Ravi was sure he had lost the race. Noah, standing at the finish line, knew Ravi had won by a step. Their coach was already thinking about how proud she felt of them both.
6th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 1 of 12
Point of View
Who is telling the story?
What your child practices
Telling first person, third person limited and third person omniscient apart, and thinking about what each narrator can and can't know.
Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 6.1.5.1; 6.1.6.1 · point of view and how different accounts tell the same events
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- First person: the narrator is a character and says I.
- Third person limited: the narrator uses he or she and knows only one character’s thoughts.
- Third person omniscient: the narrator knows what every character thinks and feels.
Example: “Leo worried about the test. Across the room, Ana was sure she would ace it.” Which point of view is this? The narrator says he and she, so it is third person. We learn both Leo’s and Ana’s thoughts. Answer: Third person omniscient
Point of View in Minnesota
In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 1 of 12 in 6th grade English Language Arts, before Connotation & Tone.
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.
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
From which point of view is this passage told?
- Third person limited
- Third person omniscient
- First person
Third person omniscient
Hint: The narrator uses he, she or they and tells us what more than one character thinks or knows. That all-knowing view is third person omniscient.
Question 2
From which point of view is this passage told?
Lena hoped her grandmother would like the painting. Her grandmother, unwrapping it, thought it was the most beautiful gift she had ever received. Neither of them noticed the cat sneaking off with the ribbon.
- Third person limited
- Third person omniscient
- First person
Third person omniscient
Hint: The narrator uses he, she or they and tells us what more than one character thinks or knows. That all-knowing view is third person omniscient.
Question 3
Why might an author choose to write in first person?
- to show every character's secret thoughts
- to make sure the story has no narrator
- to give the reader step-by-step instructions
- to let readers experience events through one character's own voice and thoughts
to let readers experience events through one character's own voice and thoughts
Hint: First person puts you inside the narrator's head.
Question 4
What is something a first-person narrator can NOT know for sure?
- what they remember from yesterday
- what other characters are secretly thinking
- what they see and hear
- how they feel themselves
what other characters are secretly thinking
Hint: A first-person narrator is one character. Can you read other people's minds?
Question 5
Retell this in first person from Priya's point of view: “Priya packed her lunch and hurried out the door.”
- Priya packed my lunch and hurried out the door.
- I packed my lunch and hurried out the door.
- You pack your lunch and hurry out the door.
- She packed her lunch and hurried out the door.
I packed my lunch and hurried out the door.
Hint: Priya becomes “I” and her lunch becomes “my lunch.”
Question 6
From which point of view is this passage told?
My brother and I built a fort out of couch cushions. I was sure it was the best one ever, though he kept saying the roof was too low.
- Third person limited
- Third person omniscient
- First person
First person
Hint: Look at the narration's pronouns. “I”, “my” or “we” means the narrator is a character telling the story: first person.