Identify the figure of speech in the underlined part of the sentence:
At the Pongal feast, Paati cooked for thirty hungry stomachs from morning till noon.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Synecdoche
A stomach is one part of a person. Here “thirty hungry stomachs” means thirty hungry people.
| Figure | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) Personification | human qualities or actions given to a thing, an animal or an idea | The old ceiling fan sighed and slowly stopped. |
| (2) Synecdoche (answer) | a part stands for the whole (or the whole for a part) | The farmer hired ten hands for the harvest. |
| (3) Metaphor | a hidden comparison: it says one thing is another, without “like” or “as” | In a tight match, our captain is a rock for the team. |
| (4) Hyperbole | a big exaggeration made for effect | We stood at the bus stop for half our lives before the bus came. |