Read this excerpt from "the open boat" by stephen crane: the correspondent looked over his shoulder at the captain. his face was hidden, and he seemed to be asleep. he looked at the babes of the sea. they certainly were asleep. so, being bereft of sympathy, he leaned a little way to one side and swore softly into the sea. which figure of speech is used in the phrase "babes of the sea"? a. pace b. simile c. diction d. metaphor e. syntax

Lettre D. Metaphor would be correct.

A metaphor occurs when someone substitute a word's usual meaning by another, applied only through implied comparison, with the intention of giving a somewhat poetic tone to the message.

Although it's not clear by the excerpt provided what meaning the author actually meant to imply for 'babes of the sea', it is clear that 'babes' in this expression do not carry its orginal meaning ('child'; 'girl').

the purpose of the heading in the passage is to identify who is telling the story.

this excerpt is part of the book sugar changed the world (2010) written by marc aronson and marina budhos. as the book has been written by two people, the heading "marc" indicates that this specific excerpt is being narrated by aronson. in the fragment, marc describes his grandfather's story after hearing it from his cousin. however, there are other excerpts where budhos is the one that tells the story of her family.

aronson and budhos, who are husband and wife in real life, decided to write sugar changed the world when they found out how sugar, which had an important role in slavery and economy, changed their ancestors' lives.