SEMANTICS & FIGURES OF SPEECH – QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

1. Which of the following is correct about linguistics?

Answer: A. Linguistics is the study of language.
2. A ………… is an ideal string of words put together by the grammatical rules of a
language.
Answer: B. sentence
3. Which of the following statements is true?
Answer: B. Semantics is a branch of linguistics which deals with meaning.
4. Which of the following statements is true?
Answer: A. Semantics is the study of meaning in language while pragmatics is
concerned with meaning in context.
5. Which of the following statements is true?
Answer: C. Semantic features are “the smallest units of meaning in a word.”
6. Which of the following statements is true?
Answer: B. “father” may have the following semantic features: [+human], [+male],
[+mature], [+parental] and[+paternal]
7. Which of the following does not belong to linguistics?
Answer: D. Skills
8. Which of the following is correct about semantics?
Answer: B. Semantics is the study of language meaning.
9. Which of the following is correct about pragmatics?
Answer: A. Pragmatics is the study of language use.
10. Which of the following statements is not true?
Answer: A. Pragmatics studies the relationship between language and objects.
11. Which of the following statements is true?
Answer: A. The objective of semantics is the literal meaning of language.
12. Which of the following statements is true about sentence?
Answer: A. A sentence is a group of words grammatically linked to convey a complete
meaning.
13. Which of the following statements is true?
Answer: B. Componential analysis is “an approach to the study of meaning which
analyses a word into a set of meaning components or semantic features.”
14. Which of the following statements is not true about utterance?
Answer: A. The meaning of an utterance is the sum of meanings of the constituent
words
15. Which of the following statements is not true?
Answer: A. The pragmatic meaning is the linguistic meaning.
16. Which of the following statements is true?
Answer: A. Semantic meaning is context-free whereas pragmatic meaning is context-
dependent.
17. Which of the following statements is true?
Answer: A. Words of different parts of speech may share the same semantic feature.
18. Which of the following statements is true?
Answer: B. [+educational] is a semantic feature found in the nouns school, teacher, and
textbook.
19. [+educational] is a semantic feature found in the verbs such as.....................
Answer: B. teach, educate, instruct, etc
20. Which of the following semantic features does not belong to “hen”?
Answer: A. [+male]
21. Which of the following semantic features belongs to “oak”?
Answer: C. [+plant], [+deciduous tree],[+tough hard wood]
22. Which of the following semantic features belongs to "Lobster, shrimp, crab, oyster, and
mussel"?
Answer: B. [+shellfish]
23. Which of the following semantic features belongs to "Crab, oyster, mussel , trout, and
salmon"?
Answer: B. [+edible water animal]
24. Which of the following semantic features belongs to "Widow, mother, sister, aunt, and
seamstress"?
Answer: B. [+female]
25. Which of the following semantic features belongs to "Widower, father, brother, uncle,
and tailor"?
Answer: A. [+male]
26. Which of the following semantic features belongs to “bachelor, son, paperboy, pope,
chief"?
Answer: C. [+male]
27. Which of the following semantic features does not belong to “Beauty”?
Answer: B. [+stay single]
28. Which of the following semantic features does not belong to “Imagine”?
Answer: A. [+female]
29. Which of the following semantic features does not belong to “Doe”?
Answer: C. [+male]
30. Which of the following semantic features does not belong to “teacher”?
Answer: C. [+animal]
31. The figure of speech used in ‘The sorrow is chewing my bones’ is.................
Answer: A. Personification
32. The use of comparison of one thing with another as in “as brave as a lion” is……
Answer: B. Simile
33. The use of a word or phrase to indicate something different from the literal meaning, as
in “She has a heart of stone.” is………………
Answer: D. Metaphor
34. A special kind of metaphor in which some human characteristic is attributed to an
inanimate object or abstract notion is…………………
Answer: C. Personification
35. The substitution of the name of one thing for that of another to which it is related as in
“He is the best pen of the day.” is called…………..
Answer: B. Metonymy
36. A special kind of metonymy in which “a part or aspect of a person, object, etc. is meant
to refer to the whole person, object, etc.” is called…
Answer: B. Synecdoche
37. The use of “exaggerated statement that is made for special effect and is not meant to be
taken literally.” is called……………
Answer: A. Hyperbole
38. ………………. is the use of deliberately gentler, milder or weaker statements to express
something in a controlled way. Ex: I don’t think I would agree with you.
Answer: C. Litotes
39. ……………….. is the “expression of one’s meaning by saying the direct opposite of
one’s thoughts in order to be emphatic, amusing, sarcastic, etc.” EX: He is so intelligent
that no examiner has agreed to pass him so far.
Answer: B. Irony
 40. The use of pleasant, mild or indirect words or phrases in place of more accurate or direct
ones is called……
Answer: A. Euphemism
41. …………..is the imitation of natural sounds by means of words or groups of words. Ex:
Hiss, cuckoo, thud, moo, baa, hush, pop, etc.
Answer: C. Onomatopoeia
42. The figure of speech used in “She has an ear for music” is…..
Answer: D. Metaphor
43. The figure of speech used in “A disease has cut his breath.” is………..
Answer: B. Euphemism
44. The figure of speech used in “I’ll make him eat his words” is……….
Answer: D. Metonymy
45. The figure of speech used in “Hearing the news, the tears stream down her face”
is…………
Answer: C. Synecdoche
46. The figure of speech used in “Why don’t you recognize the power of the purse?”
is………..
Answer: D. Metonymy
47. The figure of speech used in “She has four mouths to feed” is………………………..
Answer: B. Synecdoche
48. The figure of speech used in “He looks as though he hasn’t had a square meal for
months” is………………
Answer: D. Metaphor
49. The figure of speech used in “He has a kind heart.” is…………………
Answer: D. Metaphor
50. The figure of speech used in “Research says that these methods are the best” is………
Answer: C. Metonymy

