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In President Barack Obama's 2009 inaugural State of the Union address, he states, "Our citizens, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid for liberty."

What rhetorical device did he use in this statement?

assonance
hyperbole
figurative language
irony

1 Answer

4 votes

Answer:

A). Assonance

Step-by-step explanation:

Assonance is characterized as the literary device in which the author employs a 'repetition of similar or identical vowel sounds usually with distinct consonants' to lay stress on specific syllables and emphasize the message.

In the given excerpt form former U.S. president Barack Obama's 2009 inaugural address, assononance has been employed as the vowel 'e'(in 'citizens, seared, memory, we, well, liberty') and 'o'(in our, memory, those, lost, know, too, etc.) have been constantly repeated to highlight the speaker's intention that neither he nor his people will forget 'what they have lost.'

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