Personification and hyperbole

Personification gives a thing, an animal or an idea human actions or feelings: ⟦The wind whispered through the trees.⟧ Hyperbole is a huge exaggeration that nobody takes literally: ⟦I've told you a million times!⟧ Both make writing more vivid.

Key facts

• Personification: a thing does something only a person can do: ⟦The sun smiled.⟧ ⟦The old door groaned.⟧ ⟦The stars winked.⟧
• Personification helps the reader picture a scene and feel its mood: ⟦The angry sea⟧ sounds dangerous; ⟦The leaves danced⟧ sounds happy.
• Hyperbole: an exaggeration for effect: ⟦This bag weighs a ton.⟧ ⟦I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.⟧ It means ⟦very heavy⟧, ⟦very hungry⟧.
• Hyperbole shows strong feelings or makes something funny or dramatic. People use it all the time in speech: ⟦We waited for ages.⟧
• Don't mix them up with a simile, which compares using ⟦like⟧ or ⟦as⟧: ⟦The lake was like a mirror.⟧

Worked examples