Question

Select the correct text in the passage.

Answer 1

The following excerpt from Carl Sandburg's 'How the Animals Lost Their Tails and Got Them Back Traveling from Philadelphia to Medicine Hat' uses repetition and alliteration:

1. A big wind blew up and blew and blew till all the tails of the animals blew off.

Explanation:

The term 'alliteration' refers to the same sound or alphabet or letter repeating itself in close succession within a sentence. In other words, when the same consonant sounds occur closely one after the other in different words of a sentence, it is known as alliteration.

Carl Sandburg is well known to use several literary techniques and technical devices to enhance the structure of his stories. Alliteration and repetition are some of them, in addition to onomatopoeia (forming a word with the sound associated with it, e.g. sizzle), and certain playful non-existent/unusual words (e.g. scritch scratch).

These techniques lend a sort of playfulness to the narrative, making it more engaging to the readers.

Answer 2

Repetition: A big wind blew up and blew and blew till all the tails of the animals blew off.

Alliteration: Four hundred smokestacks stood in a row and tubs on tubs of sooty black soot marched out.

Explanation:

In literary work, repetition occurs when same words are being repeated. It simply means using the same phrase or word multiple times. The sentence 'A big wind blew up and blew and blew till all the tails of the animals blew off' uses repetition since it uses the word 'blew' one than once.

Alliteration on the other hand is a figure of speech where the same letter or sound occurs. It simply means the repetition of consonant sounds. The sentence 'Four hundred smokestacks stood in a row and tubs on tubs of sooty black soot marched out' makes use of alliteration where the words stood, sooty, and soot makes same consonant sound.