ICSE Class 10 English Literature: 50 Grand Revision MCQs & Answers
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Build confidence in ICSE Class 10 English Literature with 50 written revision MCQs, detailed explanatory answers and an interactive quiz. Practise close reading, evaluate statements about characters and events, and learn to recognise figures of speech in context.
Use the written sections for careful revision and the interactive quiz for a separate self-check. Complete Section A before reading its answers, then follow the same approach for Section B. Compare your reasoning with the explanations and return to the prescribed text whenever a detail is unclear. This is original Paul Academy practice material, not an official CISCE question paper.
ICSE Class 10 English Literature: Revision and Interactive Practice
ICSE Class 10 English Literature: Contents
How to Use This Revision Lesson
Read: revise the relevant scenes, stories and poems before attempting the questions.
Evaluate: judge Statement I and Statement II separately. Then choose the option that matches both judgements.
Apply: in figure-of-speech questions, explain how the words create the device before comparing the options.
Check: read the answer key only after completing its section. Note the textual evidence, not just the answer letter.
Practise: attempt the interactive quiz, read its feedback and use the report to plan your next revision session.
Concept focus: a simile makes an explicit comparison using “like” or “as”; a metaphor presents one thing as another; personification gives human qualities to something non-human. For sound effects, distinguish onomatopoeia from repeated consonant sounds. Always judge the particular phrase in its context.
SECTION A: STATEMENT-EVALUATION QUESTIONS [25 MARKS]
Directions: Read Statements I and II carefully in each question and choose the correct option from (a), (b), (c), and (d) based on these fixed choices:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 1 [Julius Caesar — Act III, Scene 1] — [Understanding]
Statement I: In Act III, Scene 1, Caesar compares himself to the Northern Star to signify his unyielding constancy and unshakeable resolve regarding Metellus Cimber's petition for Publius Cimber's recall.
Statement II: Marcus Brutus stabs Caesar first during the assassination, followed immediately by Casca and the other conspirators.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 2 [Julius Caesar — Act III, Scene 2] — [Understanding]
Statement I: In his Forum address, Brutus speaks in passionate rhymed verse to appeal to the plebeians' wild emotions and incite an immediate riot.
Statement II: Mark Antony's funeral speech relies entirely on abstract stoic logic rather than emotional manipulation, Caesar's bloody toga, and the reading of the will.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 3 [Julius Caesar — Act IV, Scenes 1 & 3] — [Understanding]
Statement I: In Act IV, Scene 1, Mark Antony compares Lepidus to an ass bearing gold to illustrate that he considers Lepidus fit only to carry menial burdens while the Triumvirate directs him.
Statement II: During their quarrel at Sardis, Brutus accuses Cassius of having an 'itching palm' and selling official positions for gold.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 4 [Julius Caesar — Act V, Scenes 1 & 3] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Cassius abandons his strict Epicurean philosophy because Brutus convinces him through a formal philosophical treatise on Stoicism prior to the battle.
Statement II: Cassius orders Pindarus to guide his sword on his birthday because he misinterprets Titinius's joyful reunion with Brutus's forces as a fatal capture by the enemy.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 5 [Julius Caesar — Act V, Scene 5] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Brutus dies by running upon his own sword held by Strato, declaring in his final moments that he slays himself with greater willingness than he had when striking Caesar.
Statement II: Mark Antony eulogizes Brutus as 'the noblest Roman of them all' because Brutus acted solely out of concern for the common good, unlike the other conspirators who acted out of envy.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 6 [With the Photographer] — [Understanding]
Statement I: The photographer compliments the narrator's natural face as a classical masterpiece that requires no technical adjustments.
Statement II: The narrator is delighted when he sees the final proof on Saturday because his features have been preserved with complete fidelity.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 7 [With the Photographer] — [Understanding]
Statement I: The narrator seeks a photograph as a humble memento-mori to leave for his friends after his death so they may reconcile themselves to his loss.
Statement II: The photographer refers to fictional, satirized editing processes named 'Delphide' and 'Sulphide' to justify removing eyebrows and ears.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 8 [The Elevator] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Martin loves living on the seventeenth floor because running up the dark, unlit stairs is his favourite athletic hobby.
Statement II: Martin's insensitive father calls him a coward, mocks his fear of elevators, and tells him to 'grow up and act like a man.'
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 9 [The Elevator] — [Understanding]
Statement I: The mysterious fat lady in the green raincoat first boards the elevator at the fourteenth floor and stares continuously at Martin without speaking.
