Oxymoron: Worksheet – Extracted Questions

Identification Exercise: Read the passage and select all phrases that are oxymorons. "In true fiction, it’s been said by many a wise fool that parting is such sweet sorrow. Perhaps this bittersweetness is supposed to comfort me, but your absent presence makes me feel like nothing more than the living dead."

• true fiction

• wise fool

• sweet sorrow

• absent presence

• living dead

Identification Exercise: Read the passage and select all phrases that are oxymorons. "Ziara tries to act natural around Katie, but the whole school seems to have caught on to her crush. It’s an open secret at this point. Though who could blame Ziara? Katie is painfully beautiful."

• open secret

• painfully beautiful

• act natural

• caught on

• at this point

Identification Exercise: Read the passage and select all phrases that are oxymorons. "Timmy got in trouble in class yesterday. He was joking around like normal when his teacher yelled at him, ‘A joke like that is a serious issue!’ The silence afterwards was deafening. Carl said Timmy got sent to the principal’s office. Tina wasn’t concerned. She never stopped reading the tragic comedy, Romeo and Juliet, throughout the whole ordeal."

• deafening silence

• tragic comedy

• serious issue

• principal’s office

• whole ordeal

Identification Exercise: Read the passage and select all phrases that are oxymorons. "Our only choice was to push through the small crowd. Yet it felt weirdly normal for us two strangers to work together. That’s just the random order of life, I suppose."

• small crowd

• weirdly normal

• random order

• two strangers to work together

• our only choice

Creation Exercise: Choose the option that best fulfills the instruction to create your own list of oxymorons by including at least ten that are not used in the exercises above.

• jumbo shrimp; pretty ugly; original copy; alone together; awfully good; seriously funny; clearly confused; passive aggressive; controlled chaos; minor miracle

• wise fool; sweet sorrow; living dead; open secret; random order; tragic comedy; small crowd; absent presence; true fiction; painfully beautiful

• pretty ugly; original copy; alone together; awfully good; clearly confused; passive aggressive; controlled chaos

• jumbo shrimp; bittersweet; seriously funny; clearly confused; open secret; tragic comedy; small crowd; original copy; alone together; awfully good

Identification Exercise: In true fiction, it’s been said by many a wise fool that parting is such sweet sorrow. Perhaps this bittersweetness is supposed to comfort me, but your absent presence makes me feel like nothing more than the living dead. Select all phrases that are oxymorons.

• true fiction

• wise fool

• sweet sorrow

• absent presence

• living dead

Identification Exercise: Ziara tries to act natural around Katie, but the whole school seems to have caught on to her crush. It’s an open secret at this point. Though who could blame Ziara? Katie is painfully beautiful. Select all phrases that are oxymorons.

• act natural

• open secret

• painfully beautiful

• caught on

• crush

Identification Exercise: Timmy got in trouble in class yesterday. He was joking around like normal when his teacher yelled at him, “A joke like that is a serious issue!” The silence afterwards was deafening. Carl said Timmy got sent to the principal’s office. Tina wasn’t concerned. She never stopped reading the tragic comedy, Romeo and Juliet, throughout the whole ordeal. Select all phrases that are oxymorons.

• serious issue

• deafening silence

• tragic comedy

• principal’s office

• like normal

Identification Exercise: Our only choice was to push through the small crowd. Yet it felt weirdly normal for us two strangers to work together. That’s just the random order of life, I suppose. Select all phrases that are oxymorons.

• small crowd

• weirdly normal

• random order

• only choice

• two strangers