Question

Difficulty: MediumFigurative Language and Figures of Speech in Context

Read the excerpt below from a passage on urban public transit:

"During the morning peak hour, the old city bus groaned under the weight of over two hundred commuters, its tires screaming in protest as it negotiated the sharp bend near the central terminal."

In the passage excerpt above, the phrase "its tires screaming in protest" is used figuratively to

  1. personify the tires to emphasize the severe physical mechanical strain placed on the vehicle.Answer
  2. B
    report that the passengers inside the bus were vocalizing panic due to reckless driving.
  3. C
    indicate that the vehicle was equipped with an automated audible emergency alarm.
  4. D
    prove that the transport management intentionally overloaded the vehicle to cause an accident.

Answer

The phrase personifies the tires to emphasize the severe physical mechanical strain placed on the vehicle.
The expression 'screaming in protest' endows inanimate rubber tires with human emotional actions (screaming, protesting). Contextually, this personification vividly communicates the extreme noise and mechanical friction produced when an overloaded bus negotiates a turn.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the target expression in the excerpt
The phrase to analyze is 'its tires screaming in protest'.
Locating the exact excerpt is necessary for contextual analysis.
2
Analyze the literary device used
Attributing human actions ('screaming', 'protest') to an inanimate object ('tires') constitutes personification.
Determining the figure of speech clarifies the writer's stylistic technique.
3
Deduce the contextual meaning of the personification
The high-pitched screeching noise of tires taking a sharp corner while overloaded conveys intense mechanical stress.
Figures of speech serve to heighten imagery and convey specific contextual conditions.

Key Concept

Contextual Interpretation of Personification
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