Statement II: At the story's climax, Martin's father steps out at the ninth floor to visit Mrs. Ullman, leaving Martin trapped on crutches as the fat lady enters at the tenth floor and presses the STOP button.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 10 [The Girl Who Can] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Nana repeatedly criticizes Adjoa's thin, long legs because she believes a woman's legs must have solid calves to support hips capable of childbearing.
Statement II: Adjoa's mother, Kaya, openly shouts at Nana and forces her to stop criticizing Adjoa's body.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 11 [The Girl Who Can] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Adjoa is forbidden by her school headmaster from participating in athletic games because of her spindly legs.
Statement II: At the conclusion of the story, Nana smashes Adjoa's championship trophy in anger because running brought disgrace to Hasodzi village.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 12 [The Pedestrian] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Set on a misty November evening in A.D. 2053, Leonard Mead takes nightly walks through a silent city where citizens are locked inside tomb-like houses hypnotized by viewing screens.
Statement II: Leonard Mead wears hard, iron-rimmed leather boots so that his loud footsteps announce his arrival to every household.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 13 [The Pedestrian] — [Understanding]
Statement I: The automated police car arrests Leonard Mead because he was caught vandalizing neighborhood television antennae.
Statement II: As the police car drives Mead away, his house stands out in the dark city with every window 'brightly lit, square and warm.'
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 14 [The Last Lesson] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Franz dreads going to school on the morning of the story because he has not prepared his lesson on participles and fears a scolding from M. Hamel.
Statement II: A strict order has arrived from Berlin mandating that only German will be taught in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 15 [The Last Lesson] — [Understanding]
Statement I: M. Hamel wears his fine Sunday clothes every single day of the academic year to maintain strict discipline.
Statement II: M. Hamel tells the class that learning German will immediately release the villagers from physical imprisonment.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 16 [Haunted Houses] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Longfellow depicts ghosts as vengeful specters that scream violently and rattle rusty chains in cellars.
Statement II: In Haunted Houses, the phantoms are described as harmless, quiet, and inoffensive spirits gliding silently through doorways and passages.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 17 [Haunted Houses] — [Understanding]
Statement I: The poet uses the legal term 'mortmain' ('dead hand') to signify that deceased ancestral owners maintain a perpetual spiritual hold over their old estates.
Statement II: Longfellow compares the moonlight stretching across the dark ocean to a 'bridge of light' connecting the mortal world with the spirit world.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 18 [The Glove and the Lions] — [Understanding]
Statement I: King Francis sits in his royal gallery above the pit, observing that the fierce battle of the lions is a 'gallant show' of valour and love.
Statement II: Count de Lorge's beloved drops her glove into the lion pit out of pure, self-sacrificing affection for the Count.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 19 [The Glove and the Lions] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Count de Lorge recovers the glove from the lion pit and presents it to the lady on bended knee with deep devotion.
Statement II: King Francis severely punishes Count de Lorge for throwing the glove in the lady's face.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 20 [When Great Trees Fall] — [Understanding]
Statement I: The collapse of a great tree in the forest is used as a central metaphor for the traumatic impact caused by the death of a great soul.
Statement II: According to Maya Angelou, initial grief after a loss is immediately replaced by loud public celebrations.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 21 [When Great Trees Fall] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Maya Angelou asserts that grief heals instantly without leaving any lasting memories of the departed.
Statement II: The poem concludes with the gloomy message that human life has no purpose or meaning after a great soul dies.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 22 [A Considerable Speck] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Robert Frost observes a microscopic living mite moving across a blank white sheet of paper just as he is about to stop it with a period of ink.
Statement II: The poet crushes the small insect instantly because he considers all creeping things to be dangerous pests.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 23 [A Considerable Speck] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Frost praises the 'collectivistic regimenting love' sweeping through modern political ideologies as the ideal form of compassion.
Statement II: In the final couplet, the poet expresses joy at discovering 'on any sheet the least display of mind,' delivering a satirical commentary on mindless human writing.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 24 [The Power of Music] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Bhisma Lochan Sharma's tuneless singing is so powerful that it causes bullock-carts to overturn, trees to collapse, and skyward birds to turn upside down.
Statement II: Bhisma Lochan Sharma stops singing immediately when the suffering townspeople politely request him to rest.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
Question 25 [The Power of Music] — [Understanding]
Statement I: Bhisma Lochan Sharma is awarded a gold medal by the king for his melodious voice.
Statement II: The unrelenting singer is finally silenced when a sagacious billy-goat charges straight at him and head-butts him from behind.
Options:
(a) Both statements are true.
(b) Both statements are false.
(c) Statement I is true, but Statement II is false.
(d) Statement I is false, but Statement II is true.
