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7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 9 of 13

Whose Story?

First, second and third person

What your child practices

Telling first, second and third person apart, finding the clues, and imagining how a different narrator would change the story.

Alaska content standards learning standard: RL.7.6 · first, second and third person

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. First person: the narrator says I and shares their own feelings.
  2. Second person: the story speaks to the reader as you.
  3. Third person: he, she, they. A different narrator would notice and know different things.

Example: “You step into the cave. Your flashlight flickers.” What point of view is this? The story speaks to the reader directly. It uses you and your. Answer: second person

Whose Story? in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 9 of 13 in 7th grade English Language Arts, after Punctuation Power and before Roots & Word Parts.

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

    How does first person help readers connect with a narrator?

    • They learn every character's secrets.
    • They hear the narrator's own voice and feelings.
    • The story becomes a list.

  2. Question 2

    Why might an author choose first person?

    • to describe every character's thoughts
    • to share one character's thoughts closely
    • to avoid using pronouns

  3. Question 3

    Which sentence is written in first person?

    • She opened the door slowly.
    • You opened the door slowly.
    • I opened the door slowly.

  4. Question 4

    What point of view is this?

    Pack Your Bag

    You open your suitcase and stare at it. You have only an hour before the car arrives. You fold your jacket and wonder what you are forgetting.

    • second person
    • first person
    • third person

  5. Question 5

    How does second person affect the reader?

    Pack Your Bag

    You open your suitcase and stare at it. You have only an hour before the car arrives. You fold your jacket and wonder what you are forgetting.

    • It makes the story shorter.
    • It makes the reader feel part of the story.
    • It hides the characters.

  6. Question 6

    Which change would put this in third person?

    The Science Fair

    I carried my volcano model carefully down the hall. My hands were shaking, and I worried that the baking soda would spill before the judges arrived.

    • Add the word you.
    • Change the volcano to a rocket.
    • Change I and my to she and her.

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