Narrator’s Point of View how the story is told

Narrative vs. Narrator Narrative Narrator A narrative is a story Narratives have characters, settings, a plot, dialogue, and a narrator A narrator tells the story Sometimes the narrator is a character in the story Sometimes the narrator is unknown; in other words, the reader does not know exactly who the narrator is

Today we will focus on who is telling the story: the narrator.

Narrator’s Point of View: First Person This narrator is a character in the story. The first person narrator uses pronouns such as I, me, my, we, our, or us to explain what is happening.

Narrator’s Point of View: First Person Example: Joseph and I ran as fast as we could to the park. He was a little father ahead and looked back at me and grinned. That is when I decided to sprint and use all of my energy to beat him to the tree.

Narrator’s Point of View: Third Person This narrator is not in the story and the reader may not know who the narrator is. The third person narrator does not use pronouns such as “I” to describe what is happening. Instead, the third person narrator only uses pronouns such as he, she, his, her, it, they, their, and them.

Narrator’s Point of View: Third Person Example: Joseph and Mia ran as fast as they could to the park. Joseph was a little father ahead than Mia and looked back at her and grinned. That is when she decided to sprint and use all of her energy to beat him to the tree.

Also Remember: Dialogue, or a conversation between characters, does not count when trying to figure out which point of view the narrator uses to tell the story. Dialogue is separate from the narrator’s part.

Which point of view does this narrator use? Brianne and Jamila discussed how they were going to surprise their mom. They decided that Brianne would practice a song on her guitar. Jamila told her sister, “If you play your guitar, I’ll sing.” The girls thought that it was a perfect plan. They started practicing their performance right away.

The answer is… The narrator uses third person point of view! Dialogue is separate from what the narrator tells us. The dialogue Jamila says out loud to Brianne does not count. The narrator’s part uses the pronouns “they” and “their,” which are third person pronouns.

To Review: First person point of view is when the narrator is a character in the story. First person point of view uses pronouns such as I, me, my, we, our, or us to explain what is happening.

To Review: The reader may not know who the narrator is when a story is told from third person point of view. Third person point of view does not use first person pronouns. Instead, only pronouns such as he, she, his, her, it, they, their, and them will be used. Dialogue is separate from the narrator’s part of the story.