SECTION A: EXPLANATORY ANSWERS (QUESTIONS 1–25)
Question 1 [Julius Caesar — Act III, Scene 1]
Correct Answer: (c)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Statement I is true because Caesar compares his unyielding nature to the Northern Star when refusing Metellus Cimber's suit. Statement II is false because Casca strikes the first blow ('Speak, hands, for me!'), whereas Marcus Brutus strikes last.
Question 2 [Julius Caesar — Act III, Scene 2]
Correct Answer: (b)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Both statements are false. Statement I is false because Brutus speaks in balanced, prose-based logic ('Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more'). Statement II is false because Antony uses intense emotional rhetoric, displays Caesar's bloody toga, and reads his will to incite mutiny.
Question 3 [Julius Caesar — Act IV, Scenes 1 & 3]
Correct Answer: (a)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Both statements are true. In IV.1, Antony disparages Lepidus as a burden-bearing ass ('To groan and sweat under the business'). In IV.3, Brutus confronts Cassius directly for having an 'itching palm' to sell offices for gold.
Question 4 [Julius Caesar — Act V, Scenes 1 & 3]
Correct Answer: (d)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Statement I is false because Cassius abandons Epicureanism after witnessing ill-omened scavenger birds (ravens, crows, kites) replacing the noble eagles. Statement II is true because Cassius commits suicide after incorrectly assuming Titinius was captured.
Question 5 [Julius Caesar — Act V, Scene 5]
Correct Answer: (a)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Both statements are true. Brutus utters: 'Caesar, now be still; / I killed not thee with half so good a will' (V.5.34-35). Antony praises Brutus as the only conspirator who acted out of honest civic virtue rather than personal envy.
Question 6 [With the Photographer]
Correct Answer: (b)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Both statements are false. Statement I is false because the photographer explicitly states 'The face is quite wrong'. Statement II is false because the narrator is horrified by the retouched eyes, removed eyebrows ('Delphide'), and altered mouth.
Question 7 [With the Photographer]
Correct Answer: (a)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Both statements are true. The narrator wanted a photograph depicting his face 'as Heaven gave it to me' for his friends after death. The photographer humorously cites 'the Delphide' and 'the Sulphide' to rationalize extreme editing.
Question 8 [The Elevator]
Correct Answer: (d)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Statement I is false because Martin hates the dark stairs, which leave him gasping for breath and terrified. Statement II is true because his father scolds him ('Why didn't you take the elevator?'), calling him skinny, weak, and a coward.
Question 9 [The Elevator]
Correct Answer: (a)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Both statements are true. The fat lady boards at the 14th floor in the morning, staring intently. Later, when Martin has a broken leg, his father leaves him at floor 9; the lift stops at 10, the woman steps in, smiles, says 'Hello, Martin,' and pushes the Stop button.
Question 10 [The Girl Who Can]
Correct Answer: (c)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Statement I is true because Nana insists legs must 'have meat on them' to support childbearing hips. Statement II is false because Kaya speaks only with 'small courage' and is constantly silenced by Nana.
Question 11 [The Girl Who Can]
Correct Answer: (b)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Both statements are false. Statement I is false because school teachers select Adjoa to run in the junior section. Statement II is false because Nana proudly carries the trophy on her back like a baby and admits 'thin legs can also be useful'.
Question 12 [The Pedestrian]
Correct Answer: (c)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Statement I is true because Mead walks in A.D. 2053 through silent streets while others sit in ill-lit tombs watching television. Statement II is false because Mead changed to soft sneakers so dogs wouldn't bark and lights wouldn't flash on.
Question 13 [The Pedestrian]
Correct Answer: (d)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Statement I is false because Mead is arrested simply for walking, being unmarried, and lacking a viewing screen ('regressive tendencies'). Statement II is true because Mead points out his brightly lit house, symbolizing his conscious human mind.
Question 14 [The Last Lesson]
Correct Answer: (a)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Both statements are true. Franz was late and terrified of being questioned on participles. Upon arrival, he learns of the Berlin order banning French in Alsace and Lorraine.
Question 15 [The Last Lesson]
Correct Answer: (b)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Both statements are false. Statement I is false because Hamel wore his green coat and silk cap only on inspection/prize days and the last lesson. Statement II is false because Hamel says holding fast to French is the key to their prison.
Question 16 [Haunted Houses]
Correct Answer: (d)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Statement I is false because Longfellow rejects terrifying Gothic tropes. Statement II is true because the ghosts are depicted as 'harmless phantoms' and 'quiet, inoffensive ghosts'.
