Rhetoric Practice set

(Figures based on Similarity, difference, Construction)

1.Man proposes, God disposes. 

Ans. Antithesis 

2.The child is the father of man. 

Ans. Metaphor, Epigram

3.The ship ploughs the sea.

Ans. Metaphor 

4. He is a cheerful pessimist, an unwilling volunteer.

Ans. Oxymoron 

5. Your advice is a lamp to my feet.

Ans. Metaphor 

6. “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven!”

Ans. Exclamation 

7.This pleasing anxious being.

Ans. Oxymoron 

8. Failure is the pillar of success.

Ans. Epigram, Metaphor 

9. He is as silent as the grave.

Ans. Simile

10. He is always idly busy.

Ans. Oxymoron 

11. My sister is an encyclopedia of movie trivia.

Ans. Metaphor 

12.He smiled, he laughed, he roared. 

Ans. Climax 

13. Had we not realized to kill a woman is to kill the prospect of life? The gravest sin on earth! 

Ans. Interrogation, Exclamation 

14. He lost his heart and his mask in the ballroom dance. 

Ans. The condensed sentence 

15. He is conspicuous by his absence. 

Ans. Epigram 

16. He looks as cheerful as a rose.

Ans. Simile

17. Cowards die many times before their death. 

Ans. Epigram 

18. Is it the river Wye? That shows Wordsworth how his life moves on tides and ease.

Ans. Interrogation 

19. The sausages tasted awfully good.

Ans. Oxymoron 

20. His raised his voice and hand. 

Ans. Zeugma

21. Faustus started a scholar, then a magician and died a dupe.

Ans. Anti-climax

22. Books are the keys to the kingdom of knowledge.

Ans. Metaphor 

23. The music and the intoxication went even louder. 

Ans. Zeugma

24.How amazing is the beauty of nature!

Ans. Exclamation 

25. He is thunderstruck.

Ans. Metaphor 

26. Silence is sometimes more eloquent than speech. 

Ans. Epigram 

27. Macbeth became the King and the traitor of his state. 

Ans. Anti-climax 

28. Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.

Ans. Antithesis 

29. The cake was disgustingly delicious.

Ans. Oxymoron 

30. They waged a peaceful war in the name of salvation! 

Ans. Oxymoron, Exclamation 

31. She achieved success, prosperity and peace in life.

Ans. Climax 

32. He sponges on us.

Ans. Metaphor 

33. When the state is ruled by a queen, a corrupt minister and a buffoon, law is a myth. 

Ans. Anti-climax 

34. His honour and his baldness shines in prosperity. 

Ans. The condensed sentence 

35. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

Ans. Metaphor 

36. He is a lion among men. 

Ans. Metaphor 

37.To err is human, to forgive, divine.

Ans. Antithesis 

38. That consolation, that triumph, that joy,  was afforded by him. 

Ans. Climax

39.The fireman was scared of fire.

Ans. Epigram 

40. Does God create this creature called man to suffer ? Then don't die to be born again.

Ans. Interrogation 

41. The provision of industries increased opportunity and economic growth. 

Ans. Zeugma 

42. The spendthrift robs his heirs , the miser robs himself. 

Ans. Antithesis 

43. What a delight to drink the pleasant sadness of a soulful river! 

Ans. Exclamation, Oxymoron 

44. "Was it a vision or a waking dream?/ Fled is that music do I wake or sleep ? "

Ans.Interrogation, Oxymoron 

45. The first encounter took away his heart, the second his fame, the third made him bankrupt. 

Ans. Anti-climax 

46. Life is a waking dream ! 

Ans. Exclamation, Metaphor, Oxymoron 

47. The police came, investigated and solved the case.

Ans. Climax 

48. Was this the dream I had lived my entire life to see the reality is red in tooth and claw ? 

Ans. Interrogation, Metaphor 

49. Neither man nor beast can destroy the beauty she possesses! 

Ans. Exclamation 

50. He got his name and recognition amid the sea of troubles. 

Ans. Zeugma, Metaphor 

(Figures based on Sound and Minor figures)

51. I can't disagree with what you said.

Ans. Litotes

52."We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans." 

