What rhetorical technique is demonstrated by placing contrasting concepts side by side, as in: 'Speech is silver, but silence is golden'?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. Antithesis
- Step 1: Antithesis is a rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect, often using parallel grammatical structure.
- Step 2: 'Speech' vs 'silence' and 'silver' vs 'golden' represent classic antithetical pairs.
Answer
Antithesis.
Why not the others: 'Hyperbole' involves deliberate, exaggerated claims not meant to be taken literally; 'Personification' gives human qualities to non-human entities; 'Onomatopoeia' refers to words that phonetically imitate the sound they describe.
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