English Language Proficiency Test : Identifying Rhetorical Devices
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Example Questions
Example Question #31 : Rhetorical Functions
"During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was - but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit."
Adapted from "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe (1839)
Which rhetorical device does Poe use in the emboldened phrase above?
Irony
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia
Simile
Alliteration
The first phrase contains the words during, dull, dark, and day. Alliteration is the repetition of sounds in closely connected words.
Example Question #32 : Rhetorical Functions
"His right name was Frank X. Farrell, and I guess the X stood for 'Excuse me.' Because he never pulled a play, good or bad, on or off the field, without apologizin' for it.
'Alibi Ike' was the name Carey wished on him the first day he reported down South, O' course we all cut out the 'Alibi' part of it right away for the fear he would overhear it and bust somebody. But we called him 'Ike' right to his face and the rest of it was understood by everybody on the club except Ike himself."
Adapted from "Alibi Ike" by Ring Lardner (1915)
This passage indicates that the characters and the reader know something about "Alibi Ike" that "Alibi Ike" does not know. We know his whole nickname whereas he only knows the second half.
Which type of rhetorical device is this?
Anachronism
Situational irony
Dramatic irony
Onomatopoeia
Dramatic cacophony
Dramatic irony
When the audience/reader knows something that a character does not, this is known as dramatic irony.
For future reference, there are three types of irony:
Dramtic Irony - when the audience/reader knows something that a character does not
Situational Irony - when something different happens that what is expected
Verbal Irony - the use of words to mean something different than what is actually said (similar to sarcasm)
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