The giving of human qualities to an animal, object, or idea is called what?

• A. Metaphor
• B. Analogy
• C. Personification
• D. Simile

Answer: (C)

Giving human qualities to an animal, object, or idea is personification. It brings things to life in writing by treating them as if they have thoughts, feelings, or actions like a person. For example, "The wind whispered through the trees" assigns the human action of whispering to the wind, and "The sun smiled down on us" gives the sun a friendly expression. This is what makes the technique distinct from metaphor, which makes a direct, often symbolic comparison (like "The world is a stage"), and from a simile, which compares using like or as (such as "brave as a lion"). An analogy, on the other hand, is a broader comparison used to explain a relationship, not specifically about giving human traits to non-human things.