Select the Figure of Speech in the following sentence from the options given below:
Am I my brother's keeper?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Rhetorical Question
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Cain’s reply in the Bible when asked where his brother was) expects no answer. It means “I am not responsible for my brother”.
| Option | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) Exclamation | a sudden cry of strong feeling, usually with "O", "Alas" or an exclamation mark. The sentence is a question, not a cry of feeling. | Alas, the ship has sunk! |
| (2) Rhetorical Question (answer) | A rhetorical question is a question asked for effect, not to get an answer. The answer is already understood. | Who does not love a holiday? |
| (3) Personification | Personification gives human qualities to non-human things. The sentence speaks only of people. | The sun smiled on the fields. |
| (4) Oxymoron | An oxymoron puts two opposite words together. There are no such words in the sentence. | It was an open secret in the office. |