Personification

What do these three sentences have in common? "The ancient car groaned into third gear." "The cloud scattered rain throughout the city." "The tropical storm slept for two days."

The ancient car groaned into third gear? Can a car groan?

"The cloud scattered rain throughout the city." Do clouds scatter things?

"The tropical storm slept for two days." Do storms sleep?

Personification! A figure of speech that gives the qualities of a person to an animal, an object, or an idea. Example: “The wind yelled all night long.” The wind cannot yell. Only a living thing can yell. This is personification! Ask students to take out their notes and write down the definition and an example.

Examples of Personification The moon smiled down upon the sleeping city. Can the moon smile?

Examples of Personification The piano sang a beautiful song to all in the audience. Can a piano actually sing?

Examples of Personification My computer hates me. Does a computer have emotions?

Examples of Personification The camera loves me.

Examples of Personification Opportunity knocked on the door.

Examples of Personification The sun greeted me this morning

Practice on Handout! Read each sentence. Underline the object being personified. Describe what the sentence means.

Personifying Objects For the object, give it a human characteristic. Leaves on a windy day. Example: The leaves danced in the breeze.

Personifying Objects For the object, give it a human characteristic. A light bulb. Example: The light bulb happily smiled upon the room.

Personifying Objects For the object, give it a human characteristic. An alarm clock. Example: The alarm clock shouted at me early in the morning.

Practice on Handout Personify the sentences! Rewrite each sentence and change the words in parentheses to words that would describe a human's actions.

Why do author’s use personification? Personification creates imagery! What is imagery? How does personification help create images in our minds as we read? Personification gives life to inanimate things; we can visualize their characteristics through likening them to a human.

How do similes and metaphors create imagery? Quick Review What is a simile? What is a metaphor? How do similes and metaphors create imagery?

Which type of figurative language? Simile? Metaphor? Personification? We would have had more pizza to eat if Tammy hadn’t been such a hog. * What is being compared? * What does this mean? * What imagery does this create in a reader’s mind? Metaphor Tammy & Hog Tammy ate more than her share. We see a large, gluttonous woman stuffing her face with pizza.

Which type of figurative language? Simile? Metaphor? Personification? The front door screeched as I slowly opened it to sneak into my house. * What is being compared? * What does this mean? * What imagery does this create in a reader’s mind? Personification. Door and Human. The made a sound like someone screaming. We see the impossibly loud door slowing being opened.

Which type of figurative language? Simile? Metaphor? Personification? Physical exercise is like medicine for some people. * What is being compared? * What does this mean? * What imagery does this create in a reader’s mind? Simile Exercise and Medicine Exercise makes people better. People feeling better after working out.

Practice Chart on Handout Ode to Mi Gato