Free Literary Terms and Devices MCQs with Answers

330 Literary Terms and Devices MCQs from English Literature, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

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330 questions · page 10 of 17

  • A. Post__alveolar
  • B. Palate__alveolar
  • C. Palatal
  • D. Velar

Explanation: Post-alveolar sounds are made with the tongue just behind the alveolar ridge, the raised area behind the upper teeth.

Correct answer: Post__alveolar
  • A. Post__alveolar
  • B. Palate__alveolar
  • C. Palatal
  • D. Velar

Explanation: Palatal sounds are formed by raising the front of the tongue towards the hard palate.

Correct answer: Palatal
  • A. Dental
  • B. Labio__dental
  • C. Bilabial
  • D. Alveolar

Explanation: Dental sounds are articulated with the tongue against or near the upper teeth.

Correct answer: Dental
  • A. Dental
  • B. Bilabial
  • C. Labio__dental
  • D. Alveolar

Explanation: Bilabial sounds use both lips, as in /p/, /b/ and /m/. Labio-dental sounds use the lower lip and upper teeth, which is the likely…

Correct answer: Bilabial
  • A. Syllable
  • B. Stress
  • C. Intonation
  • D. Pitch.

Explanation: A syllable is a larger unit of speech built around a vowel or syllabic sound and may contain one or more phonemes.

Correct answer: Syllable
  • A. Diphthongs
  • B. Triphthongs
  • C. Semi__vowels
  • D. Minimal pairs

Explanation: Minimal pairs are two words differing in only one phoneme, such as “ship” and “sheep.” Diphthongs and triphthongs are combinations of…

Correct answer: Minimal pairs
  • A. Triaphthong
  • B. Triaphone
  • C. Triphthong
  • D. Triology

Explanation: A triphthong is a single syllable containing a glide through three vowel qualities, commonly described as a diphthong followed by a weak…

Correct answer: Triphthong
  • A. Phonology
  • B. Morphology
  • C. Syntax
  • D. Semantics

Explanation: Semantics studies meaning in words, sentences and larger expressions. Phonology concerns sound systems, morphology word structure, and…

Correct answer: Semantics
  • A. Philology
  • B. Phonology
  • C. Phonetics
  • D. linguistics

Explanation: Linguistics is the systematic or scientific study of language in its structure, use and development.

Correct answer: linguistics
  • A. Smog
  • B. UNESCO
  • C. Buzz
  • D. edit

Explanation: Onomatopoeia refers to a word that imitates or suggests a natural sound, as buzz imitates the sound of humming or vibrating.

Correct answer: Buzz
  • A. Compounding
  • B. Acronym
  • C. Re__duplicates
  • D. Conversion

Explanation: Reduplicatives are formed from two identical or slightly altered elements, such as bye-bye, zigzag, or tick-tock.

Correct answer: Re__duplicates
  • A. Compounding
  • B. Portmanteau
  • C. Derivation
  • D. Clipping.

Explanation: Phone comes from telephone and photo from photograph, with part of each longer word removed.

Correct answer: Clipping.
  • A. Compounding
  • B. Portmanteau
  • C. Derivation
  • D. Backformation

Explanation: Blackleg and flashlight join two independent words, black plus leg and flash plus light.

Correct answer: Compounding
  • A. Compounding
  • B. Portmanteau
  • C. Derivation
  • D. Clipping.

Explanation: Clipping forms a shorter word by removing one or more syllables from a longer word, as advertisement becomes ad or examination becomes…

Correct answer: Clipping.
  • A. Compounding
  • B. Portmanteau
  • C. Derivation
  • D. Backformation

Explanation: Derivation creates a new word by adding an affix to a base, such as unhappy from happy or kindness from kind.

Correct answer: Derivation
  • A. Compounding
  • B. Portmanteau
  • C. Derivation
  • D. Backformation.

Explanation: Compounding joins two or more existing words to create a new word, as in blackboard or sunflower.

Correct answer: Compounding
  • A. Lateral plosion
  • B. Alveolar plosion
  • C. Nasal plosion
  • D. Incomplete plosion.

Explanation: In little, the /t/ is released sideways through the following /l/, so it is an example of lateral plosion.

Correct answer: Lateral plosion
  • A. Bilabial plosion
  • B. Alveolar plosion
  • C. Nasal plosion
  • D. Incomplete plosion.

Explanation: In act and picture, the /k/ is followed closely by another stop or affricate, so its normal release is not fully audible.

Correct answer: Incomplete plosion.
  • A. /p/ & /b/
  • B. /m/ & /v/
  • C. /t/ &/d/
  • D. /k/ & /g/

Explanation: The alveolar plosives are /t/ and /d/, produced by briefly stopping airflow with the tongue at the alveolar ridge.

Correct answer: /t/ &/d/
  • A. The position of the lips
  • B. The part of the tongue that is raised
  • C. The height to which the tongue is raised
  • D. All the abovE.

Explanation: Half-high and half-low describe the degree of tongue elevation during vowel production, so the relevant feature is tongue height.

Correct answer: The height to which the tongue is raised