FIGURES OF SPEECH

I. Answer the following

1. Choose from the following the one that is NOT a simile.

a. When school closes for the holidays, I feel as free as a bird.

b. The exam was as easy as ABC.
c. The watermelon was succulent.
d. The previous night was as black as coal.

2. Choose from the following the one that is NOT a simile.

a. Anamika can run as fast as the wind.
b. The boy can swim like a fish.
c. My dog Floyd is usually as quiet as a sleeping baby.
d. The fluorescent light was the sun dun during the test…

3. Choose from the following the one that is NOT a simile.

a. Mustaq is as sly as a fox.
b. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
c. Her mother is as sweet as strawberry jam.
d. That fence is as solid as a rock.

4. Which is NOT a metaphor?

a. No one invites him to parties because he is a wet blanket.
b. The bar of soap was a slippery eel during the baby's bath.
c. The fluffy pillow was a cloud when I put my head on it after a long and tiring
day.
d. Anika was as nervous as a mouse in a room full of cats.
5. 'The giant's steps were thunder as he trudged towards him,' is what?
It is an idiom.
It is a proverb.
It is a simile.
It is a metaphor.

6. 'The manager's words were crystal clear,' is a metaphor which means what?
The manager was not articulate enough.
The manager wanted someone to buy clear crystal for him. .
The manager was absolutely clear in what he was saying.
The manager did not know what he was saying.

II. Identify the figures of speech

1. The general, who is a lion in the field, has seen many wars.

2. Her cheeks appear as the dawn of day.

3. Let the floods clap their hands.

4. Confusion heard his voice.

5. He was so scared that he shook like jelly.

III. Read the poems and answer the questions

1. Sketch
By Carl Sandburg

The shadows of the ships

Rock on the crest
In the low blue lustre
Of the tardy and the soft inrolling tide.
A long brown bar at the dip of the sky
Puts an arm of sand in the span of salt.
The lucid and endless wrinkles
Draw in, lapse and withdraw.
Wavelets crumble and white spent bubbles
Wash on the floor of the beach
Rocking on the crest
In the low blue lustre
Are the shadows of the ships.

1. Identify an example of personification and explain what is being personified.

2. Identify an example of metaphor: explain which two things are being compared.
3. Find two separate examples of alliteration. List the alliterative words.

2. The black land

By Joseph Warren Beach

I will plough the land,

Turning up the black soil.
I will ride upon this heaving surface
As a boat rides upon the water.
Even as a boat
Cleaving the water with an eager keel,
I have run a furrow!
Straight across the ridges.
I will sow down this field.
Scattering gems.
With both hands will I scatter
Quivering emeralds out of a bottomless pouch.
As I tread the fertile soil
My feet sink deep.
The black earth embraces my ankles
And clings to my bent knees.
I sing as I go
Scattering emeralds.
The wind sings upon my lips,
And pearls stream off mv neck and forehead.
I am bathed in a sweat of pearls.
Eyes straight forward
Rest on a brightening ultimate slope.

1. Identify one example of simile: explain which two things are being compared.

2. Identify two examples of metaphor: explain which two things are being compared in
each metaphor.
3. Identify two examples of personification: explain what is being personified.

3. The Dawn's Awake

By Otto Leland Bohanan

The Dawn's awake!

A flash of smouldering flame and fire
Ignites the East. Then, higher, higher,
O’er all the sky so gray, forlorn,
The torch of gold is borne.

The Dawn's awake!

The dawn of a thousand dreams and thrills.
And music singing in the hills
A song of praise and triumph of eternal spring
Voices the new awakening.
The Dawn's awake!
Whispers of pent-up harmonies,
With the mingled fragrance of the trees;
Faint snatches of half-forgotten song--
Fathers! torn and numb, --
The boon of light we craved, awaited long.
Has come, has come!

1. Identify two examples of personification explain what is being personified & how in
each example.

2. Identify an example of alliteration

3. Identify an example of metaphor: explain which two things are being compared