Select the Figure of Speech in the following sentence from options given below:
He passed a sleepless night.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Transferred Epithet
In “He passed a sleepless night”, it is the man who did not sleep. A night cannot sleep. The adjective has been transferred from the man to the night.
| Option | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) Pun | a play on a word that has two meanings, or on two words that sound alike, usually for humour. No word in the sentence is used in two senses. | A bicycle cannot stand on its own because it is two-tired. |
| (2) Metaphor | A metaphor calls one thing another to compare them. The sentence makes no comparison. | Time is a thief. |
| (3) Transferred Epithet (answer) | An epithet is a describing word. In a transferred epithet it is moved from the person it really describes to a thing connected with that person. | She spent an anxious hour waiting for the result. |
| (4) Hyperbole | exaggeration for effect. Spending a night without sleep is not an exaggeration. | My bag weighs a ton. |