Interactive Quiz created by Nancy Roberts Garrity at St. John Fisher School
“X.”
“Fiery Ice”
“The big explosion went ka-boom!”
“Mike looks like he’s in a good mood today.”
NOTE: In order to play this game, it must be viewed in slide show (F5)
Read the sentence on each slide. Then click on the
button that identifies the type of literary technique.
Good authors don’t simply state exactly what they mean. Instead they use a variety of
techniques to enrich their work and make it more interesting to read. Some examples are
onomatopoeia, oxymoron, and verbal irony. You will see examples of these in this exercise.
Onomatopoeia is a literary technique in which the sound of a word suggests its
meaning. The word or words are used in such a way that the sound imitates or suggests a
particular sound. Examples include hiss, smack, buzz, hum, cuckoo, slap, and splash.
An oxymoron combines two opposing or contradictory ideas. It’s a figure of speech in
which words of opposite meaning are used together. Some examples are fiery ice, bittersweet,
pleasing pain, cruel kindness, a wise fool, terribly good, icy flame, and noiseless sound.
Verbal irony is a word or phrase used to suggest the opposite of its usual meaning.
It
occurs when what one says or writes is the opposite of the intended meaning. For example if
you said “What a nice person you are” to someone who just slammed the door in your face,
you would be using verbal irony.
What a lovely day for a picnic.
verbal irony
onomatopoeia
oxymoron
Suddenly we heard a loud bang.
oxymoron
verbal irony
onomatopoeia
Tommy was very excited
about his first day of school.
onomatopoeia
oxymoron
verbal irony
The woman spoke in a loud whisper.
verbal irony
oxymoron
onomatopoeia
Bertha was horribly good.
oxymoron
verbal irony
onomatopoeia
Who ordered the jumbo shrimp?
oxymoron
onomatopoeia
verbal irony
Listen to the fire crackle in the dark.
verbal irony
oxymoron
onomatopoeia
The boys got along so well, it was
obvious that they were best friends.
verbal irony
onomatopoeia
oxymoron
Billy’s locker is very tidy.
onomatopoeia
verbal irony
oxymoron
Her desk overflowed
with organized clutter.
onomatopoeia
verbal irony
oxymoron
The fierce lion roared.
onomatopoeia
oxymoron
verbal irony
The cow said moo.
oxymoron
onomatopoeia
verbal irony