Do you have what it takes to identify the dissonance in this excerpt?

“The dog barked loudly at the passersby, startling them into a frenzy of motion.”

Dissonance in music, or any art form, often involves two or more different sounds or tones that clash against one another when heard together. Similarly, dissonance in literature or language is typically characterized by a lack of harmony between two ideas. When attempting to identify a dissonant phrase in a piece of text, the reader should be looking for a disconnect between the ideas being expressed.

In the given sentence, the phrase that could be considered dissonant is “startling them into a frenzy of motion”. The suddenness and intensity of the dog’s barking is juxtaposed against the initial reaction of being startled. This creates a discordant effect suggesting that the suddenness of the event was unexpected and chaotic.

Ultimately, finding dissonance in a statement requires a keen eye and a willingness to dissect the meaning of each phrase. With that being said, the answer to the question, “What is the dissonant phrase in the given excerpt?”, is “startling them into a frenzy of motion”.