Question

Match the example to the word. 1. purring kitten onomatopoeia 2. playing people passed the pond alliteration 3. I know that goat odor. metaphor 4. He looked at his totaled bicycle and said calmly, "It's just a scratch." personification 5. Although the monarchy lacks formal power, he still respects the crown. hyperbole 6. My computer is moody this morning. simile 7. "Son, that finger painting is a masterpiece!" understatement 8. "This is wonderful," he said while looking at his totaled bicycle. assonance 9. Her smile is a breath of fresh air. irony 10. His disposition is as light as a marshmallow. metonymy

Answer 1

The answers will be as follows

1. purring kitten. Onomatopoeia. An Onomatopoeia is a word that has the same attribute as the sound associated with it. In this case, the word "purring" sound like the actual purr of a cat. Other example may be words that are used as sound effects like "Ding!".

2. playing people passed the pond. Alliteration. An Alliteration is the repetitive use of the initial sound to form a melodious or pleasant musical feel. In this case the initial sound of /p/ is used. This is common among poem writers and lyricists.

3. I know that goat odor. Assonance. This is a bit like alliteration which deals with musicality of a piece, but assonance is on the vowel that occur inside the words of the line, in this instance the sound that produces the melodic feel is the sound /o/. 

4. He looked at his totaled bicycle and said calmly, "It's just a scratch." Understatement. The speaker here uses an understatement of what happened, he is downplaying the incident. This is commonly used in writing stories, especially when the incident that happens to the speaker forces him to resign with the fact that it happened.

5. Although the monarchy lacks formal power, he still respects the crown.
Metonymy. Metonymy is the use of a particular word to refer another term, event or person. In this case the speaker used the word crown to refer to the royalty. Other examples may be the white house, to refer to the US government.

6. My computer is moody this morning. Personification. The device used here tries to personify the inanimate object. The computer which is an inanimate object was given a character of a human, which was being moody. Another example may be, My alarm clock starts my day by screaming at me.

7. "Son, that finger painting is a masterpiece!" Hyperbole. The statement here is overstating the facts. Knowing the the child was the son of the speaker, and that it was a finger painting, which is a common activity of a child, it could be deduce as such.

8. "This is wonderful," he said while looking at his totaled bicycle. Irony. The speaker here does not mean that his totaled bike is totally awesome, instead he means the opposite, which was this suck and now he has to either replace the bike, or go without it.

9. Her smile is a breath of fresh air. Metaphor. Metaphor is the use of a term to describe a thing that is not related to it. A breath of fresh air would be oxygen, but a smile does not give that. But speaker here means that her smile is full of life and makes him feel happy.

10. His disposition is as light as a marshmallow. Simile. Simile are comparisons of objects that uses the marker "like" or "as _____ as a". This is commonly used in most poetry, and often the first literary device a person learns to use.