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Figures of Speech — GK Questions with Answers

Current Affairs 2026 Today's GK Quiz Static GK हिन्दी
20 questions
  1. Name the literary device used in the following lines — "His legs bestrid the ocean: his reared arm Crested the world." (Previous year)
    1. Metaphor
    2. Irony
    3. Personification
    4. Hyperbole
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    Answer: (D) Hyperbole

    No man’s legs can straddle an ocean. The impossible scale makes this hyperbole — Cleopatra praising Antony.

  2. Identify the figure of speech — "The moan of doves in immemorial elms, And murmuring of innumerable bees." (Previous year)
    1. Onomatopoeia
    2. Transferred Epithet
    3. Hyperbole
    4. Metaphor
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    Answer: (A) Onomatopoeia

    Moan and murmuring imitate the actual sound of doves and bees, so the device is onomatopoeia.

  3. "I have not met her for ages." Which figure of speech is used? (Previous year)
    1. Metaphor
    2. Hyperbole
    3. Irony
    4. Pun
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    Answer: (B) Hyperbole

    Ages is a wild exaggeration for a few weeks or months — hyperbole.

  4. A passage describes a man thus: "His appearance was not prepossessing. He had but one eye, and the popular prejudice runs in favour of two." The writer’s description is — (Previous year)
    1. Alliterative
    2. Onomatopoeic
    3. Ironic
    4. Elegiac
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    Answer: (C) Ironic

    The writer praises in form while mocking in meaning, which is irony.

  5. "All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players." This is an example of —
    1. Simile
    2. Metaphor
    3. Personification
    4. Oxymoron
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    Answer: (B) Metaphor

    The world is called a stage directly, with no like or as — a metaphor.

  6. Which of these is NOT a simile?
    1. She sings like a nightingale.
    2. He is as brave as a lion.
    3. Rahul runs like Vikram.
    4. Her smile was like sunshine.
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    Answer: (C) Rahul runs like Vikram.

    A simile must compare two things of different kinds. Two boys are the same kind of thing, so this is a plain comparison.

  7. "Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me." The device used is —
    1. Hyperbole
    2. Personification
    3. Metonymy
    4. Litotes
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    Answer: (B) Personification

    Death is given human manners — stopping politely and driving a carriage. That is personification.

  8. "Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man." The device is —
    1. Pun
    2. Paradox
    3. Irony
    4. Euphemism
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    Answer: (A) Pun

    Grave means both "serious" and "a burial place", so one word carries two senses — a pun.

  9. "O brawling love! O loving hate!" is an example of —
    1. Paradox
    2. Antithesis
    3. Oxymoron
    4. Metonymy
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    Answer: (C) Oxymoron

    Two opposite words are placed side by side, which is an oxymoron. A paradox would need a full statement.

  10. In the phrase "a sleepless night", the device is —
    1. Personification
    2. Transferred epithet
    3. Metaphor
    4. Synecdoche
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    Answer: (B) Transferred epithet

    The night does not sleep — the person does. The adjective has been shifted, so it is a transferred epithet.

  1. "All hands on deck" uses —
    1. Metonymy
    2. Synecdoche
    3. Metaphor
    4. Euphemism
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    Answer: (B) Synecdoche

    Hands is a part of the sailors standing for the whole men, which is synecdoche.

  2. "The pen is mightier than the sword" uses —
    1. Synecdoche
    2. Metonymy
    3. Simile
    4. Paradox
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    Answer: (B) Metonymy

    The pen stands for writing and the sword for war — each names a thing closely connected with the idea, so metonymy.

  3. Which statement about alliteration is correct?
    1. It repeats vowel sounds in the middle of words.
    2. It repeats the same beginning sound in nearby words.
    3. It uses words that imitate noises.
    4. It repeats consonants at the end of words.
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    Answer: (B) It repeats the same beginning sound in nearby words.

    Beginning sounds repeat in alliteration; the other three describe assonance, onomatopoeia and consonance.

  4. "The child is father of the man" is best described as —
    1. Oxymoron
    2. Paradox
    3. Irony
    4. Antithesis
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    Answer: (B) Paradox

    The whole statement seems impossible, yet it is true — childhood shapes the adult. That is a paradox.

  5. A fire station burns down. This is an example of —
    1. Verbal irony
    2. Dramatic irony
    3. Situational irony
    4. Sarcasm
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    Answer: (C) Situational irony

    The outcome is the opposite of what anyone would expect, which is situational irony.

  6. "Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour" is an example of —
    1. Apostrophe
    2. Personification
    3. Metonymy
    4. Antithesis
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    Answer: (A) Apostrophe

    The poet speaks directly to a man long dead, which is apostrophe.

  7. "She is not bad at mathematics", meaning she is very good, is —
    1. Hyperbole
    2. Litotes
    3. Irony
    4. Euphemism
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    Answer: (B) Litotes

    Saying less than you mean, by denying the opposite, is litotes.

  8. Which pair is correctly matched?
    1. Deafening silence — paradox
    2. Passed away — euphemism
    3. All hands on deck — metonymy
    4. The Crown — synecdoche
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    Answer: (B) Passed away — euphemism

    Passed away softens died, so it is a euphemism. The others should be oxymoron, synecdoche and metonymy.

  9. Satire is best described as —
    1. A gentle joke with no purpose
    2. A work using irony and humour to attack a social fault
    3. A poem mourning the dead
    4. A direct insult aimed at one person
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    Answer: (B) A work using irony and humour to attack a social fault

    Satire exposes folly in order to reform it. A poem mourning the dead is an elegy; an insult at one person is sarcasm.

  10. "The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew" chiefly uses —
    1. Onomatopoeia
    2. Alliteration
    3. Assonance
    4. Consonance
    Show answer

    Answer: (B) Alliteration

    The repeated f, b and w sounds at the start of words make this alliteration.

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