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Questions
1. Editorial cartoonists often use humor to make light of aggravating situations. How does the cartoonist take a lighthearted approach to a the seemingly never-ending winter? — Which comic device does he use?
a) pun
b) personification
c) oxymoron
d) onomatopoeia
2. Explain why you chose this answer.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answers.
Cartoon by Dave Granlund
Answers
1. b) personification
2. Personification is a figure of speech in which human characteristics are attributed to an abstract quality, animal, or inanimate object. In this case the snowmen need to be rescued from the deep snow they way people would need to be rescued from a flood.
The cartoonist did not use:
a) pun, which is a “play on words” – a type of humor using a word or phrase that has two meanings
c) oxymoron, which is a combination of contradictory or incongruous words (such as the phrase “jumbo shrimp” or “virtual reality”)
d) onomatopoeia, which is the creation of words that imitate natural sounds (buzz and hiss are examples of onomatopoeia)
