Choose the sentences that are correct examples of Hyperbole and Oxymoron:
A. The smell of burnt food will not clear out even if we spray all the perfumes from Arabia.
B. There was a deafening silence in the auditorium.
C. The stage was filled with talented faces.
D. Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → A and B
- Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration for effect, not meant to be taken literally.
Example: I have told you a million times to shut the door. - Oxymoron places two contradictory words side by side.
Example: The film left me with a bittersweet feeling.
(A) The smell of burnt food will not clear out even if we spray all the perfumes from Arabia. — Correct.
- No one could literally spray "all the perfumes from Arabia".
- The line exaggerates how strong the smell is, so it is a hyperbole.
(B) There was a deafening silence in the auditorium. — Correct.
- "Deafening" means extremely loud and "silence" means no sound at all.
- The two contradictory words together form an oxymoron.
(C) The stage was filled with talented faces. — Incorrect.
- "Faces" stands for the people on the stage, a part for the whole, so it is synecdoche, not a hyperbole or an oxymoron.
(D) Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. — Incorrect.
- This line from John F. Kennedy's inaugural address (1961) repeats words in reverse order in its second half, which is chiasmus, not a hyperbole or an oxymoron.
Contrast: a hyperbole exaggerates and an oxymoron joins two contradictory words. Synecdoche uses a part for the whole, and chiasmus repeats words in reverse order.