D-Variorum
41- Three years she grew in sun and shower
A- Antithesis B-Alliteration C-Metaphor D-Oxymoron
42- As many farewells as there be stars in heaven.
A- Hyperbole B-Onomatopoeia C-Oxymoron D-Metaphor
43- Can you hear the buzzing of bees?
A- Onomatopoeia B- Alliteration C-Personification D-Simile
44- The secretary was conspicuous by his absence.
A- Apostrophe B-Personification C-Metaphor D-Simile
45- O Earth! What changes have thou seen?
A- Apostrophe B-Personification C-Simile D-Metaphor
46- Which of the following figures of speech is the opposite of hyperbole
A- Litotes B-Antithesis C-Climax D-Epigram
47- When the post says that A is B he employes
A- Simile B-Metonomy C-Irony D-Metaphor
48-Necessity is the mother of invention
A- Personification B-Litotes C-Oxymoron D-Paradox
49-The poor people of Ireland should rid themselves of poverty by selling their children to the rich to eat.
A-Irony B-Logorrhea C-Paradox D-Oxymoron
50- How many times have I told you to clean your room?
A- Rhetorical Questions B-Hyperbole C-Oxymoron D-Eponymy
Type of Figures of Speech
There are two types of figures of speech
- Scheme
- Tropes
1- Scheme
- accumulation:
- adnomination:
- alliteration:
- Example:
- adynaton:
- anacoluthon:
- anadiplosis:
- anaphora:
- anastrophe:
- anti-climax:
- Example:
- anthimeria:
- antimetabole:
- antirrhesis:
- antistrophe:
- antithesis:
- aphorisms:
- aposiopesis:
- apposition:
- assonance:
- asteismus:
- asterisms:
- asyndeton:
- cacophony:
- cataphora:
- classification:
- chiasmus:
- climax:
- commemoration:
- conduplicate:
- consonance:
- correlative verse:
- diacope:
- dubitative
- dysgenesis:
- ellipsis:
- elision:
- enallage:
- enjambment:
- epanalepsis:
- epanodos:
- epistrophe:
- epizeuxis:
- euphony:
- half rhyme:
- hendiadys:
- hendiatris:
- homeoprotein:
- homographs:
- homoioteleuton:
- homonyms:
- homophones:
- homeoteleuton:
- hypallage:
- hyperbaton:
- hyperbole:
- hypozeuxis:
- hysteron proteron:
- isocolon:
- internal rhyme:
- kenning:
- merism:
- mimesis:
- onomatopoeia:
- paradiastole:
- parallelism:
- paraprosdokian:
- pareidolia:
- parenthesis:
- proemial:
- parrhesia:
- pleonasm:
- polyptoton:
- polysyndeton:
- pun:
- rhythm:
- sibilance:
- sine dicendo:
- solecism:
- spoonerism:
- superlative:
- synathroesmus:
- syncope
- symploce:
- synchysis:
- synesis:
- synecdoche:
- synonymia:
- tautology:
- tmesis:
- zeugma:
2- Tropes
- accismus:
- allegory:
- allusion:
- ambiguity:
- anacoenosis:
- analogy:
- anapodoton:
- antanaclasis:
- anthimeria:
- anthropomorphism:
- antimetabole:
- antiphrasis:
- antistasis:
- antonomasia:
- aphorism:
- apologia:
- aporia:
- apophasis:
- appositive:
- apostrophe:
- archaism:
- auxesis:
- bathos:
- burlesque metaphor:
- catachresis: cataphora:
- categoria:
- cliché:
- circumlocution:
- congeries:
- correctio:
- dehortatio:
- denomination:
- diatyposis:
- double negative:
- dirimens copulatio:
- distinction:
- dysphemism:
- dubitative:
- ekphrasis:
- epanorthosis:
- encomium:
- enumeration:
- epicrisis:
- epiplexis:
- epitrope:
- erotica:
- erotesis:
- euphemism:
- grandiloquence:
- exclamation: A
- humor:
- hyperbaton:
- hyperbole:
- hypocatastasis:
- hypophora:
- innuendo:
- inversion:
- irony:
- litotes:
- malapropism:
- meiosis:
- memento verbum:
- merism:
- metalepsis:
- metaphor:
- metonymy:
- Negative questions:
- neologism:
- non sequitur:
- occupation see apophasis:
- onomatopoeia:
- oxymoron:
- par’hyponoian:
- parable:
- paradiastole:
- paraprosdokian:
- paralipsis:
- parody:
- paronomasia
- pathetic fallacy:
- periphrasis:
- personification/prosopopoeia/anthropomorphism:
- pleonasm:
- praeteritio:
- procatalepsis:
- proslepsis:
- prothesis:
- proverb:
- pun:
- rhetorical question:
- satire:
- sensory detail imagery:
- sesquipedalianism:
- simile:
- snowclone:
- style:
- superlative:
- syllepsis:
- syncatabasis (condescension, accommodation):
- synchoresis:
- synecdoche:
- synesthesia:
- tautology: Example:
- transferred epithet:
- truism:
- tricolon diminuens:
- tricolon crescens:
- verbal paradox:
- Verba ex ore:
- verbum volitans
- zeugma:
- zoomorphism:
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