51. Figuratively, the sentence ‘Life is a dream.’ may mean:

Đáp án: D. Life is not true.

52. Figuratively, the sentence ‘The man is a demon for work’ may mean:
Đáp án: C. The man is energetic and works very hard.

53. Figuratively, the sentence ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child.’ may mean:
Đáp án: C. If you don’t punish the child when he does something wrong, you’ll spoil his
character.

54. Figuratively, the sentence ‘When the White House calls, the ambassador comes at
once’ may mean:
Đáp án: A. When the U.S. President calls, the ambassador comes at once.

55. Figuratively, the sentence ‘My dormitory room is like a cave.’ may mean:
Đáp án: B. My dormitory room is small and uncomfortable.

56. Figuratively, the sentence ‘The captain was in charge of one hundred horses’ may
mean:
Đáp án: D. The captain was in charge of 100 cavalries.

57. Which of the following may be one meaning of ‘She cannot bear children.’?
Đáp án: D. She cannot tolerate children.
58. Which of the following may be one meaning of ‘The captain corrected the list’?:
Đáp án: D. The captain corrected the invoice.

59. Which of the following may be one meaning of ‘He was knocked over by the punch.’?
Đáp án: B. He was knocked over because of a blow given with the fist.

60. Which of the following may be one meaning of ‘The camel swallowed the chocolate
and then ate it.’?
Đáp án: B. The camel easily believed something to be chocolate and then ate it.

61. Which of the following may be one meaning of “They are cooking bananas.”?
Đáp án: D. They aren’t bananas for cooking.

62. Figuratively, the sentence ‘Ly Duc is so strong that he can lift two tons’ contains a:
Đáp án: A. hyperbole

63. Which of the following may be one meaning of ‘The doctor made them well’?:
Đáp án: B. The doctor made the patients healthy.

64. Figuratively, the sentence ‘The captain was in charge of one hundred horses’ may
mean:
Đáp án: D. The captain was in charge of 100 cavalries.

65. Which of the following may be one meaning of ‘They were waiting at the bank.’?
Đáp án: A. They are waiting at the shore of the river.

66. Which of the following may be one meaning of ‘The long drill is boring.’?
Đáp án: D. The tool is boring.

67. The type of ambiguity in ‘I love Laura more than you.’ is:
Đáp án: A. functional

68. A sentence that contains two contradictory semantic features and creates nonsense
is:
Đáp án: A. anomalous

69. The type of ambiguity in ‘Old men and women left.’ is:
Đáp án: A. grouping

70. Two words having the same sound but different spellings and different meanings like
flour-flower or pear-pair are:
Đáp án: D. homophones

71. Two words having the same spelling but different pronunciations and different
meanings like wind (gió) – wind (quấn) are:
Đáp án: C. heteronyms

72. Two words having the same spelling, the same pronunciation but different meanings
like bear (con gấu / chịu đựng) are:
Đáp án: A. homonyms
73. Words like kindergarten, bedroom, toothpaste are:
Đáp án: B. compound words

74. Words like happiness, kindness, development are:

Đáp án: C. derived words

75. Words like teacher, farmer, student are:

Đáp án: D. agent nouns

76. The type of metaphor in ‘The clouds are cotton’ is:

Đáp án: B. implicit metaphor

77. The type of metaphor in ‘Time is money’ is:

Đáp án: A. direct metaphor

78. The type of metaphor in ‘The classroom was a zoo’ is:

Đáp án: A. direct metaphor

79. Words like go, run, read, play are:

Đáp án: D. action verbs

80. Words like is, am, are, was, were are:

Đáp án: B. linking verbs

81. Words like have, has, had are:

Đáp án: A. auxiliary verbs

82. Words like quickly, silently, very are:

Đáp án: C. adverbs

83. Words like beautiful, happy, large are:

Đáp án: D. adjectives

84. Words like I, you, he, she are:

Đáp án: B. personal pronouns

85. Words like this, that, these, those are:

Đáp án: C. demonstrative pronouns

86. Words like who, whom, which, that are:

Đáp án: A. relative pronouns

87. Words like someone, anybody, nobody are:

Đáp án: D. indefinite pronouns

88. Words like mine, yours, hers, theirs are:

Đáp án: B. possessive pronouns

89. Words like each other, one another are:

Đáp án: C. reciprocal pronouns
90. Words like myself, yourself, himself are:
Đáp án: A. reflexive pronouns

