From the given options, select the Figure of Speech (Poetic Device) used in the expression.
The cunning saint cheated the devotees
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Oxymoron
Oxymoron:
- An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two words of opposite or contradictory meaning are placed together.
- This sentence: a saint is a holy, good and honest person, while cunning means clever in a deceitful way. “Cunning saint” joins two ideas that contradict each other.
Example: Their engagement was an open secret in the office.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Pun — Incorrect. A pun is a play on a word with two meanings; no word in the sentence has a double meaning.
Example: The baker stopped making doughnuts because he was tired of the hole business.
Option 2: Personification — Incorrect. Personification gives human qualities to non-human things. The saint is already a person, so nothing is personified.
Example: The flowers nodded in the breeze.
Option 3: Simile — Incorrect. There is no comparison with “like” or “as” in the sentence.
Example: The water was as cold as ice.
Contrast: two contradictory words placed together (cunning saint) make an oxymoron; a pun plays on one word with two meanings.