Literary Devices — Answer Key
Part A: Fill in the Blank
Write the missing word or number on each line.
1. When someone says "It is raining cats and dogs," they do not mean animals are falling from the sky.
The phrase is figurative, not literal, so animals are not really falling from the sky. The expression simply means it is raining very hard.
2. The literal meaning of "He has a heart of gold" is that his heart is made of gold, but the figurative meaning is that he is very kind.
A heart of gold cannot literally be made of metal, so the listener has to read past the surface and pick up the deeper meaning. That deeper, non-literal meaning is what figurative means.
3. "The test was a breeze" figuratively means the test was easy.
A breeze is something light and easy to handle, so calling the test a breeze figuratively says it was simple to pass. The figurative meaning is the one we are after, not the literal weather.
4. "I nearly died laughing" is hyperbole because no one actually died.
Nobody actually died from laughing, so the speaker is stretching the truth way past reality to show how funny something was. That kind of dramatic over-exaggeration is hyperbole.
5. "The leaves whispered secrets to each other" is figurative because leaves cannot actually whisper.
Leaves do not have mouths, so they cannot whisper in real life. Giving them that human action is what makes the sentence figurative.
6. "She is as brave as a lion" literally compares her to a lion but figuratively means she is very brave.
Lions are known for their courage, so comparing someone to a lion using as paints her as extremely brave. The figurative point of the simile is the trait the two share.
7. Figurative language makes writing more interesting by creating pictures in the reader's mind.', a: 'mind'
Strong literary devices help readers form mental images, and those images live in the mind. That is why authors lean on figurative language when they want a scene to come alive.
8. "Time flies when you are having fun" uses a metaphor to say that time seems to pass quickly.
Time obviously cannot grow wings, so saying time flies makes a direct, non-literal comparison between time and a flying object. A direct comparison without like or as is a metaphor.
9. When we interpret figurative language, we look beyond the literal meaning of the words.
Figurative language depends on a meaning beyond the surface words, so we have to look past the literal sense to find what the author really intends. The literal meaning is just the dictionary version.
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 sun smiled down on us"
→ personification
alliteration
"She was as light as a feather"
→ simile
simile
"Peter picked a pail of purple plums"
→ alliteration
onomatopoeia
"The clang of the bell echoed"
→ onomatopoeia
personification
Suns cannot smile, so giving the sun that human action is personification. Light as a feather uses as, making it a simile; the repeated /p/ in Peter picked a pail of purple plums is alliteration; and clang imitates the bell's sound, making it onomatopoeia.