Select the correct figure of speech used in the following sentence from the options given below:-
She accepted it as a kind cruelty of the surgical knife.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → oxymoron
Oxymoron:
- An oxymoron puts two words of opposite meaning side by side to express one striking idea.
- Deciding clue: "kind cruelty" joins kindness and cruelty: the surgeon's knife hurts (cruelty), but it cuts in order to heal (kindness).
Example: There was a deafening silence after the announcement.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: assonance — Incorrect. Assonance is the repetition of the same vowel sound in nearby words; the phrase is built on a contrast of meaning, not of sound.
Example: The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.
Option 3: onomatopoeia — Incorrect. Onomatopoeia is the use of words that imitate the sound they name; no word in the sentence imitates a sound.
Example: The bees buzzed in the garden.
Option 4: metonymy — Incorrect. Metonymy uses the name of a thing closely linked with something to stand for it (the crown for the king); "kind cruelty" names no such substitute.
Example: The pen is mightier than the sword.
Contrast: an oxymoron joins opposite meanings in one phrase ("kind cruelty"); assonance and onomatopoeia work on sound, and metonymy on a close connection.