Question 17 [Haunted Houses]
Correct Answer: (a)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Both statements are true. Longfellow uses 'mortmain' to contrast ancestral spiritual tenure against transient human title-deeds. He also employs the 'bridge of light' metaphor for the communion between physical and spiritual realms.
Question 18 [The Glove and the Lions]
Correct Answer: (c)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Statement I is true because King Francis calls the arena combat a 'gallant thing to see'. Statement II is false because the lady drops her glove out of vanity and pride ('to prove his love... great glory will be mine').
Question 19 [The Glove and the Lions]
Correct Answer: (b)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Both statements are false. Statement I is false because De Lorge throws the glove 'right in the lady's face'. Statement II is false because King Francis commends De Lorge ('Rightly done!') and notes 'No love... but vanity, sets love a task like that'.
Question 20 [When Great Trees Fall]
Correct Answer: (c)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Statement I is true because the falling tree symbolizes the loss of an extraordinary individual. Statement II is false because initial grief paralyzes small things, makes the air sterile, and causes memory to gnaw on unsaid words.
Question 21 [When Great Trees Fall]
Correct Answer: (b)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Both statements are false. Statement I is false because healing occurs 'slowly and always irregularly'. Statement II is false because the poem offers uplifting hope ('They existed. They existed. / We can be. Be and be better. For they existed').
Question 22 [A Considerable Speck]
Correct Answer: (c)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Statement I is true because Frost notices the mite on 'a paper sheet so white' before marking his period. Statement II is false because Frost observes its intelligence and panic, choosing to spare its life.
Question 23 [A Considerable Speck]
Correct Answer: (d)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Statement I is false because Frost explicitly disavows 'tenderer-than-thou / Collectivistic regimenting love'. Statement II is true because Frost delights in finding genuine intelligence in a mite, contrasting it with brainless human literature.
Question 24 [The Power of Music]
Correct Answer: (c)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Statement I is true because his broadside causes carts to overturn, trees to crash, and birds to 'turn turtle while they're winging'. Statement II is false because Bhisma remains 'unconcerned' and continues 'booming out his broadside'.
Question 25 [The Power of Music]
Correct Answer: (d)
Textual Grounding & Explanation: Statement I is false because the populace suffers in panic and agony. Statement II is true because a 'sagacious' billy-goat downs his horns, charges, and 'grants the world the golden gift of silence'.
SECTION B: FIGURE-OF-SPEECH MATCHING QUESTIONS [25 MARKS]
Directions: Read the quotation from the prescribed literature text. Identify the figure of speech used in the quotation, and select the candidate option (a, b, c, or d) that contains the SAME figure of speech.
Question 26 [Julius Caesar — Act III, Scene 1] — [Application]
Quotation: "I am constant as the Northern Star,"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "The welkin weeps to hear his screech," (The Power of Music)
(b) "Like to the empty ass to shake his ears" (Julius Caesar)
(c) "Our little lives are kept in equipoise" (Haunted Houses)
(d) "O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts," (Julius Caesar)
Question 27 [Julius Caesar — Act III, Scene 2] — [Application]
Quotation: "Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths,"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "The street was silent... moving like the shadow of a hawk" (The Pedestrian)
(b) "The spirit-world... Floats like an atmosphere," (Haunted Houses)
(c) "Our memory, suddenly sharpened, examines, / gnaws on kind words unsaid," (When Great Trees Fall)
(d) "These exhalations, whizzing in the air," (Julius Caesar)
Question 28 [Julius Caesar — Act IV, Scene 1] — [Application]
Quotation: "He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold,"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "The welkin weeps to hear his screech," (The Power of Music)
(b) "Our little lives are kept in equipoise" (Haunted Houses)
(c) "Ramped and roared the lions," (The Glove and the Lions)
(d) "They showed their teeth like apes, and fawned like hounds," (Julius Caesar)
Question 29 [Julius Caesar — Act IV, Scene 3] — [Application]
Quotation: "There is a tide in the affairs of men / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabbed;" (Julius Caesar)
(b) "The spirit-world... Floats like an atmosphere," (Haunted Houses)
(c) "Our little lives are kept in equipoise / By opposite attractions and desires;" (Haunted Houses)
(d) "Snick! The photographer had pulled a string." (With the Photographer)
Question 30 [Julius Caesar — Act V, Scene 1] — [Application]
Quotation: "In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words;"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more." (Julius Caesar)
(b) "Lions hunker down in tall grasses," (When Great Trees Fall)
(c) "The door slammed shut with a loud clanging noise." (The Elevator)
(d) "And hold in mortmain still their old estates." (Haunted Houses)
Question 31 [With the Photographer] — [Application]
Quotation: "Snick! The photographer had pulled a string."
