Real questions: TNPSC previous year questions from four recent papers (Group 2/2A Prelims 2025 official key; Group 2 2022, Group 2 2024 and Group 4 2025 as marked in the PYQ bank). Practice questions: ArivArk Academy.
The figures at a glance
| Figure | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Simile | Compares two unlike things using like or as | Her smile was like sunshine. He is as brave as a lion. |
| Metaphor | Says one thing is another, with no like or as | Her smile was sunshine. His words are pearls of wisdom. |
| Personification | Gives a human quality or action to a non-human thing | The wind whispered through the trees. |
| Apostrophe | Speaks directly to a thing, an idea or an absent person, as if it could hear | Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. |
| Alliteration | The same consonant sound at the start of nearby words | Peter's pet parrot. The wheel's kick and the wind's song. |
| Assonance | The same vowel sound repeated in nearby words | The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain. |
| Consonance | The same consonant sound inside or at the end of nearby words | Odds and ends. Pitter patter. |
| Anaphora | The same word or words at the start of lines or clauses, one after another | No time to see ... No time to see ... No time to turn ... |
| Repetition | A word or phrase repeated anywhere, for emphasis | "Oh, no, no", said the little fly. |
| Hyperbole | Deliberate exaggeration | I have told you a million times. |
| Synecdoche | A part stands for the whole | He has just got some new wheels (a car). All hands on deck (sailors). |
| Metonymy | A thing is named by something closely connected with it (not a part of it) | The Crown (the king). The pen is mightier than the sword. |
| Oxymoron | Two opposite words side by side | sweet sorrow, deafening silence, open secret |
| Imagery | Words that make a picture for the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) | the crunch of dry leaves (a sound image) |
| Transferred epithet (hypallage) | An adjective moved from the person to a thing | a sleepless night, a happy day |
How to tell them apart
Simile or metaphor? Look for like or as. Like or as means simile; is or was (one thing simply IS another) means metaphor.
Personification or apostrophe? Personification DESCRIBES a thing as human (the wind sang). Apostrophe TALKS TO it (O wind, ...; little star, how I wonder what you are).
Alliteration, assonance or consonance? Same consonant sound at the start = alliteration. Same vowel sound = assonance. Same consonant sound inside or at the end = consonance.
Anaphora or repetition? The same words at the START of lines one after another = anaphora. Repeated anywhere else, or one word said again ("no, no") = repetition.
Synecdoche or metonymy? Ask: is it a PART of the thing? Wheels of a car = synecdoche. Only connected with it (the Crown for the king) = metonymy.
Oxymoron or paradox? An oxymoron is two opposite words side by side (sweet sorrow); a paradox is a whole statement that seems to contradict itself (The child is father of the man).
A line with many devices? Choose the one that runs through the whole line or stanza and is in the options. In "No time to see ..." there is a simile (like skies at night) and personification (Beauty's glance), but anaphora runs through every line.
Common mistakes
1. Calling every comparison a simile. Without like or as, it is a metaphor: He is a walking dictionary.
2. Looking at letters, not sounds. City and sun start with the same sound (alliteration); knife and king do not.
3. Mixing up the two apostrophes. The punctuation mark (Ravi's book) is not the figure of speech (O Death, ...).
4. Calling "the Crown" synecdoche. A crown is not a part of the king, only connected with him: metonymy.
Most asked so far (24 questions in 4 papers): alliteration 6, simile 5, anaphora 3, personification 2, imagery 2, repetition 2, hyperbole 1, metaphor 1, synecdoche 1, hypallage 1.
TNPSC PYQs: all 24 figure of speech questions
Answer: (C) Simile. A comparison with like is a simile. (Official key.)
It seems to know mountains of information by heart"
The figure of speech used in the above lines is
Answer: (B) Hyperbole. "Mountains of information" is a deliberate exaggeration.
Identify the figure of speech
Answer: (C) Imagery. The line paints a picture for the eye: yellow pebbles and dancing water.
What figure of speech is used here?
Answer: (D) Repetition. "no" is said again for emphasis, not at the start of lines one after another: repetition.
Answer: (C) Imagery. The line appeals to the sense of hearing (sweetest music): imagery.
Like a child at play".
Mention the figure of speech used in the above lines.
Answer: (B) Simile. The comparison uses like: simile.
Fly as thick as driving rain;
The figure of speech used in the above line is
Answer: (A) Simile. "as thick as driving rain" is an as ... as comparison: simile.
'And heaven a surer heritage'
Answer: (B) Heaven, heritage. heaven and heritage both start with the h sound.
Which of the following poetic device is used in the given line?
Answer: (C) Alliteration. doctor and double start with the same d sound.
Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes
Of air that is everywhere our own,
Remember, no men are foreign, no countries strange.
What literary device is used here?
Answer: (B) Repetition. The same line comes back with its words turned round, for emphasis: repetition.
Answer: (A) Personification. Bleeding and healing are human actions given to a tree: personification.
We were melted in the furnace and the pit,
We were cast and wrought and hammered to design,
We were cut and filed and tooled and gauged to fit".
What is the poetic device used here?
Answer: (D) Anaphora. Every line starts with "We were": anaphora.
It is so absent-minded, that I don't know what to do".
Mention the figure of speech used in the above lines.
Answer: (B) Personification. A computer is called absent-minded, a human quality: personification.
Identify the alliteration in the given line.
Answer: (C) Sunned-smile. Sunned and smiles start with the same s sound.
Identify the figure of speech in the given line.
Answer: (C) Simile. "as fast as the wind" is an as ... as comparison: simile.
Answer: (C) His words are pearls of wisdom. A, B and D use like or as (similes); only C says words ARE pearls.
Pick out the figure of speech given in the above poetic line.
Answer: (C) Alliteration. wheel, wind, white: the same w sound at the start.
Answer: (A) Hypallage. Hypallage is the transferred epithet: a sleepless night (it is the person who cannot sleep).
Answer: (C) Anaphora. "they growl at" opens both halves of the line: anaphora.
Answer: (B) Alliteration. sudden and spring start with the same s sound.
Answer: (C) Synecdoche. Wheels, a part of the car, stand for the whole car: synecdoche.
Down in the hill sat the little doggie Nell
There she dillied and she dallied all Day, Day, Day
Answer: (C) Alliteration. dillied, dallied, Day: the same d sound at the start.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night,
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
Answer: (C) Anaphora. "No time" starts line after line. Beauty's glance is a smaller trap; anaphora runs through the stanza.
The question from the video
Faster than a cheetah
With a tail that's miles long
Bigger than a mountain
So powerful and strong.
Answer: (D) Simile (official key). The creature is compared with a cheetah and a mountain, so the official key gives Simile. (The "than" lines also exaggerate, which is hyperbole, but hyperbole is not an option.)
Practice MCQs
Why? Short explanations
1 (D) The classroom IS a zoo, with no like or as.
2 (A) A comparison with like.
3 (C) Dancing is a human action given to the stars.
4 (B) The same s sound at the start of the words.
5 (C) An impossible exaggeration.
6 (C) The poet speaks directly to Death, as if it could hear.
7 (B) A crown is connected with the king, not a part of him.
8 (D) A part (hands) stands for the whole (the sailors).
9 (B) Two opposite words side by side.
10 (D) "Every day we" starts each clause.
11 (B) The long o sound in go, slow, over, road.
12 (A) An as ... as comparison.
13 (D) He IS a dictionary, with no like or as.
14 (A) A thing named by something connected with it.
15 (D) An adjective moved from the person to a thing.