91. Words like in, on, at, under are:

Đáp án: A. prepositions

92. Words like and, but, or, so are:

Đáp án: B. conjunctions

93. Words like wow!, oh!, alas! are:

Đáp án: C. interjections

94. Words like hello, hi, hey are:

Đáp án: D. greetings

95. Words like goodbye, see you, take care are:

Đáp án: B. farewells

96. Words like please, thank you, sorry are:

Đáp án: A. polite expressions

97. Words like quickly but carefully, very slowly are:

Đáp án: D. adverb phrases

98. Words like in the morning, at the corner, on the table are:
Đáp án: B. prepositional phrases

99. Words like the big red house, a beautiful old tree are:
Đáp án: C. noun phrases

100. Words like to eat, to play, to read are:

Đáp án: A. infinitive phrases

101. Words like running fast, singing loudly are:

Đáp án: D. participial phrases

102. Words like if I were rich, when he arrived are:

Đáp án: B. subordinate clauses

103. Words like I like apples, She is happy are:

Đáp án: C. main clauses

104. Words like although he is tired, because it rained are:

Đáp án: A. dependent clauses

105. Words like John, my best friend, the tall man are:
Đáp án: D. noun phrases

106. Words like run, jump, swim are:

Đáp án: B. verb phrases
107. Words like very beautiful, extremely tall are:
Đáp án: C. adjective phrases

108. Words like quite slowly, very carefully are:

Đáp án: A. adverb phrases

109. Words like and, but, or are:

Đáp án: B. coordinating conjunctions

110. Words like because, although, if are:

Đáp án: A. subordinating conjunctions

111. Words like he, she, it are:

Đáp án: A. pronouns

112. Words like mine, yours, hers are:

Đáp án: B. possessive pronouns

113. Words like myself, yourself, himself are:

Đáp án: C. reflexive pronouns

114. Words like who, which, that are:

Đáp án: D. relative pronouns

115. Words like this, that, these, those are:

Đáp án: A. demonstrative pronouns

116. Words like each, every, all, some are:

Đáp án: B. quantifiers

117. Words like many, few, several are:

Đáp án: C. quantifiers

118. Words like quickly, slowly, loudly are:

Đáp án: D. adverbs

119. Words like very, extremely, quite are:

Đáp án: A. adverbs of degree

120. Words like here, there, everywhere are:

Đáp án: B. adverbs of place

121. Words like yesterday, today, tomorrow are:

Đáp án: C. adverbs of time

122. Words like often, sometimes, always are:

Đáp án: D. adverbs of frequency

123. Words like however, therefore, moreover are:

Đáp án: A. linking adverbs
124. Words like big, small, tall, short are:
Đáp án: B. adjectives

125. Words like beautiful, interesting, clever are:

Đáp án: C. adjectives

126. Words like happy, sad, angry are:

Đáp án: D. adjectives

127. Words like run, jump, play are:

Đáp án: A. verbs

128. Words like is, am, are, was, were are:

Đáp án: B. auxiliary verbs

129. Words like can, may, must, should are:

Đáp án: C. modal verbs

130. Words like run quickly, speak loudly are:

Đáp án: D. verb phrases

131. The part of a sentence that tells what the subject does is called:
Đáp án: A. predicate

132. The part of a sentence that tells who or what the sentence is about is called:
Đáp án: B. subject

133. Words like in, on, under, behind are:

Đáp án: C. prepositions

134. Words like and, but, or, so are:

Đáp án: D. conjunctions

135. Words like oh!, wow!, ouch! are:

Đáp án: A. interjections

136. The word “very” in “very happy” is:

Đáp án: B. adverb

137. The word “beautiful” in “a beautiful garden” is:

Đáp án: C. adjective

138. The word “he” in “He runs fast” is:

Đáp án: D. pronoun

139. Words like “hers”, “mine” show:

Đáp án: A. possession

140. Words like “myself”, “yourself” are used as:

Đáp án: B. reflexive pronouns
141. The word “who” in “The boy who is tall” is:
Đáp án: C. relative pronoun

142. Words like “this” and “those” indicate:

Đáp án: D. demonstrative pronouns

143. Words like “each”, “every” show:

Đáp án: A. quantifiers

144. Words like “few”, “several” show:

Đáp án: B. quantifiers

145. Words like “quickly”, “slowly” describe:

Đáp án: C. adverbs of manner

146. Words like “here”, “there” describe:

Đáp án: D. adverbs of place

147. Words like “yesterday”, “today” describe:

Đáp án: A. adverbs of time

148. Words like “often”, “always” describe:

Đáp án: B. adverbs of frequency

149. Words like “however”, “therefore” are used as:

Đáp án: C. linking words / adverbs

150. Words like “run”, “jump” are:

Đáp án: D. verbs