Literary Devices — Answer Key
Part A: Multiple Choice
Circle the best answer for each question.
1. Read: "The morning fog crept silently through the village, wrapping its cold fingers around every house." Which TWO devices are used?
A) Simile and hyperbole
B) Alliteration and onomatopoeia
C) Personification and metaphor
D) Onomatopoeia and simile
Fog cannot creep silently or have fingers, so giving it those human and bodily traits is personification. At the same time, calling the wisps cold fingers is a direct comparison without like or as, which makes it a metaphor.
2. Read: "Maya's heart pounded like a drum as she stepped onto the stage. A million butterflies fluttered in her stomach." Which devices are used?
A) Alliteration and onomatopoeia
B) Simile and hyperbole
C) Metaphor and alliteration
D) Onomatopoeia and personification
Pounded like a drum uses the word like to compare the heartbeat to a drum, which is a simile. A million butterflies in a stomach is wild exaggeration meant for emphasis, which is hyperbole.
3. Read: "The rusty gate screeched in protest as Sam pushed it open. Shadows stretched like dark fingers across the path." What does the personification help the reader feel?
A) That the setting is cheerful and inviting
B) That the gate is brand new and works well
C) That the setting is eerie and unwelcoming
D) That Sam is very strong and powerful
Personifying the gate with a screech of protest makes the setting feel unfriendly, like even the objects are pushing back. That mood of discomfort and unease is exactly the eerie, unwelcoming feeling the author is building.
4. Read: "Big, bright balloons bobbed and bounced above the birthday bash. Laughter rang out like bells." Which devices appear?
A) Personification and hyperbole
B) Metaphor and onomatopoeia
C) Hyperbole and metaphor
D) Alliteration and simile
Big, bright balloons bobbed and bounced repeats the /b/ sound, which is alliteration. Then laughter rang out like bells uses like to compare laughter to bells, which is a simile.
Part B: Fill in the Blank
Write the correct answer on each line.
1. In "The ocean roared and tossed its waves angrily at the shore," the ocean is given the human emotion of anger.
Roaring and tossing waves angrily assigns the human emotion of anger to the ocean. Personification works by lending feelings like that to non-human things.
2. "Her voice was as smooth as silk" contains a simile that compares her voice to silk.
Silk is famously soft and smooth to the touch, so comparing her voice to silk using as transfers those qualities to the way she sounds. The thing being compared to is silk, and that is what the simile builds the picture from.
3. In "The whoosh of the wind whipped through the willows," the word whoosh is an example of onomatopoeia.
Whoosh is spelled to imitate the actual rushing sound of moving wind, which is what onomatopoeia does. The word lets the reader hear the wind, not just read about it.
4. "I have told you a thousand times to clean your room" uses hyperbole to show frustration.
No one has literally said something a thousand times, so the speaker is stretching the count for effect to make the frustration obvious. That deliberate exaggeration is hyperbole.
5. "Sneaky snakes slithered slowly" uses alliteration by repeating the /s/ sound.
Sneaky, snakes, slithered, and slowly all begin with the same /s/ sound, and repeating the initial consonant across nearby words is alliteration. The hissing /s/ even mimics the sound of a snake.