"You could see a rock carrying three other rocks on its head." What literary technique is being used?

Step 1: Analyze the question The sentence is: "You could see a rock carrying three other rocks on its head." We need to identify the literary technique.

Step 2: Review the concepts

• Irony: saying the opposite of what is meant, or a situation where the outcome is the opposite of what was expected.
• Simile: a direct comparison using "like" or "as."
• Hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration for effect.
• Personification: giving human qualities or actions to non-human things.

Step 3: Apply to the sentence

• A rock is a non-living object. It cannot "carry" anything on its head. Carrying loads on the head is a human action (very familiar in Nigeria, like women carrying baskets or pans on their heads).
• There is no "like" or "as," so it is not a simile.
• Nothing is being exaggerated in size or amount, so it is not hyperbole. The issue is that the rock is doing something human, not that something is overstated.
• There is no contrast between what is said and what is meant, so it is not irony.

The rock is given a human action (carrying a load on its head, and even having a "head"). That is personification.

Step 4: Answer The correct option is D. personification.

Tip: When a question describes an object, animal, or idea doing something only a human can do (walking, talking, carrying loads on the head, laughing), think personification. Check for "like/as" first to rule out simile, and ask yourself if it's just an exaggeration (hyperbole).