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "He was a drooping man in a gray suit," (With the Photographer)
(b) "The elevator shuddered and slammed shut with a loud clanging noise." (The Elevator)
(c) "As silent as the pictures on the wall." (Haunted Houses)
(d) "When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder," (When Great Trees Fall)
Question 32 [With the Photographer] — [Application]
Quotation: "He was a drooping man in a gray suit, with the dim eye of a natural scientist."
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "To enter out into that silence that was the city at eight o'clock..." (The Pedestrian)
(b) "The door closed like a trap."
(c) "And he was out again, tearing at the cotton sheet..." (With the Photographer)
(d) "As silent as the pictures on the wall." (Haunted Houses)
Question 33 [The Elevator] — [Application]
Quotation: "Her blue eyes were tiny but sharp. They seemed to be boring into Martin's face."
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "He stepped into the elevator like a man going to execution."
(b) "The elevator creaked down to twelve, then eleven." (The Elevator)
(c) "The night was cold and clear." (The Pedestrian)
(d) "reveal a piggish face and blue eyes which were already staring at him..." (The Elevator)
Question 34 [The Elevator] — [Application]
Quotation: "The elevator shuddered each time it left a floor, as if it was exhausted."
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "Like to the empty ass to shake his ears," (Julius Caesar)
(b) "The welkin weeps to hear his screech," (The Power of Music)
(c) "A speck that would have been beneath my sight," (A Considerable Speck)
(d) "Ramped and roared the lions," (The Glove and the Lions)
Question 35 [The Girl Who Can] — [Application]
Quotation: "When I came out of the land of sweet, soft silence into the world of noise and comprehension..."
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "reduced to the unutterable ignorance of dark, cold caves." (When Great Trees Fall)
(b) "As silent as the pictures on the wall." (Haunted Houses)
(c) "Lions hunker down in tall grasses," (When Great Trees Fall)
(d) "He walked like a man suddenly drunk." (The Pedestrian)
Question 36 [The Girl Who Can] — [Application]
Quotation: "She carried the gleaming cup on her back. Like they do with babies, and other very precious things."
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "The welkin weeps to hear his screech," (The Power of Music)
(b) "Our memory, suddenly sharpened, examines, gnaws..." (When Great Trees Fall)
(c) "The light held him fixed, like a museum specimen, needle thrust through chest." (The Pedestrian)
(d) "The door slammed shut with a heavy thud." (The Pedestrian)
Question 37 [The Pedestrian] — [Application]
Quotation: "sending patterns of frosty air before him like the smoke of a cigar."
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "The streets were dry river beds in a dry season." (The Pedestrian)
(b) "He stood entranced, not unlike a night moth, stunned by the illumination," (The Pedestrian)
(c) "The police car hesitated, or rather gave a faint whirring click," (The Pedestrian)
(d) "Our souls... now shrink, wizened." (When Great Trees Fall)
Question 38 [The Pedestrian] — [Application]
Quotation: "in the tomblike houses at night... where the people sat like the dead,"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "staring at the houses where only the faintest glimmers... appeared" (The Pedestrian)
(b) "The city was a graveyard."
(c) "The car moved down the empty streets."
(d) "The light held him fixed, like a museum specimen, needle thrust through chest." (The Pedestrian)
Question 39 [The Last Lesson] — [Application]
Quotation: "when a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison."
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "He walked like a man suddenly drunk." (The Pedestrian)
(b) "As silent as the pictures on the wall." (Haunted Houses)
(c) "So from the world of spirits there descends / A bridge of light, connecting it with this," (Haunted Houses)
(d) "The door slammed shut with a heavy thud." (The Elevator)
Question 40 [The Last Lesson] — [Application]
Quotation: "Ah, that's the great trouble with Alsace; she puts off learning till to-morrow."
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "The welkin weeps to hear his screech," (The Power of Music)
(b) "As silent as the pictures on the wall." (Haunted Houses)
(c) "Snick! The photographer pulled a string." (With the Photographer)
(d) "They bit, they glared, gave blows like beams," (The Glove and the Lions)
Question 41 [Haunted Houses] — [Application]
Quotation: "Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts, / As silent as the pictures on the wall."
