Shades of Meaning: Connotation, Irony and Allusion

English · Vocabulary · ages 11-14

Name ______________________ Date ____________

A bakery that has closed displays a sign saying, "Business is booming!" Which device is the sign using?
- A pun, because 'booming' has two meanings that both fit a bakery
- Irony, because the cheerful words clash with the closed shop
- An oxymoron, because 'business' and 'booming' are opposite words
Which word has the most negative connotation, even though it means almost the same as the others?
- nosy
- curious
- interested
Calling someone's messy room 'a real disaster zone' is an example of allusion.
Circle one: True False
A poem compares life to a river in the first line, then keeps describing 'the current pulling her forward' and 'rocks in her path' for the whole poem. What is this technique called?
- An extended metaphor
- A pun
- An oxymoron
A writer wants readers to see a character as brave rather than reckless. Which word should she use to describe him jumping into the river?
- reckless
- careless
- daring
'The math teacher looked at the broken calculator and said nothing added up anymore.' What figurative device is being used here?
- An allusion
- A pun
- An extended metaphor
In a poem, the author compares a struggling family business to a 'ship taking on water' and returns to images of leaks, bailing, and staying afloat in every stanza. What does this extended metaphor mainly help the reader understand?
- How the family keeps fighting to stop the business from failing
- That the family owns an actual ship and plans to sail away
- That the poem gives ocean travel more detail than the family business
In a story, rain pours through the leaky roof of a new umbrella shop and soaks every umbrella. Why is this a clear example of situational irony?
- Because a shop that sells rain protection gets ruined by rain
- Because umbrella shops are always expected to have leaky roofs in rain
- Because the word 'pours' has two different meanings in the sentence

Answer key

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Shades of Meaning: Connotation, Irony and Allusion W1-mt_MlmIrLb_7x-s1

Irony, because the cheerful words clash with the closed shop · The sign praises business while the bakery is closed. The cheerful words clash with what actually happened, which is irony.
nosy · Curious and interested mean almost the same as nosy, but nosy suggests snooping into other people's business, so it carries the most negative feeling.
False · 'Disaster zone' is a description, not a reference to a specific story, person, or event. Calling the cleanup 'a Herculean task' would be an allusion, because it points to the hero Hercules and his huge labors.
An extended metaphor · The comparison between life and a river continues and develops across the whole poem, which makes it an extended metaphor rather than a single quick metaphor.
daring · Daring has a positive connotation and suggests courage, while reckless and careless suggest poor judgment.
A pun · 'Nothing added up' plays on two meanings, math not working and the situation making no sense, and that double meaning is a pun.
How the family keeps fighting to stop the business from failing · Each stanza adds another detail to the ship image, building a fuller picture of the family's struggle to survive, which is what an extended metaphor is for.
Because a shop that sells rain protection gets ruined by rain · An umbrella shop exists to keep people dry, so rain ruining its own umbrellas clashes with its purpose. That clash is situational irony.