Choose the sentence that is an example of personification:

The correct answer is Option (2) → On the first day of the holidays, Ritu’s school bag lay sulking in a corner of her room.

Personification:

• Personification gives human qualities or actions to a thing, an animal or an idea.
• The school bag is “sulking”. To sulk means to stay silent and upset because you feel left out. Only a person can sulk, so the bag is shown with human feelings.

Why the Other Options are Incorrect?

Option 1: In the summer holidays, Nani’s house is a treasure chest of old toys and stories. — Incorrect. This sentence uses a metaphor, which says that one thing is another without “like” or “as”. Nani’s house is called “a treasure chest”.

Option 3: Before my first train journey alone, Ma tucked a worried note into the side pocket of my bag. — Incorrect. This sentence uses a transferred epithet, where a describing word is moved from a person to a thing linked to them. Ma is worried, but the word “worried” is put on the note.

Option 4: Papa’s newly ironed kurta felt as stiff as a cardboard box. — Incorrect. This sentence uses a simile, which compares two different things using “like” or “as”. The kurta is compared to a cardboard box with “as stiff as”.