Interactive Quiz created by Nancy Roberts Garrity at St.

John Fisher School

“A dog not only has a

fur coat, but also pants.”

“Busy hands worked in the kitchen.” “The pen is mightier than the sword.”

NOTE: In order to play this game, it must be viewed in slide show (F5)
 compiled by Nancy Roberts Garrity
Figurative language is writing or speech not intended to be taken literally. Some
commonly used figures of speech are pun, synecdoche, and metonymy. You will see examples
of these in this exercise.
A pun is using a word or words that have more than one meaning. It is sometimes called “a
play on words.” Some examples are: “A bicycle can’t stand alone because it is two-tired” and
“A chicken crossing a road is poultry in motion.”
A synecdoche is a unique type of metaphor that uses a part to represent or suggest the
whole. For example in “Our class brain always has all the correct answers,” we identify the
smartest student in the class by using the word brain. This is a synecdoche because “brain”
represents a part of the whole person.
A metonymy is a unique type of metaphor in which something is named that replaces
something closely related to it. In metonymy, one thing is said when another thing is meant.
For example in “Let’s take this problem to City Hall,” City Hall refers to the people in the local
city government rather than the building itself.
Our social studies teacher said that
his globe means the world to him.

pun
synecdoche
metonymy
 Immediately after the robbery, the
law arrived at the scene of the crime.

pun
synecdoche
metonymy
 In came Mrs. Fezziwig,
one vast, substantial smile.

metonymy
pun
synecdoche
Let’s buy one hundred head of cattle.

metonymy
synecdoche
pun
A watched pot never boils.

metonymy
synecdoche
pun
Sir Lancelot once had a very bad dream
about his horse. It was a knight mare.

pun
synecdoche
metonymy
 The soldiers displayed much
loyalty to our stars and stripes.

pun
synecdoche
metonymy
Busy hands worked in the office.

synecdoche
pun
metonymy
 The principle part of a
horse is the mane, of course.

metonymy
pun
synecdoche
The room was filled with smiling faces.

pun
metonymy
synecdoche
He said that he was working hard,
but he was hardly working.

pun
metonymy
synecdoche
 The White House announced that
the president would soon visit Japan.

synecdoche
metonymy
pun