Rhetorical Devices and Figures of Speech Quiz

Rhetorical Devices

• Rhetorical questions: a figure of speech that involves raising questions and then immediately answering them
• Epistrophe: a figure of speech that involves the repetition of the same words at the end of successive phrases
• Climax: a figure of speech that involves arranging words or sentences in increasing importance
• Hyperbole: a figure of speech that involves the deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or effect
• Anaphora: a figure of speech that involves the repetition of the same words at the beginning of successive phrases
• Chiasmus: a figure of speech that involves reverse parallelism where the second part mirrors the first in reverse order

Figurative Language

• Simile: used in the sentence 'He's like a bear in the morning if he hasn't gotten enough sleep.' (comparing two unlike things using 'like' or 'as')
• Personification: demonstrated in the phrase 'The ship began to creak and protest.' (giving human-like qualities to non-human entities)
• Analogy: used in the sentence 'The body is a unit, though made up of many parts, like Christ and the church.' (comparing two unlike things to highlight their similarities)
• Appositive: used in the phrase 'Canada, the country of cold rocks' (a phrase that renames or explains a noun)
• Metaphor: used in the phrase 'My bounty is as boundless as the sea.' (comparing two unlike things without 'like' or 'as')
• Hyperbole: used in the sentence 'If you take his parking place, you can expect World War II all over again.' (exaggerating for emphasis or effect)
• Metaphor: used in the statement 'Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life.' (comparing two unlike things without 'like' or 'as')
• Enumeratio: used in the sentence 'He showed a rather simple taste, a taste for good art, good food, and good friends.' (listing items to make a point or create an effect)
• Irony: used in the statement 'What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young.' (expressing a meaning that is opposite of what is explicitly stated)
• Personification: used in the phrase 'Laughing at him from the shadows stood the actor's worst nightmare.' (giving human-like qualities to non-human entities)

Test your knowledge of rhetorical devices and figures of speech with this quiz. Identify and understand examples of expletive, understatement, hyperbole, and parallelism in sentences.