4th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 4 of 20
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.
New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 4R6 · first- and third-person narration
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- First person uses I, me, my and we. The narrator is in the story.
- Third person uses he, she and they. The narrator is outside the story.
- 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 New York
In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 4 of 20 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.
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
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.
- me
- I
- we
- his
his
Hint: Third-person clue words are he, she, it, they, his and her (outside of quotation marks).
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.
- third person
- first person
- second person
third person
Hint: The narrator uses names and he, she, it or they and is not part of the story. That's third person.
Question 3
From which point of view is this passage told?
Our class planted a maple tree last spring.
I got to pat down the soil around its roots.
Now I check on it every morning.
- third person
- first person
- second person
first person
Hint: The narrator uses I, me, my or we and is a character in the story. That's first person.
Question 4
A character's diary is usually written from which point of view?
- first person
- third person
- second person
first person
Hint: In a diary, the writer tells about their own day using I and me.
Question 5
Which sentence is written in third person?
- Priya's grandmother taught her how to knit a scarf.
- Your grandmother taught you how to knit a scarf.
- My grandmother taught me how to knit a scarf.
Priya's grandmother taught her how to knit a scarf.
Hint: The narrator uses names and he, she, it or they and is not part of the story. That's third person.
Question 6
From which point of view is this passage told?
My stomach fluttered as I stepped onto the stage.
I took a deep breath and began to sing.
When the song ended, the audience clapped, and I grinned.
- second person
- third person
- first person
first person
Hint: The narrator uses I, me, my or we and is a character in the story. That's first person.