Choose the correct figure of speech used in the sentence from the options given below:-
The daffodils bade the fly goodbye.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Personification
Personification is a figure of speech that gives human qualities or actions to a thing, an animal or an idea. To bid someone goodbye is a human act; the daffodils are shown saying goodbye to the fly, so the device is personification.
Example: The stars winked at us from the night sky.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: Metaphor — Incorrect. A metaphor compares two things by saying that one is the other, without "like" or "as". The daffodils are not called something else; they are given a human action.
Example: Time is a thief that steals our youth.
Option 3: Transferred Epithet — Incorrect. A transferred epithet moves an adjective from the person it describes to a nearby thing. The sentence has no such adjective.
Example: He spent a sleepless night before the exam.
Option 4: Metonymy — Incorrect. Metonymy uses the name of a thing closely linked with something to stand for it. "The daffodils" mean only the flowers here, not something linked to them.
Example: The pen is mightier than the sword.
Contrast: personification gives a thing a human action (the daffodils bade goodbye); a metaphor says one thing is another (time is a thief).