Figure of Speech Based Questions - 4 | English for CLAT PDF Download

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
Anna Pavlovna’s drawing-room was gradually filling. The highest Petersburg society was assembled there: people differing widely in age and character but alike in the social circle to which they belonged. Prince Vasili’s daughter, the beautiful Hélène, came to take her father to the ambassador’s entertainment; she wore a ball dress and her badge as maid of honour. The youthful little Princess Bolkonskaya, known as la femme la plus séduisante de Pétersbourg,5 was also there. She had been married during the previous winter, and being pregnant did not go out in high society, but only to small receptions.
Prince Vasili’s son, Ippolit, had come with Mortemart, whom he introduced. The Abbé Morio and many others had also come. To each new arrival Anna Pavlovna said, ‘You have not yet seen my aunt’, or ‘You do not know ma tante?’, and very gravely conducted him or her to a little old lady, wearing large bows of ribbons in her cap, who had come sailing in from another room as soon as the guests began to arrive; and slowly turning her eyes from the visitor to ma tante, Anna Pavlovna mentioned each one’s name and then left them.
Each visitor performed the ceremony of greeting this old aunt who not one of them knew, not one of them wanted to know, and not one of them cared about; Anna Pavlovna observed these greetings with mournful and solemn interest and silent approval. The aunt spoke to each of them in the same words, about their health and her own, and the health of her Majesty, ‘who, thank God, was better today’. And each visitor, though politeness prevented his showing impatience, left the old woman with a sense of relief at having performed a vexatious duty and did not return to her the whole evening.
The young Princess Bolkonskaya had brought some work in a goldembroidered velvet bag. Her pretty little upper lip, on which a delicate dark down was just perceptible, was too short for her teeth, but it lifted all the more sweetly, and was especially charming when she occasionally drew it down to meet the lower lip.
As is always the case with a thoroughly attractive woman, her defect—the shortness of her upper lip and her half open mouth—seemed to be her own special and peculiar form of beauty. Everyone brightened at the sight of this pretty young woman, so soon to become a mother, so full of life and health, and carrying her burden so lightly.
Old men and dull, dispirited young ones who looked at her, after being in her company and talking to her a little while, felt as if they too were becoming, like her, full of life and health.
[Extracts from WAR AND PEACE Translated with Notes by LOUISE and AYLMER MAUDE Revised and Edited with an Introduction by AMY MANDELKER]
Q1: In the excerpt, "The highest Petersburg society was assembled there," what figure of speech is used?
(a) Metaphor
(b) Simile
(c) Hyperbole
(d) Personification
Ans: (c)
Sol: Hyperbole is an exaggeration used for emphasis or effect. Here, the term "highest Petersburg society" is an exaggeration to emphasize the social status and importance of the people gathered.

Q2: The phrase "her defect—the shortness of her upper lip and her half-open mouth—seemed to be her own special and peculiar form of beauty" is an example of which figure of speech?
(a) Oxymoron
(b) Irony
(c) Paradox
(d) Metonymy
Ans: (c)
Sol: A paradox is a statement that appears self-contradictory but reveals a deeper truth. Describing a defect as a form of beauty is paradoxical, as defects are typically not associated with beauty.

Q3: In the line "Old men and dull, dispirited young ones who looked at her," what figure of speech is evident?
(a) Alliteration
(b) Anaphora
(c) Allusion
(d) Antithesis
Ans: (a)
Sol: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. In this case, the repetition of the 'd' sound in "dull, dispirited" is an example of alliteration.

Q4: The phrase "carrying her burden so lightly" when referring to the young Princess Bolkonskaya's pregnancy is an example of what figure of speech?
(a) Metaphor
(b) Simile
(c) Euphemism
(d) Synecdoche
Ans: (c)
Sol: A euphemism is a mild or indirect word or expression used in place of one considered to be too harsh or blunt. Referring to pregnancy as "carrying her burden" is a euphemism.

Q5: What figure of speech is used in the phrase "Anna Pavlovna observed these greetings with mournful and solemn interest"?
(a) Personification
(b) Hyperbole
(c) Metaphor
(d) Onomatopoeia
Ans: (a)
Sol: Personification is attributing human characteristics to non-human entities. Here, "mournful and solemn interest" personifies Anna Pavlovna's observation, giving it emotional qualities.