“The big explosion went ka-boom!”

“X.”

“Mike looks like he’s in a good mood today.”

“Fiery Ice”

Interactive Quiz created by Nancy Roberts Garrity at St. John Fisher School

NOTE: In order to play this game, it must be viewed in slide show (F5)

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.

Read the sentence on each slide. Then click on the button that identifies the type of literary technique.

What a lovely day for a picnic.

onomatopoeia

verbal irony

oxymoron

Suddenly we heard a loud bang.

onomatopoeia

verbal irony

oxymoron

Tommy was very excited about his first day of school.

onomatopoeia

verbal irony

oxymoron

The woman spoke in a loud whisper.

onomatopoeia

verbal irony

oxymoron

Bertha was horribly good.

onomatopoeia

verbal irony

oxymoron

Who ordered the jumbo shrimp?

onomatopoeia

verbal irony

oxymoron

Listen to the fire crackle in the dark.

onomatopoeia

verbal irony

oxymoron

The boys got along so well, it was obvious that they were best friends.

onomatopoeia

verbal irony

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

verbal irony

oxymoron

The cow said moo.

onomatopoeia

verbal irony

oxymoron