Printable worksheet for students to practice identifying personification in sentences.

Explanation:
This task asks you to find the *personification* in each sentence. Personification means giving human traits (like feelings, actions, or thoughts) to non-human things — such as animals, objects, or ideas.

Let’s go through each sentence one by one and look for where something *not human* is acting like a person:

1. “The vase shimmered with a gargoyle.”
→ “Shimmered” is something light or surfaces do, but a *vase* doesn’t usually shimmer — it might reflect light, but “shimmered” here sounds more like a living thing catching attention. However, “gargoyle” is a sculpture — not alive — but the phrase is odd. Actually, this likely means the *vase* looked like it had a gargoyle *on* it. No clear personification. Wait — maybe misread. Let’s hold and check others.

But better approach: Look for verbs or descriptions that only people do — e.g., *whispered, cried, laughed, remembered, ran away, felt ashamed*, etc.

2. “The dogs curled up under the gift desk.”
→ Dogs *are* animals, and curling up is natural behavior — not personification.

3. “Then outside, the dusk happened on the glass for reflection.”
→ “The dusk happened” — dusk is time/light; “happened” is neutral. But “happened on the glass for reflection” is awkward. Not clearly personified.

Wait — let’s read carefully. The instruction says: *“Find the personification. DIRECTIONS: Read each sentence. If it uses personification, write YES on the line. If it doesn’t, write NO.”*

So we just need YES or NO per line.

Let’s analyze each properly:

1. “The vase shimmered with a gargoyle.”
→ “Shimmered” can be used for inanimate objects (e.g., water, glass), so not necessarily personification. “With a gargoyle” suggests decoration. No human trait given to non-human. → NO

2. “The dogs curled up under the gift desk.”
→ Dogs are animals; curling is natural. Not personification. → NO

3. “Then outside, the dusk happened on the glass for reflection.”
→ “Dusk happened” — dusk is a time of day; “happened” is passive verb, not human action. Also awkward phrasing — likely *no* personification. → NO

4. “My phone reminded me that I have an appointment.”
→ Phones don’t *remind* on their own — but we say this metaphorically. “Reminded” is a human action. The phone is given a human ability. ✔ This is personification. → YES

5. “The children played with the blocks.”
→ Children are humans. Not personification. → NO

6. “She sank down into the old sofa.”
→ “She” is human; sofa is just being sat on. No personification. → NO

7. “The alarm clock nagged her.”
→ Alarm clocks don’t *nag* — that’s a human behavior (complaining repeatedly). Giving the clock a human trait. ✔ → YES

8. “The path grew trembled with resentment at their abuse.”
→ “Grew trembled” is grammatically off — should be “trembled”, but even so: a *path* trembling with *resentment*? Resentment is a human emotion. Path is non-human. ✔ Strong personification. → YES

9. “The camper cheerfully found the fire she wanted.”
→ “Camper” could mean a person (a person who camps) — then it’s human, not personification. But if “camper” means the *camping vehicle* (RV), then a vehicle “cheerfully found” fire? That would be personification. Given context (“found the fire she wanted”), “she” suggests the camper is a person. So likely human. → NO

But wait — “the camper” + “she” = probably a person. So NO.

10. “The friendly cat told her of about his story.”
→ Cat *told* a story — cats don’t talk or tell stories. That’s human behavior. ✔ Personification. → YES

11. “Three men got into the boat.”
→ Men are human. Boat is just object. No personification. → NO

12. “She had a lot of housecleaning to do.”
→ “She” is human; housecleaning is activity. No personification. → NO

13. “Her hair refused to obey her.”
→ Hair is not alive; “refused to obey” is human-like willful disobedience. ✔ Classic personification. → YES

Now double-check:

4. YES
7. YES
8. YES
10. YES
13. YES

That’s 5 YESes.

Let’s verify #8 again: “The path grew trembled with resentment at their abuse.” Grammatically flawed, but intention is clear: path *feels resentment* → personification. Yes.

#10: “The friendly cat told her of about his story.” — messy grammar (“of about”), but still attributes speech to cat → personification.

So final answers per line:

1. NO
2. NO
3. NO
4. YES
5. NO
6. NO
7. YES
8. YES
9. NO
10. YES
11. NO
12. NO
13. YES

Final Answer:
NO, NO, NO, YES, NO, NO, YES, YES, NO, YES, NO, NO, YES