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7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 9 of 20

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.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 7R6 · 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 New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 9 of 20 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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    A story is told by a narrator who knows what every character thinks. What is this called?

    • second person
    • first person
    • omniscient third person

  2. Question 2

    Which sentence shows the narrator knows more than Kiona?

    A Quiet Morning

    Kiona woke before the others. She tiptoed past the sleeping dog, filled the kettle, and watched the sun climb above the trees. She did not yet know that today would change everything.

    • She did not yet know that today would change everything.
    • She filled the kettle.
    • She tiptoed past the sleeping dog.

  3. Question 3

    What point of view is this?

    A Quiet Morning

    Kiona woke before the others. She tiptoed past the sleeping dog, filled the kettle, and watched the sun climb above the trees. She did not yet know that today would change everything.

    • first person
    • second person
    • third person

  4. Question 4

    A story speaks to the reader as you. What point of view is it?

    • third person
    • second person
    • first person

  5. Question 5

    Whose thoughts do we learn?

    The Referee

    From the middle of the court, Mr. Alvarez blew his whistle. He saw the ball touch the line, but the crowd groaned. He was sure he had made the right call.

    • the crowd's
    • Mr. Alvarez's
    • the narrator's own

  6. Question 6

    How might a player telling this story differ?

    The Referee

    From the middle of the court, Mr. Alvarez blew his whistle. He saw the ball touch the line, but the crowd groaned. He was sure he had made the right call.

    • It would have no ending.
    • The player might think the call was unfair.
    • The ball would not exist.

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