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "Our little lives are kept in equipoise" (Haunted Houses)
(b) "From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands," (Haunted Houses)
(c) "The spirit-world around this world of sense / Floats like an atmosphere," (Haunted Houses)
(d) "The welkin weeps to hear his screech," (The Power of Music)
Question 42 [Haunted Houses] — [Application]
Quotation: "So from the world of spirits there descends / A bridge of light, connecting it with this,"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "He walked like a man suddenly drunk." (The Pedestrian)
(b) "Snick! The photographer pulled a string." (With the Photographer)
(c) "Ramped and roared the lions," (The Glove and the Lions)
(d) "Our minds, formed and informed by their radiance, fall away." (When Great Trees Fall)
Question 43 [The Glove and the Lions] — [Application]
Quotation: "They bit, they glared, gave blows like beams, a wind went with their paws;"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "The leap was quick, return was quick," (The Glove and the Lions)
(b) "The light held him fixed, like a museum specimen," (The Pedestrian)
(c) "The welkin weeps to hear his screech," (The Power of Music)
(d) "Our souls... now shrink, wizened." (When Great Trees Fall)
Question 44 [The Glove and the Lions] — [Application]
Quotation: "Ramped and roared the lions, with horrid laughing jaws;"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "As silent as the pictures on the wall." (Haunted Houses)
(b) "He walked like a man suddenly drunk." (The Pedestrian)
(c) "I had idly poised my pen in air" (A Considerable Speck)
(d) "The welkin weeps to hear his screech," (The Power of Music)
Question 45 [When Great Trees Fall] — [Application]
Quotation: "When great trees fall, / rocks on distant hills shudder,"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "The welkin weeps to hear his screech," (The Power of Music)
(b) "As silent as the pictures on the wall." (Haunted Houses)
(c) "He stood entranced, not unlike a night moth," (The Pedestrian)
(d) "Snick! The photographer pulled a string." (With the Photographer)
Question 46 [When Great Trees Fall] — [Application]
Quotation: "Our memory, suddenly sharpened, / examines, / gnaws on kind words / unsaid,"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "He walked like a man suddenly drunk." (The Pedestrian)
(b) "As silent as the pictures on the wall." (Haunted Houses)
(c) "reduced to the unutterable ignorance of dark, cold caves." (When Great Trees Fall)
(d) "The door slammed shut with a heavy thud." (The Elevator)
Question 47 [A Considerable Speck] — [Application]
Quotation: "On any but a paper sheet so white"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "The fir trees dark and high"
(b) "As silent as the pictures on the wall." (Haunted Houses)
(c) "The welkin weeps to hear his screech," (The Power of Music)
(d) "Ramped and roared the lions," (The Glove and the Lions)
Question 48 [A Considerable Speck] — [Application]
Quotation: "It paused as with suspicion of my pen,"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "He walked like a man suddenly drunk." (The Pedestrian)
(b) "The welkin weeps to hear his screech," (The Power of Music)
(c) "Snick! The photographer pulled a string." (With the Photographer)
(d) "As silent as the pictures on the wall." (Haunted Houses)
Question 49 [The Power of Music] — [Application]
Quotation: "The welkin weeps to hear his screech,"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder," (When Great Trees Fall)
(b) "He stood entranced, not unlike a night moth," (The Pedestrian)
(c) "The door slammed shut with a heavy clanging noise." (The Elevator)
(d) "Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabbed;" (Julius Caesar)
Question 50 [The Power of Music] — [Application]
Quotation: "The bullock-carts are overturned, and horses line the roadside;"
Which of the following options contains the SAME figure of speech as the quotation above?
Options:
(a) "As silent as the pictures on the wall." (Haunted Houses)
(b) "Snick! The photographer pulled a string." (With the Photographer)
(c) "I am constant as the Northern Star," (Julius Caesar)
(d) "The sky was filled with a thousand glowing suns."
SECTION B: EXPLANATORY ANSWERS (QUESTIONS 26–50)
Question 26 [Julius Caesar — Act III, Scene 1]
Quotation: "I am constant as the Northern Star,"
Identified Figure of Speech: Simile
Correct Answer: (b)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Simile ('constant as the Northern Star'). Option (b) contains the same figure of speech ('Like to the empty ass'). Distractor (a) is Personification, (c) is Metaphor, and (d) is Apostrophe.
Question 27 [Julius Caesar — Act III, Scene 2]
Quotation: "Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths,"
Identified Figure of Speech: Metaphor
Correct Answer: (c)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Metaphor ('dumb mouths'). Option (c) contains the same figure of speech, comparing memory to an animal 'gnawing' on regrets. Distractors (a) and (b) are Similes, and (d) is Literal.
Question 28 [Julius Caesar — Act IV, Scene 1]
Quotation: "He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold,"
Identified Figure of Speech: Simile
Correct Answer: (d)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Simile ('as the ass bears gold'). Option (d) contains two Similes ('like apes', 'like hounds'). Distractor (a) is Personification, (b) is Metaphor, and (c) is Alliteration.
