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7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 9 of 15

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.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 7.9(E) · 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 Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 9 of 15 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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    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.

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

  2. Question 2

    A story is told with the words I, me and my. What point of view is it?

    • third person
    • first person
    • second person

  3. Question 3

    Which sentence is written in first person?

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

  4. Question 4

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

  5. Question 5

    What point of view is this?

    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.

    • first person
    • second person
    • third person

  6. Question 6

    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
    • third person
    • first person

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