When a person has a wooden leg, we are apt to say, ‘He has a wooden leg’. Now this wooden leg is... (i)…
Both literal and metaphorical is the most reflective reading: wooden literally identifies material, while leg extends a bodily term to an artificial substitute. In ordinary…
Choose your answer
When a person has a wooden leg, we are apt to say, ‘He has a wooden leg’. Now this wooden leg is...
(i) literal
(ii)metaphorical
(iii)ambiguous
(iv)neither literal nor metaphorical
Answer and explanation
Correct answer A
Both literal and metaphorical is the most reflective reading: wooden literally identifies material, while leg extends a bodily term to an artificial substitute. In ordinary usage wooden leg is also a lexicalised literal name for a prosthesis, which makes literal alone defensible. Metaphorical alone omits the literal material reference; ambiguous together with neither literal nor metaphorical is internally unhelpful. The unstated level of linguistic analysis requires review.
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