"The whole house was constantly in a state of inundation, under the discipline of mops and brooms and scrubbing brushes; and the
good housewives of those days were a kind of amphibious animal, delighting exceedingly to be dabbling in water ..." In this selection, the use of the word inundation is probably _____. exaggerated literal
The correct answer is "In this selection, the use of the word <em>inundation</em> is probably exaggerated."
In this situation, inundation is not a real inundation/flood, therefore it is not literal. It is a word used to exaggerate the fact that the housewives are constantly cleaning the house, sweeping and mopping. You can see that too in the excerpt <em>"under the discipline of mops and brooms". </em>We know the author is referring to the cleaning process and therefore, chooses to use the word <em>inundation</em> to create more depth to what he's describing.
