Identify the figure of speech used in the following sentence:
“The silence screamed louder than their arguments.”
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Personification
Personification:
- It gives human actions, feelings or qualities to things that are not human: objects, animals, ideas or forces of nature.
- This sentence: only a person can scream, yet here silence screams. The heavy silence after the quarrel is felt more sharply than the noisy arguments, and the human action makes that feeling vivid.
Example: The old door groaned as it opened.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Anaphora — Incorrect. Anaphora is the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines or clauses; no word is repeated in this sentence.
Example: We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds.
Option 3: Hyperbole — Incorrect.
- Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration for effect.
- "Louder than their arguments" compares, but the figure rests on silence doing what only a person can do; nothing is merely blown up in size or amount.
Example: I have told you this a million times.
Option 4: Metaphor — Incorrect. A metaphor calls one thing another ("A is B") without "like" or "as"; silence is not called something else here, it is given a human action.
Example: Time is a thief.