Choose the correct figure of speech used in the following sentence:
Why, man, if the river were dry, I am able to fill it with tears.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Hyperbole
The line is spoken by Launce in Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Act 2, Scene 3). No one can fill a dry river with tears. The impossible claim stresses how much he is weeping.
| Option | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) Epigram | a short, witty saying that puts a truth in a surprising way. The line is an overstatement of grief, not a witty truth. | I can resist everything except temptation. |
| (2) Hyperbole (answer) | Hyperbole means deliberate exaggeration for emphasis, not meant to be taken literally. | I have told you a million times to shut the door. |
| (3) Personification | Personification gives human qualities to non-human things. Nothing non-human acts like a person here. | The wind whispered through the trees. |
| (4) Apostrophe | a direct address to an absent person, an idea or an object. "Man" is a person present in the conversation, so this is ordinary speech. | O Death, where is thy sting? |