₦airaland Forum

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mickeyIso: which doznt change my answer.

Mickey, and this is because you are looking at the literary meaning of the statement and NOT the figurative meaning.

This is how you see it.. Let's liken the career to a movie. An action movie at that. E.g Commando.

Remember after his daughter was kidnapped n all that, n it got to a scene where he got to the entrance of the village/city. He did things like putting his weapon in place, filling several kinds of ammunition into his pockets, painted his face n looked set for war.

You watching the movie would term that particular scene as 'the beginning of the end' of the movie.. Because, it's what it is.

Isn't that what we called "last fight" back then? Lol..it sure is.

Now that, my friend is how you see the beginning of the end.. You see the literary meaning which shouldn't be so.

Remember before Lord Jesus was killed, he went down on His knees.. N prayed to God, " if Thou willeth, let this cup pass from me."

Does the "cup" mean the cup we drink from? no! But just a metaphor for His suffering & death.

You shouldn't always look at the literary meanings of words..bro, if you do that, You kill literature.

And I hope my analogy wasn't hard to understand?

lol...I don come here this morning dey come witness comedy..Very funny. I for no like involve myself o, make people no con begin hate me more, but I have to..afterall, we are here to learn.

Someone said the answer is Euphemism.

Now what is Euphemism?

Euphemism is a figure of speech in which an upleasant thing/situation is expressed in a more pleasant way.

E.g The popular example... "The man kicked the bucket" .

In other words... The man died.

Another popular example.. " The girl has been deflowered..

In other words.. "The girl has been disvirgined"

Now what's the sentence of discord ..lol
This is the beginning of the end of my career.

Now..look at that definition of Euphemism n look at the statement itself.

Yea, as at first glance..one may think it's euphemism.

But is the speaker intending to express his predicament in a more pleasant way ?.

No! He is saying the situation exactly as it is.. 'This is it!' 'this is the end for me'

if he wanted to Euphemize the statement(i.e make it look pleasant) .. He would have said something entirely different.

Or would you tell me.. "end of career" sounds pleasant to you.

Now over to Oxymoron.

Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two seemingly contradictory words are placed side by side .

For the red coloured words.. "contradictory"...in other words ; "Opposite"

e.g good/evil, tall/short, etc

N.B; the words must not necessarily be opposite to eachother. But should atleast "seem" opposite.

E.g necessary/evil.. Nice/fool

And for the blue coloured words.. "placed side by side"

Now, that's the major aspect of oxymoron people neglect.

The words MUST be placed side by side/combined.

E.g evil good, nice fool, falsely true etc

Using them in a sentence, we have something like..

1. The gun is a necessary evil.
2. Mr. Eze is a nice fool.

Oh! I forgot to mention what "self-contradictory" .means

In a lame man's words.. It's like saying, "Jonathan dey try o..but he no dey do anything"
(This is a paradox by the way)

what has he succeeded in doing? Contradicted himself!

N if you scrutinize that "This is the beginning of the end"..

The contradictory words isn't really combined/placed side by side.

In conclusion, an oxymoron is purely based on Self-contradictory words combined/joined together.

And now, Paradox.

Paradox is a figure of speech in which an expression may seem self contradictory, maybe absurd at an instance/first glance but when examined closely, it contains alot of truth.

lol...dont mind the definition, I don't cram much.

e.g The popular example, "The boy is the father of the man".

At first glance, you may think that's absurb. But if you examine it closely, you would see the truth therein. "the boy is the one taking care of the man"

Do I also need to state the self contradiction therein? It's obvious

Another popular example from the Bible.

Jesus said.. "Anyone who saves his life will lose it, but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it"

it may seem absurd right? But examine it n if you still don't get it..lemme know.

And the statement in question.

This is the beginning of the end of my career.

Hmmm.. I bet the answer is now clear to you?

If it isn't..look at the definition again, atleast it's self explanatory.


And ehmmm, someone said it's Anthithesis.. Which is somehow correct, but I'd still say..not entirely correct..lol, another figure of speech just used.

I really can't remember or give a coherent definition of Anthithesis at the moment, but I'd give an example which you may use in getting the meaning.

" United we stand....divided we fall"


In anthithesis, Yes! Contradiction exists but the difference is.. One set of words is placed against another.

Which exists in the aforementioned example.


Just reason around it.


The truth is, these figure of speech that makes use of contradictions (Oxymoron, Paradox, Anthithesis ) could pose one or two problem most times.

With that said, A single statement may have up to 10 figure of speech.. It must not necessary be one. Tho' you need to find the most suitable one before picking your answer.

And if I come across a question like that.

What figure of speech is used in the statement below.

"This is the beginning of the end of my career"

A. Euphemism
B. Oxymoron
C. Paradox
D. Anthithesis


without thinking twice, I'd pick C. Because, it is the most suitable answer.


I hope I have not offended anyone?