Question

Which of the following sentences draws a metaphor?

• A. Karl Marx argued that the interests of two classes, the proletariat and the bourgeois, are always in conflict and irreconcilable.
• B. Karl Marx labelled the capitalist a parasite on the back of labour because the whole value of the produce created by the labouring man was expropriated by the capitalist.
• C. Weber held that the protestant ethic was responsible for the rise of capitalism in medieval Europe.
• D. Galbraith argued for a better balance between private affluence and public poverty, including measures to protect the environment against the excesses of private companies.

Hint:

Look for a word from one domain (like biology) applied directly to describe something else; that direct labeling is the metaphor.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Scan each sentence for a word used outside its literal meaning to make an implicit comparison; that word signals a metaphor.

1. Option A: Every word here is used in its normal, literal sense (classes, conflict, interests); no figurative substitution happens.
2. Option B: The word "parasite" does not literally apply to a capitalist, a parasite is an organism, a capitalist is a person. Using "parasite" here transfers the idea of living off another's labour onto the capitalist, which is the textbook definition of a metaphor.
3. Option C: A straightforward statement of a historical theory, with no figurative language at all.
4. Option D: Uses ordinary policy language (affluence, poverty, environment) in its literal sense; there is no image being borrowed from one domain to describe another.

Only option B substitutes a literal word (parasite) from a different domain (biology) to describe a person (the capitalist), which is what makes it a metaphor.

Let's summarize:

• Look for a word borrowed from another domain and applied directly to something else.
• "Parasite" applied to the capitalist (option B) is this borrowing.
• The other sentences use only literal, direct language.

The answer is option B.