Question 29 [Julius Caesar — Act IV, Scene 3]
Quotation: "There is a tide in the affairs of men / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;"
Identified Figure of Speech: Extended Metaphor
Correct Answer: (c)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses an Extended Metaphor comparing human life to sea tides. Option (c) uses a Metaphor comparing life to a balanced scale ('equipoise'). Distractor (a) is Synecdoche, (b) is Simile, and (d) is Onomatopoeia.
Question 30 [Julius Caesar — Act V, Scene 1]
Quotation: "In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words;"
Identified Figure of Speech: Antithesis
Correct Answer: (a)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses Antithesis ('bad strokes' vs 'good words'). Option (a) contains Antithesis ('loved Caesar less' vs 'loved Rome more'). Distractor (b) is Visual Imagery, (c) is Onomatopoeia, and (d) is Legal Metaphor.
Question 31 [With the Photographer]
Quotation: "Snick! The photographer had pulled a string."
Identified Figure of Speech: Onomatopoeia
Correct Answer: (b)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses Onomatopoeia ('Snick!'). Option (b) uses Onomatopoeia ('clanging'). Distractor (a) is Visual Description, (c) is Simile, and (d) is Personification.
Question 32 [With the Photographer]
Quotation: "He was a drooping man in a gray suit, with the dim eye of a natural scientist."
Identified Figure of Speech: Metaphor
Correct Answer: (a)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Metaphor ('dim eye of a natural scientist'). Option (a) contains a Metaphor equating the deserted city streets to an enveloping 'silence'. Distractors (b) and (d) are Similes, and (c) is Action Imagery.
Question 33 [The Elevator]
Quotation: "Her blue eyes were tiny but sharp. They seemed to be boring into Martin's face."
Identified Figure of Speech: Metaphor
Correct Answer: (d)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Metaphor ('boring into Martin's face'). Option (d) uses a Metaphor ('piggish face'). Distractor (a) is a Simile, (b) is Auditory Imagery, and (c) is Literal.
Question 34 [The Elevator]
Quotation: "The elevator shuddered each time it left a floor, as if it was exhausted."
Identified Figure of Speech: Personification
Correct Answer: (b)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses Personification ('elevator shuddered... exhausted'). Option (b) contains Personification ('welkin weeps'). Distractor (a) is a Simile, (c) is Literal, and (d) is Alliteration.
Question 35 [The Girl Who Can]
Quotation: "When I came out of the land of sweet, soft silence into the world of noise and comprehension..."
Identified Figure of Speech: Metaphor
Correct Answer: (a)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Metaphor ('land of sweet, soft silence'). Option (a) contains a Metaphor comparing grief to 'dark, cold caves'. Distractors (b) and (d) are Similes, and (c) is Visual Imagery.
Question 36 [The Girl Who Can]
Quotation: "She carried the gleaming cup on her back. Like they do with babies, and other very precious things."
Identified Figure of Speech: Simile
Correct Answer: (c)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Simile ('Like they do with babies'). Option (c) contains a Simile ('like a museum specimen'). Distractor (a) is Personification, (b) is Metaphor, and (d) is Onomatopoeia.
Question 37 [The Pedestrian]
Quotation: "sending patterns of frosty air before him like the smoke of a cigar."
Identified Figure of Speech: Simile
Correct Answer: (b)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Simile ('like the smoke of a cigar'). Option (b) uses a Simile ('not unlike a night moth'). Distractor (a) is Metaphor, (c) is Onomatopoeia/Personification, and (d) is Metaphor.
Question 38 [The Pedestrian]
Quotation: "in the tomblike houses at night... where the people sat like the dead,"
Identified Figure of Speech: Simile
Correct Answer: (d)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Simile ('sat like the dead'). Option (d) contains a Simile ('like a museum specimen'). Distractor (a) is Visual Description, (b) is Metaphor, and (c) is Literal.
Question 39 [The Last Lesson]
Quotation: "when a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison."
Identified Figure of Speech: Metaphor
Correct Answer: (c)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Metaphor ('key to their prison'). Option (c) uses a Metaphor comparing moonlight reflection to a 'bridge of light'. Distractors (a) and (b) are Similes, and (d) is Onomatopoeia.
Question 40 [The Last Lesson]
Quotation: "Ah, that's the great trouble with Alsace; she puts off learning till to-morrow."
Identified Figure of Speech: Personification
Correct Answer: (a)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses Personification ('Alsace; she puts off learning'). Option (a) uses Personification ('welkin weeps'). Distractors (b) and (d) are Similes, and (c) is Onomatopoeia.
