Match each short prose excerpt on the left with the dominant literary device or feature of diction it demonstrates on the right.
- "When word reached the compound that the grand patriarch had finally answered the call of his ancestors and laid down to rest, the elders quietly gathered for the funeral rites."Euphemism
- "And the red dust rose in thick billows, and the cattle stumbled through the dry riverbed, and the scorching sun beat down without pity, and the herdsmen kept marching onward."Polysyndeton
- "The plantation overseer stood before the iron gates at dawn, counting forty weary hands eager to begin the day's harvesting."Synecdoche
- "Having lost his entire farm, his three storage barns, and all his livestock to the raging inferno, the old farmer mildly observed that the fire was a minor inconvenience."Litotes
Answer
The prose excerpts match as follows: the passage describing the patriarch's death matches Euphemism; the passage repeating the conjunction 'and' matches Polysyndeton; the passage using 'hands' for workers matches Synecdoche; and the passage calling devastating destruction a 'minor inconvenience' matches Litotes.
Each excerpt demonstrates a distinct prose device: substituting 'answered the call of his ancestors' for dying is euphemism; repeating 'and' continuously across clauses is polysyndeton; using physical 'hands' to represent laborers is synecdoche; and calling complete ruin a 'minor inconvenience' is litotes.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Identification and analysis of figurative language, stylistic syntax, and diction in prose literature.