Identify the figure of speech used in the following expression:
“The savage roar of the cruel ocean waves...”
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Personification
The ocean waves are called "savage" and "cruel", words for the nature of a person, and they "roar" like a living creature.
| Option | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) Apostrophe | a direct address to someone absent or to a thing or idea, usually beginning with "O". The waves are described here, not spoken to. | "O Sea, take my boat safely home." |
| (2) Transferred Epithet | A transferred epithet moves an adjective from the person it describes to a thing connected with that person, as in "sleepless night" (the person, not the night, was without sleep). "Cruel waves" gives the waves a human quality of their own, so it is personification. | He spent a sleepless night before the examination. |
| (3) Personification (answer) | Personification: it gives human qualities, feelings or actions to things that are not human. | The angry storm tore the roofs off the huts. |
| (4) Metaphor | A metaphor says that one thing is another to compare them, without "like" or "as". The expression does not call the waves something else. | Time is a thief that steals our youth. |