Question

In this quote about personal essays from author Barry Lopez, which words are an oxymoron?

It is, I think, the rarest of leisure, hard work mixed with hard pleasure, to refine one's time of deep thought or light regard into the utterly self-absorbed and equally and abundantly outward-seeking shape of the personal essay—a story comprised of found fact, of analyzed emotion, of fictive memory.

hard work


hard pleasure


deep thought


outward-seeking

Answer 1

The correct answer is B.

An Oxymoron is a rethorical device in which two contradictory words are combined.

The word "hard" refers to something difficult that has to be done with a great effort.

This definition does not concur with the word "pleasure", which refers to a feeling of satisfaction and enjoyment.

By putting these two words together, Barry Lopez is creating an oxymoron.

Answer 2

The correct option is HARD PLEASURE.

An oxymoron refers to a compound word (two words written together) whose meaning are contradictory to each other. The two words that are used together in oxymoron usually have completely opposite meaning and authors usually use it to engage the interest of the readers. For instance in the correct option mentioned above, hard and pleasure has opposite meanings. Other examples of oxymoron are: same difference, bitter sweet, alone together, open secret, original copy, etc.