Success of a Knife in Literature

What does the line "the knife… had not wholly failed" mean?

a) The knife was completely useless.

b) The knife partially succeeded.

c) The knife was very sharp.

d) The knife was too small.

Final answer:

The phrase 'the knife… had not wholly failed' means that the knife partially succeeded in its task. It was not completely successful but was not entirely useless either. Option B is correct.

The line 'the knife… had not wholly failed' is denotative language that indicates that the knife achieved some of its intended purpose, but did not completely succeed. Drawing from the phrase, it means that the knife did not fully meet the expectations, but it was not utterly useless either. The correct answer is therefore b) The knife partially succeeded.

For example, if the knife was being used to cut something, it might have managed to slice through some of it, but perhaps not as efficiently or completely as desired. This is a common literary tool used to express the degree of success of a certain entity or action, in this case, the usefulness of a knife in a particular situation.