Question 41 [Haunted Houses]
Quotation: "Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts, / As silent as the pictures on the wall."
Identified Figure of Speech: Simile
Correct Answer: (c)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Simile ('As silent as the pictures'). Option (c) contains a Simile ('Floats like an atmosphere'). Distractor (a) is Metaphor, (b) is Personification/Imagery, and (d) is Personification.
Question 42 [Haunted Houses]
Quotation: "So from the world of spirits there descends / A bridge of light, connecting it with this,"
Identified Figure of Speech: Metaphor
Correct Answer: (d)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Metaphor ('bridge of light'). Option (d) uses a Metaphor comparing intellect to an illuminated structure that collapses upon a loss. Distractor (a) is a Simile, (b) is Onomatopoeia, and (c) is Alliteration.
Question 43 [The Glove and the Lions]
Quotation: "They bit, they glared, gave blows like beams, a wind went with their paws;"
Identified Figure of Speech: Simile
Correct Answer: (b)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Simile ('blows like beams'). Option (b) contains a Simile ('like a museum specimen'). Distractor (a) is Parallelism, (c) is Personification, and (d) is Metaphor.
Question 44 [The Glove and the Lions]
Quotation: "Ramped and roared the lions, with horrid laughing jaws;"
Identified Figure of Speech: Personification
Correct Answer: (d)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses Personification ('horrid laughing jaws'). Option (d) uses Personification ('welkin weeps'). Distractors (a) and (b) are Similes, and (c) is Literal.
Question 45 [When Great Trees Fall]
Quotation: "When great trees fall, / rocks on distant hills shudder,"
Identified Figure of Speech: Personification
Correct Answer: (a)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses Personification ('rocks... shudder'). Option (a) uses Personification ('welkin weeps'). Distractors (b) and (c) are Similes, and (d) is Onomatopoeia.
Question 46 [When Great Trees Fall]
Quotation: "Our memory, suddenly sharpened, / examines, / gnaws on kind words / unsaid,"
Identified Figure of Speech: Metaphor
Correct Answer: (c)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses a Metaphor ('gnaws on kind words'). Option (c) uses a Metaphor comparing deep grief to 'dark, cold caves'. Distractors (a) and (b) are Similes, and (d) is Onomatopoeia.
Question 47 [A Considerable Speck]
Quotation: "On any but a paper sheet so white"
Identified Figure of Speech: Inversion / Anastrophe
Correct Answer: (a)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses Inversion / Anastrophe ('paper sheet so white'). Option (a) uses Inversion, placing adjectives ('dark and high') after the noun ('fir trees'). Distractor (b) is a Simile, (c) is Personification, and (d) is Alliteration.
Question 48 [A Considerable Speck]
Quotation: "It paused as with suspicion of my pen,"
Identified Figure of Speech: Personification
Correct Answer: (b)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses Personification ('paused as with suspicion'). Option (b) uses Personification ('welkin weeps'). Distractors (a) and (d) are Similes, and (c) is Onomatopoeia.
Question 49 [The Power of Music]
Quotation: "The welkin weeps to hear his screech,"
Identified Figure of Speech: Personification
Correct Answer: (a)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses Personification ('welkin weeps'). Option (a) uses Personification ('rocks... shudder'). Distractor (b) is a Simile, (c) is Onomatopoeia, and (d) is Synecdoche.
Question 50 [The Power of Music]
Quotation: "The bullock-carts are overturned, and horses line the roadside;"
Identified Figure of Speech: Hyperbole
Correct Answer: (d)
Analysis & Distractor Elimination: The quotation uses Hyperbole ('bullock-carts are overturned...'). Option (d) uses Hyperbole ('a thousand glowing suns'). Distractors (a) and (c) are Similes, and (b) is Onomatopoeia.
Related Reading
Interactive Quiz: Test Your Understanding
Ready to check what you have learnt? Use the interactive assessment below to practise literary understanding and apply the concepts revised in this lesson. It complements the 50-question written revision set above.
Enter your name, class and school in the quiz form, then select Start Assessment.
Read both statements carefully before choosing an option. Once you select an answer, the quiz locks that response and displays feedback.
Read the explanation, textual evidence and revision tip, then select Continue to move on.
Watch the timer: the assessment currently allows 15 minutes. Read efficiently and keep your textbook review for after the attempt.
At the end, review your score, question-by-question responses and suggested revision area. Use Print / Save PDF if you wish to keep the report, or Retake Assessment after revising.
Make each mistake useful: identify whether you missed a factual detail, misunderstood a character’s motive or confused two literary devices. Revisit that passage, write a one-sentence explanation and test the concept again.
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