GCEEnglish LanguageIdioms and Figures of Speech2024

Identify the figure of speech in the following sentence: 'The market was a beehive of activity on Saturday morning.'

APersonification
BHyperbole
CMetaphorCORRECT
DSimile
AI
Toaster Teacher
Why the answer is C, and why the others tempt you.
The sentence uses a metaphor because it directly equates the market to a beehive without using 'like' or 'as'. A simile would require a comparative word. Personification attributes human qualities to non-human things, which is not the case here.
Want this in Pidgin, Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa? Sign up free →

Practice more English Language questions

GCE English Language has thousands more questions like this — with Worked answers on every one.