Point of View

Point of View

Who's your speaker?

The narrator is the person who tells the story. Narrators can have several different points of view.

​First Person

​First Person: when the narrator, usually the main character, is telling the story from his or her own perspective.

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​The narrator is directly involved in what is going on.

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​Everything you know in the story is through the narrator's own eyes, so the reader only knows what the narrator sees and feels.

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​Key words: I, me, my, we, our

​Second Person

​Second Person: You are a character in the story.

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​Key words: you, your

Multiple Choice

As I gazed at the beaches of Hawaii, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

• First Person

• Second Person

• Third Person

Multiple Choice

Looking at the grade on my test, I knew that my parents were not going to be happy.

• First Person

• Second Person

• Third Person

Multiple Choice

What type of pronoun is in red?
Do you think it will be nice out today?

• First Person
• Second Person
• Third Person
•  It's not a pronoun

Multiple Choice

What type of pronoun is in red?
How much money do you have saved up for that car?

• First Person
• Second Person
• Third Person
• It's not a pronoun

Multiple Choice

What type of pronoun is in red?
How am I supposed to do that?

• First Person
• Second Person
• Third Person
• It's not a pronoun

​Third Person

​Third Person: An outside person is narrating the story.

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​There are 3 types (below).

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​Key words: he, she, they, him, her

​Third Person Objective

​Only tells what happens to the characters, NOT what they are thinking or feeling.

​Third Person Limited

​Third Person Omniscient

​Narrator only focuses on ONE character and shows what that person is thinking or feeling.

​(All - knowing):

​Has access to the thoughts and feelings of ALL the characters in a story.

Multiple Choice

The trapeze artist stood high on the platform. The whole crowd was silent. The trapeze artist rubbed his hands on his knees, grabbed the flying trapeze, and sprung into the air. Just as the trapeze had swung its full length, the trapeze artist released his grip and did a triple flip. He narrowly caught a second trapeze bar and swung from it by his legs. The crowd cheered. Another trapeze artist ascended the platform.

• 1st person

• 2nd person

• 3rd person omniscient

• 3rd person limited

• 3rd person objective

Multiple Choice

Chad tightened his grip on the rope. He could feel his fingers weakening. "Come on, Chad! Pull! We're losing ground!" shouted his teammate George. Chad gazed at the mud puddle toward which he and George were being dragged. Then he looked up at his opponents. They were screaming something, but Chad couldn't quite hear it. The muscles in his arms and shoulders were tightening. "It's now or never!" George shouted. Chad dug his heels in the dirt and pulled with all his strength.

• 1st person

• 2nd person

• 3rd person omniscient

• 3rd person limited

• 3rd person objective

Multiple Choice

Anthony was making a snowman in his front yard. He wanted to make the tallest snowman ever. "Making the tallest snowman ever is hard," he thought to himself. As Anthony rolled the snow around to form huge spheres, Justin was watching him from the bushes. Justin had plans too, only his plans involved karate kicking Anthony's very tall snowman. Justin figured that no snowman deserved to be as tall as Anthony's. Justin stretched in preparation for his attack.

• 1st person

• 2nd person

• 3rd person omniscient

• 3rd person limited

• 3rd person objective

Multiple Choice

Some dark night Shelly said, “I hate squirrels,” but really she loved them. Carol said, “They smell,” but really, she loved them too. Both of them thought that squirrels were pretty cute.

• 1st person

• 2nd person

• 3rd person omniscient

• 3rd person limited

• 3rd person objective

Multiple Choice

Red looked across the prairie. He didn't see anything concerning. He wondered why Texas Joe had hollered like that. Texas Joe turned to him. The ghost that Texas Joe had just seen was gone. Texas Joe swatted at the air. Now he felt crazy. "You have to believe me, Red. It was just here," said Texas Joe. Red scowled at him in disbelief. "What was just here, Joe?" he asked. Red was angry with Texas Joe for disturbing his sleep for no apparent reason.

• 1st person

• 2nd person

• 3rd person omniscient

• 3rd person limited

• 3rd person objective

Multiple Choice

Debra was walking a big black Labrador along the beach. The dog was unleashed, but he didn't seem to stray far from her. As Debra walked in the sand, the Labrador bounded through the waves. As the dog fell a few feet behind Debra, she called out to him, "Come on, Duke! Come here boy!" Duke barked, ran from the water, and caught Debra quickly. Duke was sopping wet. He started licking Debra and almost knocked her down. Debra laughed and tried to wipe the paw prints off her outfit.

• 1st person

• 2nd person

• 3rd person omniscient

• 3rd person limited

• 3rd person objective