Points of View
What is a Point of View?
A point of view is the perspective from which a story is being told. In other words, it describes which person is the narrator (who is telling the story).
Here are the three types of points of view (POV):
- First-person: I
- Second-person: You
- Third-person: He/She/They/It
First-Person Point of View
First-person POV refers to when the narrator of the story is “I”. Imagine yourself as the main character of the story, describing what happens to you.
To identify when the first-person POV is being used, look for words such as:
- I, Me, My
- We, Our, Us
Examples of first-person POV in a sentence:
1.I am making chocolate chip cookies for the bake sale next week.
2.My friend and I are going to the movies on Saturday.
3.We are going to visit my grandparents this weekend.
4.Our football team has a match tomorrow night.
Second-Person Point of View
Second-person POV is when the narrator of the story is “you”. Imagine yourself describing what happens in a friend’s life to them, for example. This POV is also often used when giving instructions, such as in recipes.
To identify when the second-person POV is being used, look for words such as:
- You
- Your
Examples of second-person POV in a sentence:
1.You are going to be participating in a science fair this school year.
2.You went to the supermarket with your mother this morning.
3.Your bicycle is red with white stripes.
4.To make a fluffy cake, you have to separate the egg whites from the yolks and whip them.
Third-Person Point of View
Third-person POV is when the narrator of the story is not a character within the story, but “he”, “she”, “they”, or “it”. In other words, someone other than “I” or “you” is telling the story.
To identify when the third-person POV is being used, look for words such as:
- He, His
- She, Hers
- They, Their
- It, Its
Examples of third-person POV in a sentence:
1.He fed his dog before going to school.
2.She daydreamed about what she wanted to be when she grows up.
3.They had so much fun at the amusement park that day.
The third-person POV can be divided into two main categories:
- Third-person omniscient (OM-NIH-SCHENT)
- Third-person limited.
Third-Person Omniscient Point of View
The third-person omniscient POV is when the narrator of the story knows everything that happens within the story, including the thoughts and feelings of each character.
Books that use the third-person omniscient POV include:
- Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
- Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel
- Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Third-Person Limited Point of View
The third-person limited POV is when the narrator of the story knows everything about one character in the story, including that character’s thoughts and feelings.
Books that use the third-person limited POV include:
- the Harry Potter book series (centred around the character of Harry Potter)
- The Giver by Lois Lowry (centred around the character of Jonas)
Summary of Points of View
The point of view is an important tool for telling any story. It provides the perspective through which we understand the events of the story and the characters that live within it. There are three types of point of view: first-person, second-person, and third-person.
First-person tells the story from the “I” perspective, where the person telling the story (the narrator) is the main character. Second-person tells the story from the “you” perspective, where the main character is being described by the narrator to the audience. Third-person tells the story through from the “he”/”she”/”they”/”it” perspective, and comes in two main forms: omniscient and limited. Third-person omniscient tells the story through a narrator that knows what all of the characters are thinking and feeling. Third-person limited tells the story through a narrator that only knows all about what one character is thinking and feeling.
Index of Key Terms
First-person
Second-person
Third-person
Omniscient
Limited
Narrator
Perspective