Ans. Anaphora, Asyndeton 

53. "You've got to do what you've got to do"

Ans. Tautology 

54. They turned up, despite the rain and weather.

Ans. Hendiadys 

55. "O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon"

Ans. Palilogia 

56. "In my opinion, I think"

Ans. Tautology 

57. "Life is too full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Ans. Hendiadys 

58. "That government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth" 

Ans. Asyndeton, Epistrophe 

59."Object there was none. Passion there was none."

Ans. Hyperbaton, Epistrophe 

60.“Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation!"

Ans. Palilogia 

61. "The air was thick, warm, heavy, sluggish" 

Ans.   Asyndeton 

62. I told a chemistry joke, but there was no reaction.

Ans. Pun

63. It's not rocket science.

Ans. Litotes 

64."One swallow does not a summer make, nor one fine day."

Ans. Assonance 

65. "First and foremost"

Ans. Tautology 

66. "Our top priority was, is and always will be education, education, education"

Ans. Palilogia 

67. I became well red by reading in the sun.

Ans. Pun

68. "Armed gunman"

Ans. Tautology 

69. The thundering of the sea reaches the shore.

Ans. Onomatopoeia 

70. Shut the shutters before the shouting makes you shudder.

Ans. Alliteration 

(Figures based on Association, Sound and Minor figures)

71. The builders were working at a dizzy height.

Ans. Transferred epithet 

72.They had lessen the burden of lesson from day to day.

Ans. Pun

73. All knell before the crown.

Ans. Metonymy 

74. Grave cannot spare even a grave man.

Ans. Pun

75. The TV news is nothing but a bunch of talking heads.

Ans. Synecdoche 

76. I need no shoulder, I'm gonna be a soldier.

Ans. Pun 

77. The colour and sound and taste and smell and light and shade all clap for him.

Ans. Polysyndeton, Personification 

78.He pointed an angry finger at me.

Ans. Transferred epithet 

79. The man can tell a lie.

The woman can believe a lie.

The eyes can live a lie.

Only the Time unfolds it.

Ans. Anaphora, Epistrophe 

80.Immediately after the robbery, the law arrived at the scene of the crime.

Ans. Metonymy 

81. Much Seen I have the colours and contours of life, I find myself at the heart of sea. 

Ans. Hyperbaton 

82. The hired hands roped two mustangs on our ranch yesterday.

Ans. Synecdoche

83. She looked at him through concerned eyes.

Ans. Transferred epithet 

84. The bee buzzed right above our heads.

Ans. Onomatopoeia 

85. "O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been

Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth!"

Ans. Metonymy, Exclamation, Apostrophe.

86. Pentagon will make the decision.

Ans. Metonymy 

87. The city came out to celebrate the victory.

Ans. Metonymy 

88. They had a heated argument over the issue.

Ans. Transferred epithet 

89. I see you're wearing some new threads.

Ans. Synecdoche 

90. He was just about in bed when he heard a ding-dong from the doorbell.

Ans. Onomatopoeia 

91. The garden is clad in Spring.

Ans. Metonymy 

92.The student read the confused chapter with a frowned face.

Ans. Transferred epithet 

93. Wearing a belt in the waist is a waste of time. 

Ans. Pun, alliteration 

94. Jesus drank the holy Chalice. 

Ans. Metonymy 

95. Pun is random in Shakespeare.

Ans. Metonymy 

96. She is a pretty little creature.

Ans. Synecdoche 

 

97. I asked him his name and he replied,"whats in a name?"

Ans. Allusion 

98. She is not dishonoured in her new world.

Ans. Litotes 

99. I can not return back his favour and help. 

Ans. Tautology 

100. Out, brief candle, out , out, out! 

Ans. Palilogia