First Grade English: Who is Telling the Story?
Whenever you listen to someone tell a fascinating story, you naturally pay attention to the voice speaking the words. Is the person talking about their own personal adventures, using words like "I," "me," and "my"? Or is an outside observer watching all the characters from above, describing what "he," "she," and "they" are doing? In literature, the identity of the person speaking the words is called the narrator, and the perspective from which the story is told is called the point of view. In this chapter, you will master the difference between first-person point of view and third-person point of view.
Meeting the Narrator
The narrator is the storyteller. Every fiction book has a narrator, but not all narrators tell stories in the same way.
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| WHO IS TELLING THE STORY? |
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| FIRST-PERSON NARRATOR THIRD-PERSON NARRATOR |
| (Inside the story!) (Outside the story!) |
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| A character IN the adventure. An outside observer |
| Uses: I, me, my, we, our watching like a camera. |
| Uses: he, she, they, it |
| |
| "I walked into the cave "Leo walked into the |
| and shone my flashlight." cave and shone his |
| flashlight." |
| |
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Why Point of View Matters
Point of view changes how much you know! When a story is told by "I," you get to peek directly into that character's private brain and feel their exact emotions. When a story is told in the third person, you can watch multiple characters across different rooms all at the same time.
First-Person Point of View: "I" and "Me"
In first-person point of view, one of the characters in the story holds the microphone and tells the story directly to you.
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| FIRST-PERSON DETECTIVE CLUES |
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| Signal Words: I , ME , MY , WE , OUR |
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| Example: |
| "Yesterday, MY family visited the beach. I found a |
| shiny pink seashell, and WE built a giant sandcastle." |
| |
| Clue: The narrator is an active character inside the scene!|
| |
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The Intimate Voice
When you read a first-person story, it feels like a close friend is whispering their diary or personal memories directly into your ear. You know their deepest secrets, their fears, and their favorite dreams.
Third-Person Point of View: "He," "She," and "They"
In third-person point of view, the narrator is NOT a character inside the story. Instead, the narrator is like a soaring bird or a floating camera observing everything from above.
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| THIRD-PERSON DETECTIVE CLUES |
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| Signal Words: HE , SHE , THEY , THEM , NAMES |
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| Example: |
| "Carlos packed his red backpack. He looked at Sophia |
| and smiled. They walked together down the forest trail." |
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| Clue: The narrator never uses "I" to talk about himself! |
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The Omniscient Camera
A third-person narrator can tell you what Carlos is doing in the kitchen while simultaneously showing you what the puppy is doing out in the garden. It provides a wide, panoramic view of the whole story world.
Dialogue Clue Warning: Don't Be Tricked!
Here is a famous first-grade trap: quotation marks! When a character speaks out loud in dialogue inside quotation marks, they will often say "I." Look at this sentence: Marcus looked up and said, "I want to go to the park." Is this story told in the first person or the third person? It is THIRD PERSON! The word "I" is only inside the character's speaking dialogue. The narrator who is telling the actual story uses "Marcus" and "said." Always look outside the quotation marks to find the true narrator!
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| THE QUOTATION MARK TRAP |
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| "I love ice cream!" shouted Maya as SHE ran outside. |
| \_______________/ \____________/ |
| Inside Quotes: Outside Quotes: |
| Dialogue speech Narrator's true voice|
| Uses "she" -> 3RD! |
| |
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Practice Exercises
Exercise 1: Read the following passages and determine whether each is told from the First-Person or Third-Person point of view. List the signal words that prove your answer: Passage A: I grabbed my warm yellow raincoat and zipped it up. My dog Barnaby wagged his tail because he knew we were going for a walk in the puddles. Passage B: The little rabbit hopped quietly through the tall green ferns. She stopped to twitch her nose and listen for the rustle of leaves.
Exercise 2: Rewrite this third-person sentence as if YOU were the character living the adventure in the first person: "Liam climbed to the top of the treehouse and looked through his telescope."
Exercise Solutions
Solution to Exercise 1: Passage A is First-Person (uses signal words: "I", "my", "we"). Passage B is Third-Person (uses signal words: "The little rabbit", "she", "her").
Solution to Exercise 2: Rewritten in the first person: "I climbed to the top of the treehouse and looked through my telescope."