Personification and hyperbole · Grade 5
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.