Choose the correct pair of figures of speech for the given sentence:
The silence screamed louder than any voice in the room.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Personification & Oxymoron
The figures of speech in the options:
- Personification: giving human qualities or actions to something that is not human.
- Oxymoron: putting together two words of opposite meaning for effect (deafening silence, sweet sorrow).
- Hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration for effect.
- Synecdoche: a part used for the whole, or the whole for a part ("all hands on deck" for all sailors).
- Onomatopoeia: a word that imitates the sound it names (buzz, hiss).
- Simile: a comparison using "like" or "as". Metaphor: a direct comparison without them.
- This sentence: silence cannot scream, so giving it a human act is personification. "Silence" and "screamed" are opposites joined together, which makes an oxymoron.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Hyperbole & Synecdoche — Incorrect. "Louder than any voice" has a touch of exaggeration, but nothing stands for a part or a whole, so there is no synecdoche, and the pair misses both devices that the sentence is built on.
Option 2: Personification & Onomatopoeia — Incorrect. Personification is present, but "screamed" names a sound. It does not imitate one, so there is no onomatopoeia.
Option 3: Simile & Metaphor — Incorrect. There is no "like" or "as", so there is no simile. And silence is not said to be something else, so there is no plain metaphor.
Contrast: personification gives a human action to a thing (silence “screamed”). An oxymoron joins two opposite ideas (silence and screaming). Here one phrase does both.