Question

Read the following excerpt from Mark Twain's "I Sell a Dog":

Three dollars? Only three dollars? Why that dog is a most
uncommon dog; he can't possibly be worth less than fifty.
If he were mine, I wouldn't take a hundred for him.
Which comedic technique does this excerpt best illustrate?
A. Understatement
B. Irony
C. Hyperbole
D. Sarcasm

Answer 1

C. Hyperbole

Step-by-step explanation:

Hyperbole is a rhetorical device that uses exaggerated statements to make a point or claim. Hyperbole is often used to catch a reader's and listener's attention with its exaggerated and overstatements. Some examples of hyperbole are:

• I've seen the movie a hundred times.
• She reached home faster than the speed of light.
• I wouldn't sell my cat for a million dollars.

Likewise, in the following excerpt, Mark Twain used the rhetorical device of Hyperbole by stating that if it were him, he wouldn't sell the dog even for hundred of dollars. He emphasizes the preciousness of the dog through the comedic technique of Hyperbole.