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4th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 4 of 13

Point of View

Who is telling the story?

What your child practices

Telling first-person stories (I, me, we) from third-person stories (he, she, they), finding pronoun clues, and noticing when dialogue uses “I” in a third-person story.

Alaska content standards learning standard: RL.4.6 · first- and third-person narration

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. First person uses I, me, my and we. The narrator is in the story.
  2. Third person uses he, she and they. The narrator is outside the story.
  3. Words inside quotation marks are a character talking, so an “I” there doesn’t change the point of view.

Example: “They raced to the park. ‘I win!’ shouted Mia.” What point of view is this? The narrator says “they.” “I win!” is Mia talking, inside quotation marks. Answer: third person

Point of View in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 4 of 13 in 4th grade English Language Arts, after Figurative Language and before Parts of Speech.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    From which point of view is this passage told?

    The fox crept along the edge of the field.

    It sniffed the cool morning air, then trotted off toward the trees.

    • first person
    • second person
    • third person

  2. Question 2

    From which point of view is this passage told?

    Noah and his grandfather fished from the dock all morning.

    They didn't catch a single fish, but they laughed the whole time.

    • first person
    • third person
    • second person

  3. Question 3

    Which sentence is written in third person?

    • They cheered when their team scored a goal.
    • We cheered when our team scored a goal.
    • You cheered when your team scored a goal.

  4. Question 4

    This passage is told in third person. Which word is a clue?

    “We should build a fort,” said Kenji.

    His cousins cheered and ran to get blankets.

    • his
    • we
    • my
    • I

  5. Question 5

    Which sentence is written in third person?

    • Leo fed his cat before he left for the park.
    • You fed your cat before you left for the park.
    • I fed my cat before I left for the park.

  6. Question 6

    A news story about a soccer game is usually written from which point of view?

    • third person
    • first person
    • second person

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