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Free Figurative Language MCQs with Answers

20 Figurative Language MCQs from English, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

Figurative language expresses an idea beyond its literal wording through devices such as simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, irony, oxymoron and metonymy. Questions ask you to identify the device, interpret the intended meaning and distinguish figurative expression from a literal statement or simple comparison.

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20 questions

1. In the sentence "Time is a thief that steals our youth", the figure of speech used is

Moderate
  • A. simile
  • B. metaphor
  • C. hyperbole
  • D. onomatopoeia

Explanation: Time is stated to be a thief rather than merely like one, and a direct comparison without like or as is a metaphor.

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Correct answer: metaphor

2. In the sentence "He was as brave as a lion", the figure of speech is

  • A. metaphor
  • B. simile
  • C. irony
  • D. alliteration

Explanation: The comparison is made explicit with as, which is the defining mark of a simile along with like.

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Correct answer: simile

3. In the sentence "I have told you a million times", the figure of speech is

Easy
  • A. hyperbole
  • B. understatement
  • C. metaphor
  • D. paradox

Explanation: Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration for effect and is not meant to be believed literally.

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Correct answer: hyperbole

4. The phrase "the pen is mightier than the sword" uses which figure of speech, where an object stands for the wider idea it represents?

  • A. metonymy
  • B. simile
  • C. oxymoron
  • D. alliteration

Explanation: The pen stands for writing and persuasion, and the sword for military force, so each object represents the larger institution associated…

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Correct answer: metonymy

5. In the sentence "The silence in the examination hall was deafening", the figure of speech is

  • A. oxymoron
  • B. simile
  • C. metonymy
  • D. hyperbole

Explanation: Deafening silence places two contradictory ideas side by side, which is the definition of an oxymoron, as in bittersweet or living dead.

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Correct answer: oxymoron

6. Commencement of words with the same letter:

Fairly easy
  • A. Pun
  • B. Alliteration
  • C. Transferred epithet
  • D. Oxymoron

Explanation: Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial sound or letter in nearby words, as in “wild and windy.” A pun depends on wordplay…

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Correct answer: Alliteration

7. But in the main, I feel like a brown bag of miscellany propped against a wall. Against a wall in company with other bags, white, red, and yellow. Pour out the contents, and there is discovered a jumble of small things: priceless lengths of string, a key to a door long since crumbled away, a rusty knife-blade, old shoes saved for a road that never was and never will be a nail bent under the weight of things too heavy for any nail, a dried flower or two still a little fragrant. In your hand is the brown bag. On the ground before you is the jumble it held-so much like the jumble in the bags, could they be emptied, that all might be dumped in a single heap and the bags refilled without altering the content of any greatly. A bit of colored glass more or less would not matter. Perhaps that is how the Great Stuffer of Bags filled them in the first place-who knows?"Great Stuffer of Bags" is an example of what literary device?

  • A. Onomatopoeia
  • B. Personification
  • C. Allusion
  • D. Assonance

Explanation: Personification involves attributing human actions or qualities to non-human entities.

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Correct answer: Personification

8. But in the main, I feel like a brown bag of miscellany propped against a wall. Against a wall in company with other bags, white, red, and yellow. Pour out the contents, and there is discovered a jumble of small things: priceless lengths of string, a key to a door long since crumbled away, a rusty knife-blade, old shoes saved for a road that never was and never will be a nail bent under the weight of things too heavy for any nail, a dried flower or two still a little fragrant. In your hand is the brown bag. On the ground before you is the jumble it held-so much like the jumble in the bags, could they be emptied, that all might be dumped in a single heap and the bags refilled without altering the content of any greatly. A bit of colored glass more or less would not matter. Perhaps that is how the Great Stuffer of Bags filled them in the first place-who knows?The entire passage qualifies as which of the following devices?

