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GATE 2024 XH2 (English) – Question 39

Literary Forms, Genres, and Modes of Expression · Aesthetic and Rhetorical Strategies: Narrative and poetic techniques, and figures of speech · 1 mark · Multiple choice

The literary term ‘apostrophe’ denotes:

  1. A comparison of an abstract idea with its opposite.
  2. An address to a person, or a personified idea or power.
  3. A break within an iambic pentameter.
  4. The possession of a character by a spirit.

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Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: (B) An address to a person, or a personified idea or power.

Explanation

An apostrophe is a figure in which the speaker addresses an absent person or a personified idea (“O Death, where is thy sting?”).