1. First- and Third-Person Narration
Feature Menu
The Narrator: Look Who’s Talking
Autobiography: “Self-Written Life”
Biography: “Written Life”
Practice

2. The Narrator: Look Who’s Talking
The narrator is the person who tells the story.
Different kinds of narrators can tell you different kinds of information.
Who’s telling this story?
What about this one?

3. The Narrator: Look Who’s Talking
What does the second narrator tell you that the first one does not?
Michael has been late three times this week.
Michael has to bring back a parent’s signature on the piece of paper.
Michael has to go to detention on Monday.
Why doesn’t the first narrator tell the story the same way?
The first narrator is Michael. He doesn’t want to tell this information—yet.

4. The Narrator: Look Who’s Talking
When Michael tells his own story, he is a first-person narrator.
A story told from the first-person point of view
tells one version of events— the narrator’s own version
reveals only the narrator’s thoughts or feelings
uses first-person pronouns: I, me, us, our, my, mine

5. The Narrator: Look Who’s Talking
Where is the narrator in the second story?
The narrator is not a character. The narrator is not in the story at all.

6. The Narrator: Look Who’s Talking
When another person—a writer—tells Michael’s story, the story is told from the third-person point of view. A third-person narrator
can tell more than one character’s version of events
reveals words, thoughts, and feelings of all characters
uses third-person pronouns: he, she, they, them, his, hers
[End of Section]

7. Autobiography: “Self-Written Life”
Nonfiction is writing based on fact—”not fiction.”
Autobiography is the most personal kind of nonfiction.
When you write about something that happened to you, you are telling an autobiographical story.

8. Autobiography: “Self-Written Life”
An autobiography is the writer’s story of his or her own life, written from the first-person point of view.
auto
bio
graphy
means
means
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self
life
writing
[End of Section]

9. Biography: “Written Life”
A biography is the story of a person’s life written by another person from the third-person point of view.
The biographer is not the subject of the story.
The biographer learns about the person through research:
interviews
journals
articles
historical accounts
diaries
letters

10. Biography: “Written Life”
A person’s whole life can’t fit into a biography. Not every detail is important.
The writer has to choose what to include—and what to leave out.
That is also true when you write about yourself.
What you had for lunch every day when you were three is probably not very important.
[End of Section]

11. Practice Let’s Try It 1. Who is telling this story?
“What did you do today?” she asked, as she turned the key and opened the door.
“Nothing much…really.” I knew she heard the hesitation in my voice. I knew she’d ask more questions—questions I didn’t feel much like answering.
“Nothing much. OK.” Her voice was flat. “Put your stuff away and come talk to me.”
It was my own fault. I’d given myself away. Now I would have to explain that piece of paper in my pocket.
2. What is the point of view in the story?

12. Practice Let’s Try It 1. Who is telling this story?
“What did you do today?” she asked, as she turned the key and opened the door.
“Nothing much…really.” I knew she heard the hesitation in my voice. I knew she’d ask more questions—questions I didn’t feel much like answering.
“Nothing much. OK.” Her voice was flat. “Put your stuff away and come talk to me.”
It was my own fault. I’d given myself away. Now I would have to explain that piece of paper in my pocket.
“I” is telling the story. The character does not have a name here.

13. Practice Let’s Try It 2. What is the point of view in the story?
“What did you do today?” she asked, as she turned the key and opened the door.
“Nothing much…really.” I knew she heard the hesitation in my voice. I knew she’d ask more questions—questions I didn’t feel much like answering.
“Nothing much. OK.” Her voice was flat. “Put your stuff away and come talk to me.”
It was my own fault. I’d given myself away. Now I would have to explain that piece of paper in my pocket.
The story is told from the first-person point of view.

14. Practice
Let’s Try It
3. How do you know this story is told from the first-person point of view?
“What did you do today?” she asked, as she turned the key and opened the door.
“Nothing much…really.” I knew she heard the hesitation in my voice. I knew she’d ask more questions—questions I didn’t feel much like answering.
“Nothing much. OK.” Her voice was flat. “Put your stuff away and come talk to me.”
It was my own fault. I’d given myself away. Now I would have to explain that piece of paper in my pocket.
4. Why are some third-person pronouns used?

15. Practice
Let’s Try It
3. How do you know this story is told from the first-person point of view?
“What did you do today?” she asked, as she turned the key and opened the door.
“Nothing much…really.” I knew she heard the hesitation in my voice. I knew she’d ask more questions—questions I didn’t feel much like answering.
“Nothing much. OK.” Her voice was flat. “Put your stuff away and come talk to me.”
It was my own fault. I’d given myself away. Now I would have to explain that piece of paper in my pocket.
First-person pronouns are used to tell the story.

16. Practice Let’s Try It 4. Why are some third-person pronouns used?
“What did you do today?” she asked, as she turned the key and opened the door.
“Nothing much…really.” I knew she heard the hesitation in my voice. I knew she’d ask more questions—questions I didn’t feel much like answering.
“Nothing much. OK.” Her voice was flat. “Put your stuff away and come talk to me.”
It was my own fault. I’d given myself away. Now I would have to explain that piece of paper in my pocket.
A first-person narrator has to use third-person pronouns to talk about other characters.

17. Practice
Let’s Try It
5. What kinds of information does the narrator give about himself or herself?
“What did you do today?” she asked, as she turned the key and opened the door.
“Nothing much…really.” I knew she heard the hesitation in my voice. I knew she’d ask more questions—questions I didn’t feel much like answering.
“Nothing much. OK.” Her voice was flat. “Put your stuff away and come talk to me.”
It was my own fault. I’d given myself away. Now I would have to explain that piece of paper in my pocket.
6. What kinds of information does the narrator give about the other character?

18. Practice
Let’s Try It
5. What kinds of information does the narrator give about himself or herself?
“What did you do today?” she asked, as she turned the key and opened the door.
“Nothing much…really.” I knew she heard the hesitation in my voice. I knew she’d ask more questions—questions I didn’t feel much like answering.
“Nothing much. OK.” Her voice was flat. “Put your stuff away and come talk to me.”
It was my own fault. I’d given myself away. Now I would have to explain that piece of paper in my pocket.
We know what the narrator says and also what he or she thinks and feels.

19. Practice
Let’s Try It
6. What kinds of information does the narrator give about the other character?
“What did you do today?” she asked, as she turned the key and opened the door.
“Nothing much…really.” I knew she heard the hesitation in my voice. I knew she’d ask more questions—questions I didn’t feel much like answering.
“Nothing much. OK.” Her voice was flat. “Put your stuff away and come talk to me.”
It was my own fault. I’d given myself away. Now I would have to explain that piece of paper in my pocket.
We know what she says but not what she thinks or feels. We learn about her from the narrator.

20. Practice
On Your Own
Draw a time line of your own life. Label the left end “Birth” and the right end “Now.” Above the line, write two or three major events in your life.
Pick one of the events and write a paragraph about it from the first-person point of view, as if you were writing an autobiography. Then write about the same event from the third-person point of view, as if you were writing a biography.

21. First- and Third-Person Narration
The End