  • A. Allegory
  • B. Extended metaphor
  • C. Epic
  • D. Litotes

Explanation: The passage consistently uses the metaphor of a "brown bag of miscellany" to illustrate the similarities and values of people's…

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Correct answer: Extended metaphor

9. Identify the figure of speech in the following sentence:He is considered the black sheep of the family.

  • A. Alliteration
  • B. Imagery
  • C. Metaphor
  • D. Simile

Explanation: This option is correct. The phrase "black sheep of the family" is a metaphor that compares a person to a "black sheep," symbolizing…

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Correct answer: Metaphor

10. What figure of speech is used in this sentence, "He is the black sheep of the class."

  • A. Simile
  • B. Metaphor
  • C. Alliteration
  • D. Hyperbole

Explanation: In the question, the person is being compared to something non-human form like sheep so it is a metaphor.

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Correct answer: Metaphor

11. Which one of the following sentences exemplifies the use of 'personification'?

  • A. Ten thousand soldiers carried him to grave.
  • B. O my love's life the melody.
  • C. Variety is the spice of life.
  • D. I think i heard mother nature cry.

Explanation: This sentence attributes human-like qualities, specifically the ability to cry, to the concept of Mother Nature, which is an example of…

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Correct answer: I think i heard mother nature cry.

12. "Among all Asian areas". Which one of the poetic device has been used in the given line?

  • A. Simile
  • B. Metaphor
  • C. Personification
  • D. Alliteration

Explanation: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words that are close together.

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Correct answer: Alliteration

13. If a text contains the use of humour, irony, exaggeration or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, it can be referred to as an example of _.

  • A. fiction
  • B. comic
  • C. tragedy
  • D. satire

Explanation: Satire uses humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to criticize people's flaws, vices, or shortcomings.

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Correct answer: satire

14. Which one of the following sentence exemplifies the use of oxymoron?

  • A. I have told you a million times not to touch my stuff.
  • B. Zain's faith is as strong as a rock.
  • C. The mountains sing together.
  • D. Good night! Parting is such a sweet sorrow.

Explanation: An oxymoron combines opposite meanings within a word or phrase. In "Parting is such a sweet sorrow," parting is usually associated with…

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Correct answer: Good night! Parting is such a sweet sorrow.

15. A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire. Which poetic device has!Metaphor Alliteration Simile Allusion been used in this line?

  • A. Metaphor
  • B. Alliteration
  • C. Simile
  • D. Allusion

Explanation: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words that are close together.

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Correct answer: Alliteration

16. She is as busy as a bee. Which poeti device has been used in this line?

  • A. Metaphor
  • B. Personification
  • C. Simile
  • D. Allusion

Explanation: Simile: A simile is a comparison between two things using "like" or "as." "She is as busy as a bee" explicitly uses "as" to make a…

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Correct answer: Simile

17. Which one of the following sentences exemplifies the use of Paradox?

  • A. My English teacher has Poor grammar
  • B. The more you give the more you get.
  • C. The police station gets robbed
  • D. A marriage Counselor files for divorce.

Explanation: Paradox: A paradox is a statement that seems contradictory or absurd at first glance, but may contain a layer of truth or a deeper…

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Correct answer: The more you give the more you get.

18. The story jumped off the page. Which poetic se device has been used in this line?

  • A. Metaphor
  • B. Paradox
  • C. Oxymoron
  • D. Personification

Explanation: The poetic device used in the line "The story jumped off the page" is d) Personification.

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Correct answer: Personification

19. The road was a ribbon of moonlight. Which poetic device has been used in this line?

  • A. Metaphor
  • B. Paradox
  • C. Oxymoron
  • D. simile

Explanation: Metaphor: A metaphor creates a direct comparison between two things without using "like" or "as." In this sentence, the road is directly…

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Correct answer: Metaphor

20. Which one of the following sentences exemplifies the use of lrony?

  • A. A fire station burnt down
  • B. I must be cruel inly to be kind
  • C. It is a hot and humid today.
  • D. Hope for the Best; Prepare for the worst

Explanation: Irony: Irony involves a contrast between appearance and reality, expectation and outcome, or what is said and what is meant.

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Correct answer: I must be cruel inly to be kind
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Figurative Language MCQs: common questions

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There are 20 Figurative Language MCQs in the English bank, shown 20 to a page with the correct answer and an explanation on each.

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