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Question

Difficulty: MediumFigurative Use of Language and Connotations

Match each excerpt containing a figurative expression in Column A with its corresponding literary device or underlying connotative meaning in Column B.

  • The negotiator's calm demeanor during the heated debate was an anchor in a raging storm.Metaphor comparing emotional stability to a stabilizing marine weight
  • The company announced that several senior officers were being 'relieved of their duties' following the audit.Euphemism used to disguise the harsh reality of dismissal from employment
  • The greedy flames swallowed the ancient timber framing of the cathedral within minutes.Personification attributing voracious human appetite to a destructive force
  • Despite their fierce rivalry on court, the two tennis players agreed to bury the hatchet.Idiomatic expression signifying the formal end of a quarrel and reconciliation

Answer

The correct pairings match the anchor excerpt with the metaphor for emotional stability, the 'relieved of duties' excerpt with the euphemism for termination, the greedy flames excerpt with personification of fire, and 'bury the hatchet' with the idiom for reconciliation.
Each excerpt accurately corresponds to its specified device and meaning: an implicit comparison creates a metaphor, a softened expression forms a euphemism, human traits given to fire create personification, and the established phrase for making peace forms an idiom.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Examine the phrase 'an anchor in a raging storm' in the first excerpt.
Directly compares emotional steadiness to an anchor without comparative conjunctions.
Direct implicit comparison defines a metaphor.
2
Examine the phrase 'relieved of their duties' in the second excerpt.
Identifies an agreeable expression used in place of an offensive or harsh term (termination).
Softening unpleasant truths is the primary function of a euphemism.
3
Examine the phrase 'greedy flames swallowed' in the third excerpt.
Identifies human traits of appetite and eating applied to an inanimate element (fire).
Assigning human qualities to non-human entities defines personification.
4
Examine the phrase 'bury the hatchet' in the fourth excerpt.
Recognizes a non-literal fixed expression meaning to end a conflict.
An expression whose collective meaning differs from literal constituent words is an idiom.

Key Concept

Identifying figures of speech and analyzing connotative meanings in context.
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Topics

Figurative Use of Language and Connotations

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