Literary Devices — Answer Key
Part A: Fill in the Blank
Write the missing word or number on each line.
1. "She runs faster than the speed of light" is an example of hyperbole because it uses extreme exaggeration.
No one can actually run faster than light, so the sentence is using extreme exaggeration for effect. That over-the-top stretch of the truth is what defines hyperbole.
2. "The river sang a gentle lullaby" uses personification by giving the river a human ability.
Singing a lullaby is something only a person can do, and the sentence hands that human ability to a river. Giving non-human things human qualities is the work of personification.
3. "My backpack weighs a ton" is not meant literally; it is an example of hyperbole.
A backpack obviously does not weigh 2,000 pounds, so the sentence stretches the truth to show that the bag feels really heavy. Exaggerating like that for emphasis is hyperbole.
4. "The snow was a white blanket covering the town" compares snow to a blanket, making it a metaphor.
When the sentence says the snow IS a blanket, it draws a direct comparison without using like or as. That direct equation of two unlike things is the signature of a metaphor.
5. "The bacon sizzled in the pan" contains the onomatopoeia word sizzled.
Sizzled is spelled to imitate the actual hissing, popping noise bacon makes in a hot pan. Words built to sound like the sound they describe are onomatopoeia.
6. "Cool cats climbed the crooked climbing wall" repeats the /k/ sound, which is called alliteration.
Cool, cats, climbed, crooked, and climbing all begin with the same /k/ sound, which produces alliteration. Repeating an initial consonant sound across nearby words gives the line its punchy rhythm.
7. "Her eyes sparkled like diamonds" uses simile because it compares using the word like.
The word like signals a comparison, and here it links the sparkle of her eyes to the sparkle of diamonds. Comparisons that use like or as are similes.
8. Literary devices that compare things or exaggerate are called figurative language.
Figurative language is the umbrella term for devices that go beyond the literal, including comparisons like similes and metaphors and exaggerations like hyperbole. The word figurative simply means 'not literal.'
9. Authors use literary devices to create vivid images in the reader's mind.', a: 'mind'
Vivid imagery is created in the imagination, the place where readers picture what the words describe. Authors choose strong literary devices precisely so the reader's mind builds those pictures.
Part B: Matching
Match each item on the left to the correct answer on the right.
1. Match each item to its correct answer.
"The wind howled all night long"
→ personification
hyperbole
"He eats like a horse"
→ simile
onomatopoeia
"Snap, crackle, pop went the cereal"
→ onomatopoeia
personification
"I have a mountain of homework"
→ hyperbole
simile
Howling is a human or animal action, so the wind howling is personification. He eats like a horse uses like, making it a simile; snap, crackle, pop are sound-imitating words, so onomatopoeia; and a mountain of homework is wild exaggeration, which is hyperbole.