Points of View

First-Person

In first-person narration the story is narrated by one character at a time. This character may be speaking about him/herself or sharing events that he/she is experiencing. Key identifier words: I/we/us/me/my/mine/our/ours

Third-Person

When to use First Person:

This is the perspective commonly used in a personal essay, or an auto-biography. Ex: "As I lay in bed that night I couldn't stop thinking about ice cream."

Everything that is written, is written from a different perspective. Depending on the perspective the story has a different feeling or sometimes even a different meaning to it. Let's find out more about the different perspectives and what they are called.

Point of View

In third-person narration the narrator is telling us ABOUT what is happening and the narrator is not part of the story. The third person is the most common point of view used in fiction writing and is the traditional form for academic writing. Key Identifier words: he/him/his/she/her/hers/it/its

3rd person omniscient

Second-Person

3rd person limited

This is where the narrator is telling us about the story but still is able to know the thoughts and feelings of ALL characters EX: Jill was scared to admit that she liked Jack, but little did she know, he liked her too. In fact, as she spent her days trying to think up creative ways to avoid him, Jack was planning out creative ways to ask her to the school dance.

The second-person narrative is when a main character is referred to by another person. Key identifier words: you/yours/y'all

This is where the narrator is still telling us about what is happening but gives us knowledge of ONE character's innermost thoughts and feelings. EX: The teacher walked in just after Emily passed a note to Trey. Emily thought, "Wow, that was close! I wouldn't want her to read that!"